Day 5 – Eden Bridge to Bowness on Solway

After a very comfortable night and a cracking breakfast at Vallum Barn we set off, limping, on our final stage of the week. Just 14 more miles to go and it would be mission accomplished.

Starting from the same point on the river Eden that we ended on the day before, we continued to follow the riverside toward Beaumount. Upon getting to Beaumount we once again bumped into our friends in the landrover. The team of 4 had been taking it in turns to walk a stretch each while the others drove ahead and vice versa. We must have been making good time then since we were always ’25 minutes ahead’ of them according to the driver on duty at the time.

By around 12 o’clock we had arrived at Burgh by Sands which is the place where Edward I died. As a memorial to the king there is a statue monument of him which we passed en route next door to the Greyhound pub.

The next stretch took us along 4 miles of tarmac road from Burgh by Sands to Drumburgh. Running along side the salt marshes this stretch was in no way welcome as the hard surface underfoot took it’s toll on our weary feet. Realising that our current pace wasn’t going to get us over the finishing line in the time we had expected we rallied each other and pressed on, full steam ahead. Regrettably for Simon the challenge of going faster was like a red tunic to a bull for Legionnaire Taylor as he started running on the stumps at the end of his legs where his feet used to be! With every few metres he seemed to be making more and more ground on the other two Romans, first just a few yards but in no time a spec on the horizon! In a futile attempt to keep up we found we’d covered the 4 mile stretch in just 40 minutes! He still beat us to the car though and was sat grinning and checking his watch as we appeared around the corner.

We took a well earned drink and twix break at the car and whilst there the Landrover team caught us up and gave us a wave as they headed on. Just over 4 miles left and we’d be done. It turns out it would be the hardest 4 miles i think any of us had ever done. Just keeping going was a challenge in itself.

At the midway point of the final stretch we took another break in a pub and had a swift half. Well, it’d be rude not to, wouldn’t it! The regulars at the Highland Laddie Inn got quite a shock and some were checking their pints as if to say ‘what have I been drinking???’. After a bit of banter between us and a Scottish guy who we drew our swords at we carried on. Just two more miles to go ‘left, right, left, right’ we had to keep thinking as each step got harder than the last. Away from the open fields now and walking along a path with the sea to our right as we came to a clearing and could see the sign for the Hope and Anchor Inn just metres away. This was to be were we would spend our final night in Bowness on Solway but we couldn’t take a break yet, still 1.5 miles to go. It wasn’t easy knowing that we had to carry on going as our B&B usually signified the end of a tough day! Heads down and with gritted teeth we got going again along the road again heading for the end.

The road between Port Carlisle and Bowness on Solway was (unfortunately for Andrew) closed off at the time to traffic while works were underway. So as he headed off on the 5 mile detour to get around we (thankfully) could take the shorter but correct route to finish the Hadrian’s wall path. With the sea spray flicking up on us from the choppy seas, they did a good job of refreshing us for the final push. We paused briefly to get a shot of us all next to the Bowness on Solway street sign, Simon stepping back into the nettles and further adding to the irritation and discomfort he was already feeling after being at the wrong end of a frenzied swarm of midges on Wednesday.

Bites, nettle stings, blisters and all we headed on, passing a sign that told us the finish line was just 130 yards ahead! Uphill along the road, down a ginnel, and round a corner and we’d made it, done! The finish was marked by an archway with a plaque on one side that read “Welcome to Bowness on Solway, 84 miles to Wallsend, Good luck” and on the side that we approached said “Welcome, The end of Hadrian’s wall path”.

We posed for a few pictures, some for the blog but the majority for our fellow walkers that wanted a snap of the Roman Legionnaires that had just walked the wall. A lady their kindly passed us some sponsorship money, and after a little break, and of course making sure we’d collected our last stamp of the trail on our passport cards, we made our way up to Andrew’s car to finally take our armour off and head for the pub.

3 Centurions, 5 Days, 84 miles. Now how many beers?…

Breaking News: The guys have done it!!!

All smiles at the finish line
full update on the last day to follow....

Day 4 – Gilsland to Eden Bridge

The night in the Greenhead Youth Hostel was an experience to say the least. On arrival the night before, after 22 miles of ups and downs along the wall, and with every inch of ours bodies crying out for a nice hot shower, we were informed by the owner “sorry, but the boiler has blown so there is no hot water at the moment”. Cold shower all around then, brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.


After this then Alan and Rob were woken at 1.30am (Simon was out for the count and not even a bomb going off would have roused him) by a still unknown man wandering into our room and picking out one of the spare bunks in our room! How strange. As Rob’s mobile phone alarm went off to wake us all up the following morning the guy jumped up and legged it for the door, never to be seen again. Still not sure what was going on, must have just been a Roman fantasist. Ahhh well glad we could help.

Some of us, that hadn’t been woken up by our intruder, were feeling fresh as a daisy to start day 4 and led the way along the wall. Heading for Birdoswald fort took as up and over Willowford bridge. The fort was the site for us to collect our 4th passport stamp of the walk so we stopped, stamped and took a few pictures of the remains of the fort. Not a great deal of it left now but there is a fortified manor house on the plot that is in the process of being converted to a YHA and is due to open in July so we only just missed out on staying there. Might have found that this place, being new, wouldn’t have had beetles scurrying across the cold showers. Oh the luxury!

After a quick break at Birdoswald to take on some water, we continued to Banks. Off of the wall now, we followed a narrow road through Banks village passing Bankshead farm. At this point, we are sorry to say, the Roman’s got lost. Yep, don’t know how we managed it but the trail, usually symbolised with an acorn sign at each style, suddenly stopped leading the way and off we went in the wrong direction. Not a great thing to happen after the mileage we’d done in the last few days, not to mention the mileage still to come. Realising the mistake the proper navigators, the ones that can actually read maps (Alan and Rob) got together to get us back on track. And that they did. A little ‘detour’ through Lanercost and we were firmly back on track and the acorn symbols reappeared.

Rejoining the wall now at Walton Wood we trekked on to meet Andrew who was waiting patiently at the Centurion Inn pub, much to his disgust though it didn’t open till 5.30pm. On the approach to the car we spotted that the same group of guys that had been tracking us the whole of the previous 3 days were now parked in their Landrover awaiting the arrival of their friends. We haven’t mentioned them until this point but they actually started out with us on day 1 at Wallsend, pulling into the car park at the very start only minutes after ourselves. They have told us that they have since seen us at Housesteads museum on day 3. Then today we saw them, and stopped for a chat, at Birdoswald, then a tower close to Birdoswald and now here at the Centurion!

