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I slept a little longer than I expected, made a nice cup of tea and packed up. I chatted for a while with an ultra runner who was walking the Pennine away with a friend. Predictably, he was finding it very easy. I asked him if he was interested in trying the Spine Race. Interestingly, the steep descents, running in the dark and the rocky sections didn’t worry him. It was the stiles he didn’t like. He said they broke his rhythm.

I headed off at eight and started walking up and down along Hadrian’s wall again past mile castle 40 and towards the Sycamore gap. It was supposed to be sunny in the morning, but so far no luck.

I walked on further and arrived at the point where the Pennine Way heads north away from Hadrian’s wall. I realised I had walked past the spot where the sycamore tree used to be. I suppose that without the tree there is nothing there to draw the eye, nothing remarkable. Very sad.

I then walked for a couple of miles over a swampy plateau and then into pinewoods with evidence of major forestry operations . This was the edge of the enormous Kielder forest.

A little later as I was taking a photo I was surprised to see two people approaching at great speed. It was Rob the ultra runner, and Karen. As they passed me, I wished them a good walk. 20 minutes later I saw them again as they had stopped to filter water. Over the course of the next hour or two, we kept bumping into each other. Firstly, at a farmhouse that offered tea and coffee to walkers and then a couple of miles later as they walked back towards me having made a wrong turn. At this point, we decided just to walk together, which we did, all the way to Bellingham.

We arrived at 3:30 and pitched our tents at a campsite before the rain set in. They were both great company. We spent the afternoon in the pub with another walker, Natasha, doing the Pennine Way and then had dinner together at the Black Bull Inn. Karen was an archaeologist. Rob is a tech entrepreneur and Natasha is a hand therapist. You meet all sorts when you walk.

While the walk itself was fairly uneventful on a rather dreary day, the company came to the rescue and made it another day to remember.

Day Summary

Goodbye to Hadrian’s Wall. Hello to new friends.