Hadrian’s Wall England

Day 17/England 13

Stay: near Haltzwhistle, free parking on old railway line N54.9208 W2.5017

Visited: Hadrian’s Wall, parking Steel Rig £3/3hrs

It rained most of the night and it was still pouring this morning. 

We thought we may as well spend the the time cleaning our dirty laundry and googled for a coin laundrette and found one near Durham. Parked up and spent £6 cleaning and £2 drying and then we were off for Hexham. After some lunch we headed to Steel Rig Carpark to explore Hadrian’s Wall. It was built by the Roman Empire to guard the wild north- west frontier stretching 73 miles from coast to coast. We parked up at Steel Rig and paid £3/3hrs.

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 We then walked towards Sycamore Gap. It is reputed as offering the most dramatic views of the wall. We were not disappointed, although the weather could have been better, we rugged up and enjoyed the invigorating fresh air and the amazing views. The wall would have originally been 3m wide and 6 meters and  took about 14 years to complete from 122AD. Only 1O%  of the original wall is now visible. Every Roman mile was marked by a milecastle, a minor fort that housed a small garrison of 20 soldiers. Forts hosted 500 men, best seen at Chester and Housesteads. We walked as far as we wanted and then returned to Bluey. Along the way we met fellow Australians  and then gave a lift to their overnight accommodations before we continued on to ours. 

Ready for all kinds of weather...it was very chilly