So onwards from the Centurion. We soon got into our stride and began to push on with a lot of speed, flying on to Newtown 2 miles on and then four more on to Crosby-on-Eden. We covered these six miles in two hours. Much to Andrew’s amazement we arrived at his car an hour earlier than he had expected. Again he was sat out a pub, which was closed. (Oh dear) The support car for our fellow walkers we kept bumping into was parked in the car park again. We explained to their driver that we were now giving one final push to complete our intended 18 mile day and take us to Eden Bridge.

On we went trying to maintain the same speed with the wind at our backs and the sun in our faces onwards to Eden Bridge on the outskirt of Carlisle centre. This stretch is only 4 and bit miles and we wern’t feeling too bad, so we pushed on. Soon astride the River Eden, we found ourselves with a new friend. Shep the half blind sheep dog, was struggling to see his owner, who had traversed further up the bank, Shep kept us company for sometime, until the owner finally came back to find out were her dog was! Onwards and following the River, the walk was pretty undescript, the only high point being wading across a path of running cow poo, gross. Onwards and soon over the M6 and heading into Rickerby village. From there, through the park and towards the bridge over the Eden. We had to follow the riverside path, all the way round to Sands leisure centre. Alan managed to find a slight shortcut, to forestall his painful completion to todays journey. Arriving at the centre, stamping our cards and enjoying a very well deserved pint. Andrew arrived not much later and we headed off for our overnight stay at Vallum Barn.

Day 3, Chollerford –Gilsland

Starting an early morning, to give us the best chance of finishing our longest day of the walk , with a full English was just the thing. We departed around 7am from Chesters Walled Garden after collecting another stamp on our passport cards. It was certainly a day of ups and downs, and more ups and downs, literally. The wall carries on for what feels like forever in huge peaks and troughs, leading the way on to Bowness on Solway. At least now we are seeing the wall, up until this morning we hadn’t set eyes on anymore than about a 20 meter stretch! We had begun to wonder if we had come to the wrong place!!

You may notice at this point that the Romans are missing a pretty vital piece of their attire from our pictures of the day. Unfortunately this was down to a wardrobe malfunction, no not the same as Janet Jackson suffers from, but after 2 days of heavy use the hinges and bolts holding it all together had been put under severe stress. So much so that we needed urgent repairs to be carried out to enable it all to be usable for the next couple of days. Fortunately for us we have our resident driver, and all around armourer, Andrew on stand by (can he fix it? YES HE CAN!!) so we left the heavy stuff with him for the day and tasked him with getting it up and running for us for tomorrow, and boy are we glad we did!

The heat was already beating down and it was only 9 o’clock! Oh my god, we are going to roast today. Good job legionnaire Townend brought, along a supply of suncream, factor 30! We were soon smothered and set off. All up hill from Chesters and it was hard going to Tower Tye, here the levels slightly evened out and we came across a Mithras temple, very nice! Following the path we came across a couple of ladies, who appeared to be on their way to a shopping trip rather than an 84 mile walk judging by the next carrier bag one of the had in hand. They did though swear that they too had a driver that had gone ahead with the rest of their baggage. 10 mins later, we found Margaret and Charlie, who wanted to eat Robs fingers (Charlie the dog, not Margaret!). Margaret very kindly donated £20 to our cause, which is fantastic.

Legionnaire Taylor by this time had taken to Arabian techniques of taking the heat away, not having some linen to hand, a crafty t-shirt did just the job! The heat was very punishable, it was as promised, the hottest day of the week so far, though a nice breeze did keep us cool. The scenary is pretty amazing from this point as the Romans built the wall on the highest point for several miles. We Continued along at a fast pace, until we came to the first major port of call, no not the toilets but Housesteads Fort. Very impressive place, and had a very handy shop! From there it was a short 3 mile walk until we met Andrew. The hills at this point of Hadrians Wall, are as everyone promise’s, none stop up and down. 22 miles of this doesn’t seem like fun anymore. After a short food break, we continue along the path towards Sycamore Gap, only a measly 3 miles away. The walk there, was interesting as far as looking at the wall goes... To be honest, once you’ve seen a bit, it all looks the same! Sycamore Gap incidentally was the setting for a scene in the Kevin Costner, Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves film, you may have seen it yourself, it’s the part when Robin returns home from the crusades. Oddly enough coming to shore on the white cliffs of Dover but then running up along Sycamore Gap along Hadrian’s wall. Now that’s a walk!! (Must have got lost along the way somewhere.)

Now a long stretch took us to Caw Fields quarry. The route to the quarry was filled with yet more ups and downs which after 15 miles of the same started to weigh very heavy on the legs and knees. This coupled with the on going heat, showing no signs of letting up, made it all the more uncomfortable.

On the home straight though now with every instinct telling us to quit we headed on toward Walltown Crags, home to the noisiest sheep in the world! Bahhhhh this and Bahhhhhh that, they were going mental! This seemingly having nothing to do with anything either. No sheep dog around to spook them, no farmer to symbolise the possibility of a feed on the offing, and, given they were generally looking the other way, it’s difficult to put their mood down to our presence either. They were just crazy, enough said.

With the end at Gilsland in sight we pushed on eager to find the finish line were a nice cold pint lie in wait. Stopping briefly to take a couple of pics of the ruins of Thirlwall Castle we made the approach over yet another damn hill and rested our feet in the near by Samson Inn pub. Mmmmmmm beer....

Day III update

Adam here again...

As of yet I have not received an update for Day 3. This could be due to lack of an internet connection, after all they based in the wilderness now.

However, I do know they are all doing well despite aching limbs and feet. Day 3 and 4 may come today so keep checking back.

On a side note the online target has now been surpassed, but don't be put off, your donations are still very much needed for this great cause.

Day II, Heddon on the wall -Chollerford

After a wonderful nights rest at Houghton North Farm, We thanked Paula for a wonderful stay and with the generous donations from the ladies and gents there, the raw roman recruits set foot on the path to Bowness again. Rather an uneventful start, which was only broken up, when we entered a field with a bull in, having red tunics, wasn’t the best thing to have! A quick double step and we soon escaped any potential danger! We met soon a couple of guys, who were walking the same route, but in opposite directions. A quick photo and we were off. Only to be soon to be stopped for another photo stop, but this time the chaps, were going to Warrington!

