Wall to Housesteads (To link St Oswalds Way to Isaacs Tea Trail)
Tue 13th May 2014
The group assembled at the car park at Housteads to be not only by Mike but also a light drizzle which stopped as the bus arrived and we all piled on.
Had Sundance and his old soft shoe shuffle done enough to give us a dry day? The omens were not looking good with very dark clouds massing to the west.
However on getting out of the bus at Wall the cloud had lightened making Mike feel a little bit better. From Wall you walk next to the road heading upstream to cross the River North Tyne at Chollerford before walking back downstream past Chesters still next to the road.
After a short uphill section we left the road behind at Wallwick and after a short detour round some houses you actually started to walk along the Wall. A gradually ascent eventually brought us to Mile Castle 29 and a coffee break in the lee of a wood and views up the North Tyne Valley and way in the distance the Cheviots.
We continued uphill until we reached a height of 250m and the Trig point near Mile Castle 30. From here we had extensive views in all directions as long as they were not hidden by rain squalls. We only now had to walk a roman mile to reach our lunch stop overlooking the Roman fort of Brocolitia with its temple to Mithraeum. As we ate lunch with the wind on our backs the storm clouds where building up to the North West of us ie up wind.
No sooner had we finished lunch and started to walk it started to rain. So we all put our water proofs on. After a few hundred paces the rain and hail started in earnest for the next four Mile Castles and here heads down we plodded along pretending we were enjoying ourselves. On reaching Sewingsheilds Crags the rain stopped and hoods came down.
We continued along the wall for a further 1 mile (English) before reaching Housestead Roman Fort. From here a short walk down hill brought us back to the car park and our waiting cars.
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