Walking Hadrian's Wall - Day Three - Newtown to Greenhead

 Day three got off to a fantastic start, one of the owners at the fabulous Scotch Arms Mews in Brampton had very kindly given me a lift back to the trail and Newton, saving me an almost hours walk back to the path. I gave them a tenner to say thankyou, but they refused to take it. It seems the North is full of good folk! You'd be kidnapped if that happened down South! The rain had been heavy overnight, but was just a light drizzle now thankfully.

Here you can see the little stone's for the path, coming up the hill, this part of the walk was going to include some higher hills! But I was prepared, and I was eager for this stretch, as there is plenty of Roman remains to be seen!

I made another friend at the gate, this time a rather damp looking calf who was clearly wandering what me and several others were doing walking in the rain!

Speaking of the rain, some areas of the path had turned to mud, and it was bountiful in places.

Another view back over the soft hills, thankfully the drizzle had now stopped, and I was hoping it would stay dry. Perhaps I should have done an anti rain dance!

Could this be my first chunk of Hadrian's wall at Burtholme Beck? I think it is! This was a joyous moment! 

The cows in the field opposite didnt seem to share my enthusiasm. To them, it was just a wall! 

You didn't think I could spend any more time without visiting a ruined Priory, did you? This is Lanercost Priory, and this was actually my second visit, I had previously been with James in 2018. But this time, I was here by myself, and eager to see it again.

Some of the beautiful carved details that would have helped support the ceilings.

Founded in approximately 1169, the Priory was built using stones from Hadrian's Wall, I suppose as an early form of recycling. Life at the Priory was not always peaceful, with it's proximity to the border between Scotland & England, it frequently was attacked, pillaged and it's people kidnapped & ransomed. Due to this, the Priory went through a cycle of prosperity & poverty, it's fortunes waxing & waning with the frequency of war and incursions in the area around it.

Inside the main church, with it's beautiful light arches and windows

Things were obviously bound to get worse, and after struggling for several years, the dissolution came, and the Priory was closed. Part was converted to a parish church, while the rest was either demolished or had the roof removed, and it slowly began to crumble away.

Now though, it's a beautiful and serene place, with a real beauty to it, with a mixture of white & red coloured stone that makes up it's walls.

The undercroft is beautiful, a long line of pillars holding it up, and the room is filled with light. There's also lots of Roman altars there, and you can have quite a nice time out the rain looking at them! Tickets for the Priory are £10, although you can pre-book the day before via @english-heritage.org.uk/lanercost-priory for a 15% discount. 

A view back at the Priory through the ivy covered entry arch which would have been a full gatehouse in its prime. It's then a short walk back up the hill to the path again, although I did have a wee in the portaloo on the way, and then treated myself to a can of coke from the honesty hut at Haytongate Farm, where I got into a chat with four friends who were all walking the path together. They were doing a similar thing to me, although they were going a bit a of a faster pace than I was! 

After a rest at the honesty hut (it was filled with treats and drinks, but make sure you pop some money in the tin!) I carried on the journey, again making friends with another sheep along the way. This one was very interested in me, or for some reason more specifically, the sleeve of my jacket, that the cow on the first day had been obsessed with. I made a mental note not to lean on anything again and to wash my sleeve when I got to my next accommodation!

Here's the wall re-appearing at Banks, and it's one of the highest pieces of the wall that's still original. This bit was obviously too well built to be used for the nearby farmhouses!

Another view into the valley that runs alongside, and you can see the drizzle in the distance. It was heading right for me, but I was going to be prepared for it! 

Here's the low walls of Turret 51A, with it's square walls and rubble interior.

And this is Piper Sike, or Turret 51A. It was excavated in both 1927 & 1970, where cooking hearths & rubbish were found, giving us an idea of how the soldiers here would have cooked, eaten & lived while on patrol.

The wall is wonderfully straight, as you can see by these two pictures. The road runs alongside for a bit until you reach Birdoswald Fort. Me and James had done this one before and weren't overly impressed, so I only stopped at the back of the museum building to stamp my Hadrian's Wall passport.

All of the turrets & milecastle along this stretch give you fantastic views, both North & South! The rolling green hills would have no doubt been watched closely by the soldiers on the wall, and the slightest sign of trouble would have got a rapid response.

And here is the bridge over the River Irthing. The river itself has moved over time and is now further away, but you can see here the base of the tower, which then adjoined the stone bridge. The bridge was washed away in a flood, before being rebuilt, and then extended so the Military Road that passed alongside the wall could get over the river.

Here's what it may have looked like. Imagine being a Pict and trying to find a gap in the wall, only to find there was a bridge over the water with a very attentive soldier keeping an eye on anyone trying to pass through! 

The wall continues on, up a steeper hill that had a large puddle at the top as you tried to pass through the gate. Bloody typical! 

Other interesting sights on this section is this towering viaduct carrying the Tyne Valley Railway (linking Newcastle & Carlisle) just past Poltross Burn.

One of the more notable example of impressive Roman engineering was building this on such an angled piece of land! It's also notable that here the height of the wall was able to be determined by the surviving Roman steps on the side of one of the turrets.

The next part of the walk contained less Roman remains, but did become a little more challenging. The path heads over these mounds of earth, and with all the rain we had received, it was very muddy and quite slippery at times.

I was admiring the fields with these bountiful pinky coloured flowers in them, when I struck up a conversation with a lady who was jogging along. She'd been jogging the path with a friend, who had twisted her ankle and had jumped into a taxi with their rucksacks and headed off to Once Brewed where they were staying. After quite a delay waiting for the taxi, she was now determined to make up the time and reach Once Brewed by nightfall. I thought she was crazy, that was 8 or 9 miles away, and it was gone 4pm. But she was moving at three times the speed I was, so I wished her good luck and watched her run away. I hope she managed to make it! I was knackered enough, and I still had a couple of miles to go! 

But then, at last I came into Greenhead, and it was a further walk up the hill to an old road that lead to Braeside Cottages, where I would be staying the night. I was so lucky to have found this, it was a converted shepherds hut which had been lovingly restored and fitted with all the mod cons you could need!

I just wish the weather had been a bit nicer, and then I could have enjoyed the outside a bit more, but my dear friend the rain had returned, and I was soaked again!

This is the outside of the Shepherds Hut, and it was so warm and comfortable inside, I don't think I'd be able to leave again in the morning! I cooked myself some warming soup with the two bread rolls I'd picked up in Brampton the night before. If you think you'd like to stay here, which I guarantee you would, then head to their website @braesidecottages.co.uk you will not be disappointed by this fantastic hut! 

I loved the fact that I could lay on the bed in my PJ's and watch the sunset. It was just what I needed to recover from the long walk today! But I was so pleased to have seen so much Roman remains, and I still wasn't quite halfway through! 

The incredible sunset, what a fantastic final thing to see before going to sleep! I'd walked 16 miles today, and needed a little chance to recover!