6 Miles in and we arrived at our first checkpoint, the Robin Hood Inn, which handily was straight on our route. Bite of lunch and some emergency repairs to Robs armour and we were off, another 10 miles to go. The weather girl in the morning had promised us rain, but to this point none had materialised, not a patch on Keeley! So in the baking sun, we continue down our path. The path was very open and no shade was to be had. We were soon pouring with sweat, and badly needed some shade. Few minutes later and Nikki and Pip stopped us, for a quick photo and very kindly donated £20!! They assured us, that there was some woods up ahead which would provide lots of shelter from the unabaiting sunshine.

So with the encouragement that we may stop getting burnt soon, we continued! Across the road, back across the road, round a field. Now, I’m not a real roman, but I’m pretty certain that the Romans would have gone in a straight line! No wonder were all getting utterly knackered! The woods were soon in site, well after an hour! Another photo stop at the roadside cafe and some tissues to help control the Niagara falls from our foreheads and we trudge on.

Day 2 and we are really beginning to feel the pain, funnily, not from the rather heavy armour, but our feet! Onwards and upwards, we finally come into the woods, after taking on some emergency water from a very kindly couple from Maine, who donated £10, which is very good considering the exchange rate. Soon into the welcome woods, we managed to cool off significantly, we rejuvenated us to the extent that Alan was in the lead! The woods, though could not last forever, we were soon back to crossing the road, backwards and forwards on this never ending path. Now, we’ve been walking for a day and a half and we are still to see anything of this world famous wall... Wondering if it really exists or is just some tourist trap made up by the crafty Northumbrians, we to our amazement, cross the road again and find.. The Wall! Bring on the wall! Certain photo opportunity, the Couple from the states, caught us up, and took our picture! Our feet by this point were in agony, well Alan’s were.

How much longer! But knowing that there is only about 4 miles left and the thought of getting out of the sun spurred us on. All downhill from here (probably in all senses!) Another photo stop from a nice couple who’d slammed on their breaks, upon seeing some Romans, rubbing their disbelieving eyes. Not much further to go and we were soon in Chollerford and stopping at the next checkpoint which was Chester’s fort. Gladly picked up by Andrew, we were very shortly at our overnight destination and a very very very welcome shower! By the way, beep beep count today was 19.

Day I, Wallsend to Heddon on the Wall.

Alan, already in the tunic, (seems to be always wearing it), Rob and Simon quickly donned theirs in the carp ark. "Where's the start?" Andrew, our support driver, rescuer, and advance scouting party, quickly went to investigate, leaving the legionnaires to don the armour. All donned up, and clued up on where we start, Rob, obtained the wall passports, which were getting stamped at various points throughout the walk.


Off we set. Following the Hadrians wall path or the Route 72 bike trail. The route largely follows the course of the river Tyne. The smell of seaweed flowing through the air, well that’s what Rob said it was! Making excellent time and not feeling any major effects of the rather heavy armour, we soon find ourselves in the outskirts of Newcastle, St James Park on the horizon.

Continuing on along the river side we attracted lots of attention from the passing boats, sailing along the river. We waved our swords to all that passed and the good folk of Newcastle replied in kind. It's at this point we must point out just how welcoming and nice all the people we met were as we walked today. Every single person that passed gave a cheery 'Hello' or a nod of the head. Many took the time to enquire as to what we were up to and why we were putting ourselves through all this! Several also asked for permission to take a photo and some even wanted to pose with us - Say cheese!

On ward along the river side we could see an approaching battle ship. Curious to see its allegiance so hurried to take a look. Turns out it was a French battle ship so we stood guard and ensured the ship sailed passed, making sure it would be put off by the 3 Roman's patrolling the wall and would not try a sly invasion. Not sure there was really much chance but we made sure none the less!

With the threat taken care of we proceeded and eventually made it in to the Centre of Newcastle, passing the Millennium Bridge. Rather impressive and an obvious photo opportunity. After this we carried on along the river side again and under the other Tyne bridges. Alerted to the fact there were plenty of seagulls perched on the rafters of the bridge we were about to walk under, and lots of 'splats' on the floor beneath we got moving hoping to avoid getting a nasty surprise. Alan wasn't so lucky. Poor Al, got one smack on the front of the chest plate of his armour, eeeeeewwwwww.

A quick wipe up later we headed on to pass straight through Newcastle and sticking to the cycle route. Along the road side we weren't able to avoid plenty of car horns beeping (27 in total!) as the traffic followed passed and plenty of people waving as they went by.

Back off the main road and along 3 more miles of cycle path route (still no sign of the wall by the point!). Yet more people asked for photo's, one young lady giving Rob a real cheeky grin as she passed on her bike, naughty boy! He protested against our jibes many times with "I didn't do anything, just smiled and said Hi". We soon brought him back in check, there was walking to do!

This wasn't the end of the picture taking, as another couple of ladies asked for a photo with us. Must admit that by this time the helmet was weighing very heavy on the old bonce so we'd taken to just carrying it in hand for a while to give our necks a rest. Needless to say when you then get 'Oh wow look at you guys! Can i have a picture with you please? Err helmet on please, come on make some effort', that's all you need to slowly bring your hand to the sword handle and think 'If only...'. Just kidding, always happy to take a pic, just so long as we get a sponsor from people. Leaflets handed over, we pressed on.

The cycle trail seemed to go on forever. Now the aches were starting to get more intense and so we started hoping the end would be just around the corner. "Let's have a look at the map. It must be the end soon" was said plenty of times as we willed the right turn 'across a golf course' that the guide book we had promised. Finally it arrived, and with people teeing off and skewing shots at the sight of the Legionnaires approaching over the green, we made the necessary cut through and diverted through the woods following the yellow arrow signs from the trail.

Now on the outskirts of Heddon-on-the-wall we were really starting to feel tired after a day in armour and a 5am start. The rain began, just a shower, but it didn't make it any more appealing. We struggled on uphill, dragging ourselves along, knowing that the comforts of Houghton North Farm B&B lay only a few more metres ahead. We saw a sign, "Houghton North Farm 500m on the left". See.

Up hill again though it wasn't easy but we pushed it to get out of the rain. Thankfully up and around the corner our rendezvous point was in sight, The Three Tuns pub, and Andrew was parked in the car park waiting.

