Day 65 - Bardon Mill to Bellingham - 17.7 miles


I reckon it was the the Talisker that did it!!
When Herbie knocked on my door at eight, I woke up feeling that my head and my body were not quite in the same room!! After breakfast, Susanne kindly dropped me off at The Sill - the National Landscape Discovery centre,
 a striking new building on the old military road which runs for miles parallel to Hadrians Wall.
Neither body nor brain were ready for the walk quite yet, so a few more strong coffees were called for before I could countenance setting off! The cafe in The Sill duly provided! 

The roof garden is a long slow slope planted with relevant plants.

I met Susan and Les.  Originally from Blackburn and Grimsby respectively they now live in the Midlands.
They'd been staying in an old house built on the line of Hadrians Wall. We joked about whether under a moonlit night they'd seen or heard any ghostly soldiers marching by - an exciting thought.
Susan's brother, John Wilson had recently had a lifeboat named after him - following its commissioning in Poole,  it is now serving one of the Irish lifeboat stations.

The information boards explained how the Romans selected this geological feature to gain an intimidating advantage in altitude to suppress any attack from the North. 

I left The Sill and walked up on to the line of the wall about half a mile away.
Sycamore Gap must be one of the most photographed sections of the wall , 
where it dips suddenly in height and an opportunist Sycamore must have happily found itself.


I walked along the wall to the West gate of Housesteads, one of the best preserved Roman forts - Vercovicium.

..before returning to the route of the Pennine Way where I turned North. 

Hadrians Wall is obviously very popular ( with lots of Scandinavians if my random sample is anything to go by.) So it was quite a shock to so suddenly leave all signs of humanity behind and head off across the lonely barren Moor.

apart from the occasional sheep fold.

There had been word that parts of the path were impassable because of a legacy of damage from Storm Arwen and some lengthy detours were in place. A number of people I'd met had said that there were some shortcuts but stupidly, I hadn't checked on the Pennine Way Facebook page to check on the actual location of the remaing detours.

I saw the first of the detour signs and chose to ignore, and the second and the third...plugging on across boggy areas of forest that had been cleared leaving brush and smaller branches across the path. 
By the time I saw the fourth detour sign I was within half a mile of the end of the forest and naively hoping that my luck would hold. But absolument non!! This must have been the site of the worst of the damage - it looked as though swathes of trees had been ripped down and left in precarious angles across the path. Totally impenetrable.
A detour of a few miles and stacks
and stacks of log piles later and I was back on the path.

The route passed through some high farms close to the edge of the moor.
A very friendly horse that almost got to the stile before me....
...and, Well, the sign did say "Beware of the bull"

Then the final descent and a bit of a trudge to Bellingham ( the Northumbrian pronunciation is Bellinjam)
The centre of Bellingham proudly displays some spoils of war - a Chinese Gingall - captured by a local naval captain during the Boxer Rebellion.

I'd arranged to meet up again with John and Stuart who'd also caught up with Dan (Dutch Dan) and James (Viking man) ..by now names were becoming a bit of a blur for everyone and apparently for the last few days because of the rain cover on my packback I'd been known as 'orange rucksack guy'. Ah well! 

Total distance walked so far = 842.3 miles
Total ascent so far = 100 561 feet

If you'd like to leave a comment, correct me on any detail or just nudge, it'd be great to hear from you. If initially it comes up as Anonymous, please just add your name at the bottom so I can see who it's from.

email: david.LL.thomas@gmail.com
mob: 07850109100

If you'd like to contribute to any or all of the great charities I'm supporting, here are the relevant links.

- Just Wheels UK  - this is a small charity set up to provide wheelchairs in a rural community in Tanzania. It does this through funding training, education and the local fabrication and servicing of bespoke wheelchairs. My nephew uses a wheelchair and as he grows I can see the life changing freedoms that proper wheelchairs can bring to both users and their families.- 

- Parkinsons UK   - My dad had Parkinsons in his latter years and the research work this charity funds and the support it provides to patients and their families is invaluable. - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david-thomas215


- RNLI   - these are the brave guys who selflessly head out to sea to help others. I volunteer at Littlehampton RNLI shop and often meet families of those who’ve had first hand experience of their loved ones being saved from the sea. Having sailed for years I can say thankfully we’ve never had to call on the RNLI's services but it’s amazing what it does to know they are there 

https://www.justgiving.com/

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