Chollerton to winshield farm

A little more  b road walking(yes the same one!) Out of chollerton and we head slightly of road under overcast skies to walk along now quite impressive remains of the wall! With at one point the remains of a mithraic temple!(pic)
Back over the road we follow the earthworks to the point where we finally escape the b road! And head onto the famous part of the wall following the winsill ridge which the wall hugs all the way to greenhead, which we reach tomorrow, for now the rollercoaster ride that is the ridge takes us to winshield farm(familiar to jp and Ruth from previous visits) where we make use of the bunk house to avoid the now continuous rain! 

Beside the Tyne to chollerton

Well after such a beautiful sunrise, the going was equally good, a couple of miles walking and we enter Heddon in the wall where we bought a few extra provisions before heading of on the b4218 which we were to follow for the whole day, not particularly interesting with only vague roman remains buried by the road, incidentally this is another road built by general wade! Busy chap!
By midday we had reached "the Robin hood " pub(gets everywhere doesn't he!) Where a nice sunday lunch of roast chicken was had:-)
More following the b road had  us criss crossing the road between way to many cow fields,  culminating in a field of extremely irritating cows who along with there massive bull chased us out the field.. .......guess the farmer thought walkers would know a bull was there without the need for a warning sign!(rant)
Sticking to the road for a bit we get to the dog unfriendly Elkington arms.. ... where we head off road and out of cow country(thankfully) 
A bit of pleasant field walking and we finally see the first bit of hadrians wall since walls end(1.5 days later)
Then down hill into chollerton to set up camp at the riverside camp site ,where you can order indian food deliverys too!

O2 are crap!

No signal since newcastle now close to carlisle!

This is home!

A perfect start to the day laying in the bivi cooking porridge and coffee under a ceiling of leaves which are catching the first rays of the morning sun, lovely !
Oh and the Robin is back!   :-)

Breath in Alfie!

To say the bivi is a squeeze is no real surprise! But it works:-)
Back to our arrival.
Got to newcastle central station, found the metro, found the metro confusing, went the wrong way! Finally got to wallsend got out the train to gentle rain .could have been worse, then it got interesting, we couldn't find the start?! We could see the path through high iron fence but the only way to it was to pay to get into the museum! Sod that! So following a parallel road we eventually got to this lovely sign and on to the path! 
It all became clear as we walked on tho the planners of the trail seem to think that everyone walks from the west, a good 30% of the signs don't  point the way west at all and no sign indicates the ahem finish in the east!.
From this point things really improved tho,  the sun came out as we entered newcastle, and throngs of people were cheering us as we walked, tho could have been something to do with the first day of the great north run!  ;).
This proved really popular and passage along the trail slowed right down with the numbers of people jamming the roads, good atmosphere tho, pushed on and after following the Tyne for miles in lovely sunshine we found a pub by the Tyne called the "row men" or something like that ahem! A pint to ease the feet and a further couple of miles and we reach our planned wild camp point for the night, good spot too! While cooking dinner under the trees we were visited three times by a little Robin! Must be nesting nearby. Time to sleep its getting dark,  night world!

Pre walk pack weight

After numerous little alterations to the pack, additions as well as things being removed or updated I've managed to lose 1.52 kilos from the weight of my old lejog pack pretty pleased with this!
The weight for our hadrians wall C2C before food or water but inclusive of fuel for the stove is 8.94 kilos :-)
Obviously the biggest change is the bivi tent, no real idea as to how well this is going to perform but that's half the fun!
Its good to be back!.

A few little changes to the blog!

As the title points out a couple of widgets have been added to the blog, to the right is the return of the "where am i" widget, allways nice for people to follow!, and then there's "The Next Horizons" where i'll post my hopes and dreams for future walks!.
At the top of the future horizons listing is "hadrians wall" after the abandonment of the "east west way" this year I was determined to get at least a small coast to coast walk in! which i'll be walking with alfie (as ever) at the end of next week!. looking further down the list the "east west way" has been rescheduled for 2013 for completion or at least the next stage!.

The road goes ever on and on!

Back on track!

Well new home and now finally a functional mission control for CTH!
(Think Alfie is impressed !?)

More gear!

OK the walk may be postponed but the show (and tell) goes on!
Have found and bought the best value (£120) bivi tent I've ever seen, made by  Vaude and imaginatively named "the bivi tent" it weighs in at a minuscule 0.91 kilos! And is single skin goretex its designed to be four season too! (according to the pamphlet) tho it could easily get buried in a small snow drift!
All the kit I carried on lejog fits in and tonight I'm going to see if one man and his dog can comfortably nest down for the night.
I can't imagine a tent that could be better for discreet wild camping, it would pitch anywhere!
OK it looks like a green coffin! But during my brief test today it proved comfortable, as a bonus you can open a slot under the hood (?) where you could warmly observe the nights sky and or breath if it gets stuffy!
Looking forward to trying this out! Will let you know how it goes!

The walk is now on hold!

Well having been back in Kettering for nine days I'm still no nearer knowing when my new job is to start!
The uncertainty of this means I'm in limbo, I cant rejoin the walk and I can't consider a restart date!
So sadly for now the walk is on indefinite hold, most likely I will have to complete the distance in stages as and when work (when it bloody starts!) allows.
Not ideal, to use Johns favorite phrase "another great day" will come I just don't know when :(

Day 5 6/5/2011

Waking up with the sound of rain hammering onto the outside of the tent is not an auspicious start to the day, but very quickly the rain stopped and with grey clouds scudding across the sky a sharp climb uphill from the campsite tested the legs, and with blue patches appearing in the sky the tiny b road that was to guide our way for most of the morning tested the sore soles of my feet!.
10k in we spot the bubble of Wales botanic gardens below us looking like a mini Eden project , something to visit another time! , for today the horizon held some more immediate interest in the form of Paxton tower, set upon its high seat looking down the valley to Llandelio (pic) as lunch was due this seemed a great spot to settle for a break.
From the tower our path led along the ridge top which now under pleasant blue skies gave panoramic views left and right, with the river towy twisting to our left, progress to Ffairfach was hastened by the prospect of the option of a train back home, not that this is the end of the walk at such an early stage, more like completion of stage one!
John is now back home, and alfie and I take a late night train back to Kettering to see what reality has been up to!

Day four 5/5/2011

What can I say about today?
Hmmmn........ Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain! And lots of road walking to get to carmarthen so if it had to rain today was a good day for it!
Along the way we saw a nice belltower with external ropes, still attached and no yobs hanging of them...... It was tempting tho!
The views through the rolling country side would have been smashing without the damp grey veil, but at least it brightened up at carmarthen enough to dry us off, the beer, and fish and chips (morgans chippy very recommended!) put a good end to the days walking.
I have to talk to Kettering council after a letter arrived at home....... Probably doesn't Bode well for the walk but at least I have written verification of the new job.......