Once at the B&B and with the armour off, everything started to feel much better. Very achey shoulders, but the feet and legs still had life in them yet. Our hostess was fantastic, a couple of cups of tea and a piece of lemon drizzle cake later and the aches started to fade.

We jumped in the shower and set back out in search of a good meal, finding one in the local pub. Carvery, yum yum!

Back here then to write up our events of the day, and of course get a good nights kip *Yawns* It'll be another long day tomorrow...

The Final Countdown

As the boys gear up for what is a mammoth task ahead, they surely will be feeling the pressure. The heat has now been turned up to full. There's no time for practice or preparation anymore. This is it. With that tension and pressure comes a huge wave of support. As Simon said on the radio, the total of money raised will come in around at a whopping £2,500, a far cry from the initial target of £1,000.

I would personally like to wish them all the luck in the world, as I know they have all worked hard.

Lets hope for some good but not too good weather and if you do happen to see them, cheer them on.

The online target stands just short of£50 now, so keep those donations coming, and get behind Alan, Rob and Simon.

This is Adam Townend (Simon's brother) signing off, but I will be hopefully posting day to day updates from the boys (fingers crossed for technology)

First YEP, now BBC Radio Leeds

Here is a little radio interview Simon did for BBC Radio Leeds.

listen below



or if you encounter problems download the .mp3 file here

***Hold the front page!*** Hadrian's Wall Legionnaires patrol Millennium Square, Leeds (Monday 15th June 2009)

This week the Yorkshire Evening Post met us on Millennium Square in Leeds so that they could take a few snaps which then appeared in the following days paper.





See the article online here: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/video-and-audio/...

Final training walk – Castleford to Leeds

On yet another bright and sunny morning we were up at the rise of the sun and preparing to march for the day….. Well for twelve miles anyway.

The starting point was at the old roman settlement of Lagentium (Castleford to us now). Situated on the main Roman road running between Lindum (Lincoln) and Eburacum (York). The plan was to walk to Leeds following the route of the River Aire and Calder navigation.

We arrived in a deserted Castleford at 9.20, thanks to Barbara for sacrificing her Sunday morning lie in to give us a lift. Quickly strapping out packs on to our backs we were off for 9.30. We meandered across to the river and stopped to admire the bridge, well known as it was part of a recent Channel 4 programme hosted by Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs.
Fairly Impressive, although I didn’t see the bench that slowly rose from the floor. It wasn’t until I was towering over Simon that I realised I had walked on to the bench. Duh!
Simon was in his element, Hailing from Allerton Bywater he was close to home, He rejoiced in telling us about the bridge, hastily pointed out the wrecked boot that had gone over the weir, then led us away towards the right path.

After a quick, “I’m sure you can go this way. Though I would normally go that way. Ah, lets go that way!” Simon got us to the path we would not divert off until we reached Leeds.
So we were on our path, the sun was beating down on our back, the breeze was blowing in to our faces, it was a great day for a stroll. Everything was good and we set a good pace.
It wasn’t long until we came across a tyre dumped in the middle of the field. Simon decided it would be fun to roll it along with us for a while. That was until it fell over the first time and we couldn’t be bothered to stand it back up. We had moved it the great distance of 10 meters.

Onwards we marched on making great time the first mile disappeared and we had only been walking 20 minutes. A quick “Come on lads this is a great pace” from me seemed to encourage Simon and Alan to surge on.
Then we came to a field, not just any field but one with horses in. The very same horses that had chased me across the field a few years previously. I nervously climbed over the style and walked boldly onwards. Keeping one eye on the horses while chatting away to Simon. To my distress one of the horses looked up as we got closer and began to walk towards us only stopping after a few yards to graze on a large clump of grass. Phew!!
We raced past them and turned around to watch Alan walk passed, we had crossed the style and was highly amused to see the horses creeping slowly behind him. Thankfully we all got through unscathed.

So onwards again. Down a wild path with nettles and grass that towered above Alan’s head. Through a small patch of woodland that made a great tunnel around the path and into clouds of menacing midges. We were still making great time we reached the old open cast mine, which has now been turned it to a nature reserve. It was easy walking now down the Transpenine trail and we quickly reached the mariner at Lemonroyd. Not wanting to stop we headed onwards.
10 minutes later we decided to stop and have a break. For once Alan had sandwiches and not just twix’s. We sat there for a while and I looked at the time realising we had covered 5 miles in just over a hour and half.

After a break we set off again, refreshed and eager to get to Leeds we passed Woodlesford Lock and pressed on. That’s when Alan stopped for yet another photo opportunity. There swimming around were a couple of swans with several signets. So we watched as Alan took a few snaps.
“Right we need to catch those two just going around that corner.” I said. A quarter of a mile ahead a couple were just rounding a bend in the canal. Rising to the challenge we speeded along. Slowly catching them.

In no time at all we had reached the A1 – M1 link and were powering onwards, stopping only to take a photo of a part of the path where Alan thought he may catch a ghost on film.

We reached Thwaite Mills and was surprised to see the time. 12.50 and we were only a mile out side of Leeds. This was the fastest we had walked in our training. So when we came across a stone circle, which looked like a poor attempt at a miniature Stonehenge we stopped for a picture opportunity.
Simon bottled being the sacrificial figure on the alter so I braved the climb up and posed for Alan to take a quick snap.

From there on in we trudged along at speed until we came to a part of the path that disappeared into the undergrowth. Alan donned his Fedora hat to venture in, swinging a branch in front of him to cut the vegetation down. Simon and I followed glancing over our shoulders at the gate to a car park and the footpaths that would take us in to the city centre. After battling with the nettles and long grass for 15 meters Alan decided to jump through the fence into the car park, comically catching his hat from behind him as it caught on the fence and fell to the floor. We turned around and took the easy route.

20 minutes later we strolled across Millenium square to a join the WAGS, who had been sat waiting for us in the pub.

Training walk 6 - Hebden Bridge to Hardcastle Crags and beyond.

This time, Centurion Rob, couldn’t make the walk, So Centurions Al and Simon, offered the opportunity to our better half’s to accompany us on this one.

What a weekend, it was one of those rare hot sunny weekends, temperatures up in the mid 20’s, not a cloud in sight. Of course having the WAG’s along, made sure that we were smothered in sun cream. Very wise too.

