Hadrian’s Wall 2009

Introduction

I’d had Hadrian’s Wall in the walking calendar in 2008 – to do as a long weekend – but events dictated that I wasn’t able to get away as expected and so the walk was mothballed for a year or so. In July of 2009 however, I had the perfect opportunity and so packed a large bag with all my backpacking gear and hopped on a train to Carlisle.

I’d managed to do some planning, but I was also able to be flexible as I was carrying everything I needed. My tent, sleeping bag, roll mat, cooking gear, a few spare clothes, batteries and chargers for GPS, phone and camera and various other items that weighed me down considerably. It’s been a while since I backpacked and I wasn’t used to the weight at all!

As usual, my default guide book provider was Trailblazer. If they have a guide book for the walk I’m doing, it’s the first one I buy and often the only one. They really are that good. In the case of Hadrian’s Wall, Trailblazer, like all the others assume you’re going to walk from Newcastle to Bowness. I’m not. Which makes following the guide book somewhat confusing. So in the end it was left at home.

I printed my own maps – as I always do – and relied on them for the route. These worked just fine – and indeed I could probably have walked the route without any maps at all – it’s very well signed indeed.

I hope you enjoy this brief journal. It’s been lifted from the blog entries I posted as I walked the route, so may well include some spelling mistakes that the iPhone blogging app didn’t pick up.

Map

Walk Reports