After breakfast we drove about an hour north-east to a good section of Hadrian's Wall. The wall was built across England, 73 miles long from sea to sea, marking the northern boundary of the Roman Empire, keeping the northern barbarians in their place and controlling movement of people across the border. It was built in AD 122, out of stone, about 14 to 20 feet high and ten feet wide, with forts and towers and a huge ditch running along on each side. It took 20,000 troops to build and defend it. So we came here hoping to walk along this section of the wall, one of the best preserved parts, and wonder about the Romans. Out the window of our guesthouse is the chicken coop, the chickens are running free right below our window. Just behind the coop, maybe twenty feet away, runs the vallum, or ditch. Hadrian's Wall crests the ridge about 200 yards behind us. It is cloudy, but not raining, and the wind is blowing, but it's not really cold. So we set out from our guesthouse on a six mile hike, up to Winshields Crag, the highest point of the entire wall. The wind is fierce up there, and it's a little colder. We continue on along where the wall is built on top of some cliffs, passing a tower near Steel Rig, a fortress at Milecastle 39, down through a dip called Sycamore Gap because of the huge tree there (A Kevin Costner, 1991 Robin Hood movie featured this tree, but I haven't seen it). We hike up and down along this rock cliff ridge fighting the winds. The wall is still thick in some places, fitted rocks about six feet high. Other places the rocks were hauled away by the locals to build their houses. Up and down, a slow motion roller-coaster. We walk through tall pine trees, they amplify the sound of the wind. At Milecastle 38 we turn off the wall, around a lake called Crag Lough and out across golden rolling fields of buttercups, north of the wall (in Barbarian territory now) to loop back to our guesthouse. The wind is blowing so hard I am deaf.
We hit the Once Brewed ranger station slash information office slash youth hostel, and walk over to the Twice Brewed Pub. We kind of blow in the door to warm smiles and laughter of other walkers and locals who are gathered there, and have some local beers: Scottish Borders Brewery Foxy Blonde for Gail, Twice Brewed Bitter for me. I order a hot roast beef sandwich, Gail gets scrambled eggs. It is the only pub in miles, just a hundred yards from our guesthouse, and we will return for dinner.
This little area, guesthouse, hostel, pub, park headquarters and a few farms, is all together the hamlet of Once Brewed. The pub name has to do with some too-weak beer that had to be made over, thus it is twice brewed. The town name comes from a lady who started the hostel and said the only drinks served there would be once brewed (tea, coffee).
Well, by now it is getting to be later in the afternoon, and right on cue it starts to rain. We go back to fetch up Buddy and tear off to see a couple museums built where some of the Roman forts are, but as the rain picks up we are not too keen on getting out to look at piles of wet rocks, so after short visits we return to the guesthouse to read and drink hot cocoa.
This is such a rural place that it just reeks of sheep. All day the smell of sheep has been heavy in the air. The rain has cleaned it out some, but you can still smell them. Our room is cool, they are not running the radiator heat and there is no fire in the fireplace in the lounge area. Back at the Twice Brewed it is warmer, but again no fire. Gail is puzzled, why is no one, from Wales now up to the Scottish border, why doesn't anyone have the heat on?
No mystery to me, it's summer! Who runs the heat in the summer? Never mind that everyone is in their wraps, it is glorious summertime! Back at the Twice Brewed had a hearty chicken and bacon pasta, Gail had fresh cod just over from the coast. Good, hearty walking food. Around 22:00 the sky is fading from grey to black; this is the English sunset and we have seen weeks of them.
Tomorrow is our last grey English sunrise, as we head north into Scotland for the next week.