So, we gathered in Leeds train station, decked out in our shorts, awaiting our express to Hebden. For once, engineering works had gone in our favour and trains, were direct from Leeds to Hebden! So, we took the 9.02 from platform 11a, fully provisioned with tea and a sandwich for the 30 minute ride.
Arriving in Hebden Bridge station, which has been kept in the Leeds Manchester Train company colours from the 19 century, the station has not drastically altered since then, which is good to see. Makes a great change from the bus style shelters at most train stations.

Our route starts from the train station car park and goes across the River Calder ,through the park, across the Rochdale canal and up to Hebden Bridge’s main square, well its more of a triangle. From there, we cross Hebden Water and follow the path. It was here, that we encountered the mysterious durkey. A cross between a duck and a turkey. Though the WAG’s, (Lynsey and Barbara) insisted it was a Tuck. We follow the road until we come to Salem Bridge. We cross over Hebden Water yet again and follow the path up past the archery club and eventually come out at Midgehole and the Blue Pig club. Not sure why the 80’s film Porkies came into my head at this point!

We come to the start of Hardcastle Crags just another 200 yards further onward. Lynsey was most happy, to see the ice cream van arrive and begin to set up shop for the day. She knew that if she got through the walk, her ice cream would be waiting at the end! Descending to the stream, we come across a fallen tree, a victim of one of the many floods the valley witnesses. After a quick log hugging session, Simon comes across something, which rebuffs everything my mother told me about money growing on tree’s. Simon, feeling the need, deposited 2p with the money tree. Fingers crossed his investment will grow.

The path ends at Gibson Mill, which is good, because the ladies needed to pay a visit to Yorkshire most environmentally friendly toilets. A couple of banana’s , twix’s and a nettle emergency later, we set off. Following the ‘blue’ route, we soon came across the mill pond, which had some little ducklings and, obviously, we had to stop and see how cute they were… hmmm. We also found some nice damsel flies and even managed to glimpse a couple of Newts, though the photo hasn’t come out that well. Now, I’d convinced everyone, that due to the baking hot weather, there wouldn’t be much mud on this walk. Sadly I was soon getting a lot of stick from Lynsey and Barbara, due to the rather muddy path. Don’t worry, this’ll be it, Won’t be much more mud today. So we traipse along the pathway, following the stream, across a few bridges and we head up the hillside. The path, was obviously at this point, not often used. Unsure of the actual directions, path finder Al, decides to just follow the stream, until we come to crossing point. Out of the woodland and into the open moorland, the path was becoming more and more difficult to see, some would say, that it had in fact disappeared entirely! Here we come across a nice little sunny stopping point, sunbathers on the other side were enjoying the rays. Such a nice scenic place, we decided to finish off the twix’s and banana’s and apply a little more suncream.

Now, eventually we crossed the stream of death (lynsey’s name for it) and as I was utterly lost, but not wanting to let on, we went up a very steep 3-1 incline. It wasn’t a path!
but at the top, there was one, phew. So, after a confident “ I told you, the path was here, that hill was just a little short cut” we set off.
I don’t know where I went wrong, but at some point, I lost the real path (Again) It must have gone in a different direction. We ended up by the streams edge and doggedly following it downstream.
We were then stopped in our tracks by a vast area of bog. Oh dear. “you said they’d be no more mud” A few prods here and there, showed that there was no way around it. We’d have to walk through it and hope its not more than ankle deep. Barbara to her credit, was first to attempt the crossing, deciding that speed would be the better way. Faster than a speeding bullet, she was across. Ankle deep and mud splattered but across. We all followed her route and we all get caked in sticky gooey mud. “Some people pay for this”. It didn’t help. I was in trouble for getting them dirty. The ‘path’, after another 200 yards of mud, water, slippery rocks and twisted tree roots, came to a final end. Faced with walking in the stream or climbing up the 20 feet of embankment. One look at the faces told me It was up the embankment. Myself up first of course and I was shocked to find a well used path at the top.....

So, down the uneventful (not much fun) path and back to Gibson Mill. It was another mile and the icecream van, was still there, selling his Yorkshire Dales icecream.
Back to the Blue Pig (couldn’t see any) and retraced our steps into Hebden, arriving at the pub slightly redder, muddier and more tired than when we set off.

Training walk 5 – Settle Caves and Waterfalls

I tell you what, that count down timer seems to be going pretty fast to me! It really brings it home as to how soon it will be until this all kicks off and the purpose of all this training has been realised.

Just to keep you all up to date on our progress so far we’ve been busily handing out posters and leaflets in local shops and offices, asking the shops if they would be kind enough to donate any prizes in the hope we can do a raffle or auction of some sort to boost our walk fund raising, organising Eurovision song contest sweepstake’s, getting in touch with the local press (with some success I might add), and, of course, getting another practice walk in on top!

We have managed to persuade some very kind shop keepers in the local area to support us by way of donations of prizes. Many thanks to all that have, this was very much appreciated. A list of everyone that has helped us so far is scrolling past above. Thumbs up to you all!

A Eurovision sweepstakes was held on several floors in our office building with people paying £2 per pick with a £1 donation going to our fund raising and the other £1 going into the kitty to pay out to the winner. A further £97.50 was raised as a result of this and a big thanks to David Watt and the lovely Barbara Ward for doing the organising of the sweepstakes in their respective teams – Thank you!

The 15th June will also see us meeting the press at a planned photo opp outside the Civil Hall on Millennium Square in Leeds. Councillor Richard Brett will be joining us as too should be the local newspapers. Fingers crossed we’ll get plenty of publicity from this and people will get to know about what we are doing and will sponsor us in what we are doing.

Sunday the 17th May was the date for our 5th training walk so far. We headed this time for Settle to wander around the Settle caves and waterfalls. Well I say waterfalls, I’m told that there was 2 but I must admit, at the time, I really did think we’d just walked back in a circle and revisited the same place. From the pictures of the day though I can see now just how different the 2 look! I think it’s safe to say I wont be the navigator while walking the wall.

It was another train journey to Settle which got us there for around 10.20am. The forecast was bad, rain and plenty of it, and the very dark clouds hanging over Ingleborough didn’t fill us with a great deal of confidence of staying dry. We pressed on regardless though with the now obligatory 12kg worth of weight in our packs.

Following the signs and Alan and Rob’s maps we meandered through the little town of Settle, heading for the fields and hills that lead up to Catrigg force waterfall. Not sure how we managed it but after going a little of course and having to back track we found the route we were looking for and pushed on up the first incline to get to the open fields at the top.

