hiya all
without much planning , just packed all essentials in Backpack , inc Tent and cooking/utentials/food/water , gps, etc etc
caught the train to newcastle, and taxi to wallsend,
started at 3pm sun 18th may. by the end of daylight reached Hedden on wall, to idle to put tent up after a few beers in the Three Tuns PH, they offered to put us up in a converted flat, fully self catering ...
MON
a long slog and did ot come across many facilities so just carried on walking eventually just as daylight was fading
reached a sign for a bunk house at Greenkarts Farm , so made the call , lovely lady answered , no problem , spent the night in a Barn full of Bunk beds with tea/coffe making facilities and microwave and toaster
so stopped there the second night, she made us a full english, and done us a packed lunch,
TUES
again a great day for walking hit most of the roman ruins, quite hilly so did not cover the miles,
came across a Honesty Shed , wow was this welcome, able to top up on refreshments, did not have change so probably overpaid, but well worth it . eventually reached a small village gilsland , but went slightly off route as there was a hostel in nearby Greenhead, ( needed to stock up on some food basics as had not seen a shop since mon AM.)
WED
started of again to gilsland to join back the path fairly long slog although not so hilly some fantastic views , manily round farmland , the fields never stopped ending , but by the end of the day reached carlisle. Thirst was kicking in , the first pub we came across was one called the Turf Tavern, enjoyed a Meal and a few pints, before we started to think about some where to stop , agaiin a field did not appear attractive for the last night , after looking around on internet for somewhere , the owner of the Carlise City Hostel was at the next table in the pub ( luck was on our side ) so we ended up stopping there for the night, as we had to return to carlisel the next day once finished the path, we asked if we could leave our backpacks in the Hostel for the day , Not a problem,
THURS
started with a breakfast at sainsbury's , then pick up the path again and went for it, eventually reached bowness at 2.45pm
looking forward to a celebration drink , but both pubs were closed, had to settle for a pot of coffe in wallsend tearoom
who were extremely friendly , and even arranged a taxi for us to return to carlisle to collect our backpacks from the hostel
Summary
excellent walk , everyone we met was friendly , wish i never packed the tent, if i ever do it again , will start at Bowness
as i dont think i will meet a closed pub at the tyneside part of the walk ...