Onwards from there took us along the winding road side with the view of Settle below us. The clouds still looking menacing on the horizon so we didn’t hang about.
Roughly 3 miles in and we’d made it to a gate which lead us on down to the side of Catrigg force waterfall. For me, the best of the two (and yes I have now after seeing the pics convinced myself they are different so am fully entitled to choose a favourite :p) At the gate we met our first fellow walkers and told them all about what we were in training for. After passing them a leaflet each and them wishing us well we headed for the base of the waterfall.

After a quick break to take a few snaps of the impressive natural scenery around us, and Rob gleefully perching himself on top of a tree branch, looking very pleased with himself, we continued.

Back up waterfall side we had just gingerly made our way down and onwards along the path heading for the Caves. On the way our peaceful walk was suddenly gate crashed by what must have been the MG drivers appreciation society club (or the equivalent) as some 25+ MG TF’s, differing only in colour, shot passed us and off up and over, down and round the twisty turny country roads. If you were part of the convoy then give us a shout!

Onwards and upwards (or at least it was for Rob). You’ll be able to see from the pics that he attempted to scale a near vertical climb, without the aid of safety ropes or a net, and with his bare (Bear (Grylls)) hands. Pretty impressive I’m sure you’ll agree. Given he’d packed his bag so heavily though, eclipsing our measly 12kg (crazy man!), it didn’t take long for him to give it up as a bad job and jump from the dizzy height of 3 inches back to the floor. A valiant attempt and the pic does suggest he was a lot higher up, sorry Rob the truth is out!

We continued on relentless, even ignoring the warning sign in front of us that any lesser men would have turned on heel and bolted in the other direction just at the sight of, “Beware of Lambs”. In true, fearless Roman Legionnaire style we laughed the warning off and continued toward the caves, quick march!

We closed in and passed Jubilee Cave just a short while after as we continued to push the pace. We paused only briefly to take another snap shot of the now dubbed Booby Rock, I’m sure you can see why it got the name, and headed on for the next cave, Victoria.

An uphill climb took it’s toll, but spurred on by the sight of more walkers to catch up and leaflet for the cause, we kept going lugging the packs behind whilst in the back of my mind I was thinking “could I live without this bag….Is it such a big loss…..I could say the killer lamb took it…..”

Passing the other walkers and handing out some more leaflets we continued faster still with a downhill slope providing a nice break for the legs. We headed across 2 more fields (strangely heading a different way to everyone else, but hey, I wasn’t doing the map reading!) we eventually passed Victoria cave and emerged on a country lane.

Heading on now toward waterfall number 2, Scalebor Force. We continued along the country lane for a mile of so and arrived at the top of our destination. Clambering down, which with the practice we’d had had now become quiet good at, reached the bottom. Scalebor Force isn’t as big as the Catrigg Force but still has it’s own unique features that makes it just as interesting and impressive to see. The cascading waters pounded down to a small pool, on a ledge, midway up. The flow then drops to a second ledge which is accessible (as you can see from the picture of Rob and myself stood on it) with a bit of a climb. The shot was taken only moments after Rob had done his good deed for the day in giving a helping leg up to a lady trying desperately to climb up and over to the ledge for a better view of the waterfall. Being a true gent he wasted no time in offering a helping hand and then duly slapping a leaflet in her hand in hope of generating another sponsor, good lad!

After a break for a bite to eat (twix time) and allowing Rob to start scrabbling up the muddy embankment which lead up the side of the waterfall, we still aren’t sure why, he just did it, and got very muddy hands for his troubles (got a shot of him giving us a wave from the top though) we headed back up to find the road again and being our decent to Settle.

The rain clouds where beginning to form over head just as Keeley Donovan, the weather girl, had foretold. Heads down and onwards we went, trying to out run the rain clouds but on a day as windy as it was they seemed to be catching us very quickly even though we were walking at full tilt!

The road steepened downwards toward Settle allowing Alan to stop for more of his ‘artistic’ camera shots, of close up’s on flowers and the like, and then run to catch us up. He gathered quite a speed as he shot towards us, passing us like Linford Christie. Disappointingly though when it looked like he wouldn’t be able to stop and would instead get to Settle in only a few seconds or just career, hit a wall, and land on a sheep, he managed to slow himself to a stop, even turning with a grin as if to say “Ha ha I didn’t even die!” Smug.

Alan’s extra pace though had kept us in front of the rain clouds but it was clear that they were still catching us as by now we where on the very edge but with Settle just a few yards ahead.

We made it down to Settle shortly after, only getting caught in a quick shower, whilst we cut through the Settle Festival. After taking in the atmosphere and looking in vain to find a ‘tunnel of goats’ or ‘spider baby’, given the feel of it all it would not have surprised us, we headed for a pub. And (and I’ve been made to say this) we played pool and Alan remains undefeated. Happy now Al?

Let’s hope there is another pool table on our next planned walk around Hebden Bridge and I’ll report back to tell you if he managed to fluke his way to remaining undefeated again. I doubt it though :p

Bye for now.

Simon

Simon's Seat/Twin Peaks - Training Walks

Ahhh, training..

Do we really need to train for a 84 mile, 5 day walk?
An unequivocal, Yes. Sitting on the sofa watching sports or being in the pub discussing training, doesn’t actually qualify as training apparently. Hmmm.

So, We find ourselves in Bolton Abbey land, almost like re-visiting the scene of a crime. Though this time, there would be no Romans, there would be no startled car drivers. We were here to do a job, and that was to get fit.
We, (well Rob) parked up in the Strid car park, and we set off down to the strid and followed the path as far as Cavendish pavilion. The snow drops were out in force, the Ransons (wild garlic), were just emerging, providing lots of opportunities for me, the team photographer, to stop and shoot. Down to the bridge past the ice cream munching munchkins (it really was too cold for ice cream) and up into desolation valley, it's called this because a long, long, long time ago, there was a flash flood which destroyed the oak forest there. So onwards and upwards, through the pine plantation and out into the open moorland, where the grouse are tame and the call of the curlew spirals through the air. Wasn’t long, before a group of aged ramblers, were whizzing past… “I’m 75 you know, you should be much faster than us” Hmmm, maybe we really should do a lot more training. Inspired by the ramblers, we picked up the pace for the last 2 miles to the top, sadly disappointed that there wasn’t a bacon butty stall at the top, that the ramblers had promised. A fantastic panorama from the top of Simon's Seat, certainly worth the 5 mile walk up there. Sadly, as well as the wonderful scenery, we could also see snow clouds and they were coming our way! A quick lunch and set off on the return leg, via Howgill. 2 hrs later, we were sat in the car, pondering a pub lunch!

The next training walk took place on Sunday 26th April, quite a while since we’d last ventured out. What a glorious day, not a cloud in the sky. This time, it was decided that we’ll go by train to our destination of Ribblehead. Waiting for the train in Leeds, we met Stan, a veteran walker, “oooh, that Hadrians wall walk, is really tough, Some of those inclines are only as wide as this platform you know,”. Filled with his confidence, we boarded the train, which duly arrived at Ribblehead at 10.45 (late as usual!). “Oh my, how cold is this? It was much warmer in Leeds”. For this training walk, we had decided to weigh down our rucksacks with at least 10 kilos to mimic the weight of the armour. We set off from the station heading north to Whernside. Wasn’t bad going, we even found a small lake, which Rob was certain looked like a map of Europe. To the top of Whernside, bite to eat, quick chat we the invigilators for Duke of Edinburgh award and we were away, should be easy, all down hill from here, well, nearly. All I can say, is that, when someone has gone to the trouble of making stairs, up/down Yorkshire’s tallest peak, use them! 6miles in and at the bottom of Whernside, heading to our secondary target of Ingleborough. Now, none of us have done this walk before, so, after a lunch break in a field, we cunningly let some chaps pass us so we could follow them.

They led us, to what can only be described as a mountain goats trail. A 150 feet climb over 30 feet forward. “Oh my god, that can not seriously be the way up”
Oh yes it is. But then, when you get to the top of this vertical cliff, there’s more!
The top of Ingleborough was windy and cold, and we were utterly knackered (well two thirds of us were). The weight was beginning to show, feet were not picking up properly, a couple of ankle sprains later and we were at least walking on steadier ground, heading towards the finish line at Horton in Ribblesdale. Now the problem with using trains, became apparent. The last direct train was at 6.08 and we had at least 2hrs walking left to do. Should make it. But lets hurry just in case the pubs open. Which indeed it was! Arrived at the Crown Inn, in time for a quick pint, before hobbling to the station and the last train home. The additional weight has certainly showed us that this isn’t going to be a walk in the park, by any means.

Alan

The Photoshoot

We’ve decided to push on with getting the publicity for the main event underway. We’ve come up with several ideas for posters, leaflets, and business cards. Our final poster design is available here on the blog for you to print off and pin up to help us raise even more awareness of what we are doing. It’s down the right hand side of the page, you can’t miss it.

The venue for most of the design work was the pub across the road from our office (what better place could there be eh?) Well maybe Alan would suggest the river bank so that he could get some fishing in at the same time. Simon would no doubt suggest a poker night at his place with a spot of Nintendo Wii for good measure to see with that gets the creative juices flowing (not all too sure how it would though). Where as I would definitely suggest an evening down Headingley Stadium watching the Rhinos thrash somebody and then discuss poster ideas after. To keep everyone happy though, we’ll stick with the pub idea. I think at some point everyone has sat in the pub putting the world to rights in one subject or another so to come up with some good ideas what better place to head for?

We decided that we needed pictures to go on the posters so we ventured out, in full uniform for the first time, to Bolton Abbey. On a day when the weather couldn’t have turned out any better, we arrived at Bardon Tower and disguised ourselves as rough, tough centurions. (Well maybe not.) Much to the amusement and surprise of several families, we walked up the hill to where we thought would be the best setting for the pictures. Several cars nearly crashed as their owners rounded corners to see three centurions walking up the road towards them.
Warren Davies, the photographer we had managed to convince to help, must have wanted to hide! You can view his work at www.warrendaviesphotography.co.uk
A big thanks to him for his time.

Next update will be coming soon as we want to fit plenty more practice walks in, including a 2 day back to back walk to try and get used to walking a longer distance over consecutive days. We are also trying to drum up some interest in the papers, TV, Radio and online so keep an eye/ear open for us!

Keep your support coming! Thanks

Rob

Training walk 2 - Leeds Liverpool canal

The next training walk took in the Leeds to Liverpool Canal, from the basin in Leeds to Bingley train station. How long would you expect this to take on the train? Well I’ll tell you, just under 20 minutes. How long would it take to walk that distance though? We covered the distance, a fairly easy walk of generally flat terrain totalling 17 miles in 5 hours. Given that we were able to stick to the towpath that runs alongside the canal we were able to walk at a pretty fast pace. I think at this point it really started to hit home as to just how long a day it would be when we do the 22 mile stretch on day 3, between Chollerford and Gilsland. Not to mention that we’ll of course have all the armour on at that point too! I think it’s safe to assume that walking at the pace we did along the canal would likely inflict severe pain if we attempted it in full armour all day long. We’ll certainly have to learn to pace ourselves much better and look to take things easier on the harder, hilly parts of the Hadrian’s walk. We’ll have to do this to make sure we are able to make it to our check points at the end of each day.

Hopefully by the end of June it will have warmed up a little and will feel no where near as cold as it did along the canal side. It is just the week after our snow walk and so there is still a chill in the air. The snow on the ground has all but melted away with only small pockets remaining, hidden away at the bottom of walls where the warm sunlight doesn’t get to. The canal is frozen over in large areas and is thick enough that you can throw rocks out on to it and they’ll just bounce off without smashing through. We’d tried this out a few times and the walk soon started to form a similar 5 minute cycle of walk, walk, walk, walk, stone, throw, whack!, “Bloody hell, hasn’t even gone through!”…walk, walk, walk, walk, stone….
Daft I know but it passed the time!

Between all the walking and ice smashing we’d pass other walkers and cyclists out enjoying the crisp fresh air. It’s always nice passing people while out walking as you can always guarantee that you’ll get a smile and a nod and a friendly “Hi”, “Morning”, or a good old Yorkshire “’Ow do”. Rob too made a new friend in the form of a small dog out for a walk with its owner. Fido too passed on its own brand of excitable greeting as it bound toward him and headed straight for his leg, I’ll say no more than that though and leave the rest for you to decipher for yourselves!

Mile by mile passed by and we were nearing Bingley station knowing that in around 2 and a half miles, we’d reach our destination for the day and be able to grab a pint before taking the train back to Leeds station. The 2 and a half miles, at our current pace, should have taken us around 45 minutes. Needless to say, the lure of the pub being so close did hasten the final stage of the walk, just a tad.

30 minutes later, beer in hand, we sat back to catch the second half of the Italy Vs Ireland Six Nations game and after that headed back to Leeds, the quick way, chooo chooo!

Simon

Tunics - the making of, and the snow walk

Now the uniforms are all coming together nicely we have decided to begin our training walks. The first one was a bit spur of the moment. The snow was coming down and Alan sent an email around. Anyone fancy a snow day tomorrow? It seemed fitting that since the walk idea was originally from the previous snow day, almost exactly a year to the date, that we would treat it as a training walk.

So on a very snowy morning I set off on a round trip of Leeds to pick the guys up. After several slippery encounters with roads between Simons and Alan’s we finally arrived.

We’d headed north to Addingham, where we left the car and wandered up Beamsley Beacon, finding several snow drifts on the way. At the top the snow was thigh high in places and Alan, being the shortest, struggled to keep up with me and Simon. Though he soon found a way to get ahead of us and began crawling along the top of the snow.

After a brisk stop for lunch we descended via our own path, which took in the places where the snow looked the deepest. Then the inevitable happened as I ran ahead and managed to get both legs stuck in a drift up to my waist, losing balance I fell face first into the snow. Holding out my already frozen hands to stop my fall I looked around to see both Alan and Simon in hysterics. After several attempts at getting me up Alan ended up on his back in the drift too. A hour and half later we were in the car on the way to a nice warm pub.

Rob

The armour has arrived

When Simon told me the armour was heavy I laughed it off.
“Can’t be that bad” I had said.
So when it turned up courtesy of Townend’s Courier Service. (a.k.a Simon and his black Saxo). I was surprised to feel the full weight of it.
By that time Alan had already had his for an hour and text messages from him were heading my way every few minutes.
“Looks good.” “My helmet is too big.”
After cleaning the grease and grime off my armour, I finally got ready try it on.
After receiving several bruises and a few scratches I was able to stand with it all buckled up, only to find I had put it on backwards!!
This walk suddenly seemed like a very demanding task.

Having got the armour, I turned my attention to arming us for the walk and getting material to make the tunics.

Trawling through material shops, looking for the right type of material, didn’t strike me as very macho, so I dragged Alan along to make it less embarrassing. Disturbingly we began having conversations about how soft the material was and if it was the right colour. I’m sure legionnaires wouldn’t have done that!

Finally I decided to seek advice from the older generations. My grandparents.
I should have done this earlier as they found some material that was suitable within a week. Kindly they offered to buy the material for us, as a donation to the walk.
So on to making the tunics. Purchasing several cheap yards of material to experiment with proved to be a good idea.

My first attempt fit well, like a glove, a very tight glove.
The second attempt was better a little more fitting for a Roman soldier.
Eventually I turned my attention to making the three tunics, measurements provided by the other two. Miraculously they all fit well.

In the meantime our wooden swords had turned up and I had measured up and got material to make authentic looking scabbards (sword holders if you’re not sure) for the three of us. This is still work in progress – we hopefully should have some pictures for you soon!

Rob

Bring on the Wall, Update!

It’s been a little while since we last posted further details of our efforts so far and things have moved on nicely since then so we thought we’d bring you up to speed.

Well we have now officially confirmed Martin House Children’s Hospice as the worthy cause for which we are taking on this huge task. We met with a representative from Martin House, Amanda, back in November and she was thrilled that we had decided to do this. We explained all what we are hoping to achieve and she has kindly arranged a letter of confirmation to show that Martin House are happy to have our support (and your donations!) The letter can be viewed right here on the blog so feel free to take a look.

Since we had the foundations in place with Martin House on board we set out to get things rolling by trying to come up with a route to follow over our 5 day hike (and no, it’s not just a case of following that big wally looking thing). We needed have a realistic target point to walk to on each day. Somewhere that would ensure we could get there in the time we have available, but also somewhere that we can be sure would have some sort of B&B available for the night. Pub time! We gathered around a table, pint in one hand, map in the other, and surveyed the Hadrian’s wall trail for the best sites to take shelter for the night.

“Right starting point, Wallsend, obviously, and then on toooooooooooo, Heddon-on-the-Wall??”
“Yeah looks good to us, ok write that down……another pint?”
“Yep!”
That’s pretty much how it went for most of the night till we decided on our final target points along the route. We’ll be walking from;

Wallsend to,
Heddon-on-the-Wall to,
Chollerford, on to,
Gilsland then to,
Eden Bridge and finishing in,
Bowness-on-Solway.

The route being as it is (planned for the best places to stay rather than just breaking the walk up into equally sections and just seeing where we finish means that some days walking will be longer than others. Our days will range from 17 miles up to a maximum of 22 miles meaning that all being well that should mean we complete our walk on Friday 26th June.

Now we have the charity and the route we needed to look at sourcing our armour. Strangely enough there isn’t much call for authentic Roman Legionnaire Armour anymore! So finding a supplier that actually still produces these was a task in itself. A google search produced a great result for us in the Ermine Street Guard, a Roman military re-enactment group formed back in 1972. What they don’t know about the Romans isn’t worth knowing so we emailed them to ask advice and how to get our hands on some authentic Roman armour. They very kindly came back to us with all sorts of great advice from how to wear the armour in the most comfortable way possible, how they get on wearing it for longer periods of time and some contacts we could get in touch with to try and get the costumes we were after. We sent off a few emails and waited eagerly for replies.

We’ve been trying to source our costumes for a week or so now and without great success. Most of the places we had contacted would usually loan costumes out for re-enactments or for use in TV shows. Clearly then, when we started talking of walking in them for 5 days straight, we were told that their service probably couldn’t help due to type of event we were planning. Doh! Back to the drawing board it would seem, that is until Alan made a break through and found a place online that sells replica Roman armour! Result!!

We have contacted the website to see if they had 3 Segmentata (body armour to you and me) and 3 helmets available. Thankfully they do and we are looking to arrange collection of them as soon as we can. We’ll update again soon to let you know how we get on collecting and, most importantly of all, putting on our new kit and seeing if it is as uncomfortable as the Ermine Street Guard have warned us. Sure hope not!