Hadrian's - Day 3 - Gilsland

Lanercost to Gilsland

less elevation gain ~715' but not by much

Notice that really steep decline right before the end. 

Breakfast room

Starter of fresh, and I do mean fresh, fruit

Mushroom omelet and gluten-free toast

The inn

A couple from Scotland who were getting toward the end of their east to west walk.

They stayed at the inn too. 

Never saw this WC

After a good night's sleep, another hearty breakfast and a ride back to Lanercost Priory from my hosts, I am back on the trail. Since I walked the extra three miles yesterday, I accepted the offered ride back to the trail this morning knocking off that uphill climb. Today should be a pleasant walk that follows a largely consolidated section of Hadrian's wall. It started off with a glorious walk through more farmlands and Roman ruins.

Just magnificent scenery

Birdoswald is 3 1/2 miles away. That’s where I’ll get my passport stamped. 

Seems like all the sheep have twins. I see two lambs with every mama sheep. 

Beautiful pheasant posing for me

First part of the wall

Hare Hill is a part of the wall you see as you emerge from the surrounding fields into Banks. Most of the rest of the wall in this area was broken down to build nearby Lanercost Priory. Day 3 and I finally get to see some of the Wall. I almost missed it too. I was watching my step and it was sort of hidden from the direction I am walking. Just happened to glance up at the right time. This section is a good sign of what I will see in the coming days. 

The day is filled with historic sections of the wall, plenty of ups and downs (literally and figuratively), and excitement at almost being halfway through the hike. This is going to be a lot different from Day One, the flattest part of the hike with no Roman artifacts.

I know you can’t tell it from the photo but you can see for miles and miles. 

Banks East turret remains below 

Turrets were placed about every 1/2 mile. 

Remains of Pike Hill signal tower built before Hadrians wall. 

A stile instead of a kissing gate. The steps are way too tall for me. 

Buttercup field. Gorgeous

A stile with a gate. So now I need to take a huge step up while holding the gate open. Piece of cake. 😁

Piper Sike turret 51a

The really weird looking plant in the front is hogweed

An honesty box and porta loo. What more could you need?

More rubber tires 

I’ve been walking for less than 1 1/2 hours and I’m already halfway. This is going to be a short day.  

Birdoswald West turret 49b

Made it to the highest point for today. 

Birdoswald Fort

I ran into the couple from Australia here and they asked if I had seen the “ladies”. I told them no and I didn’t really expect to after their first disastrous day. She said she felt they had probably pulled the plug. 🤣

Stamped my passport

Yay!!!

Birdoswald Roman Fort is an English Heritage site and museum. This is apparently the longest stretch of continuous wall on the entire trail. Skirting around the wall I am now on the other side of it and start walking through a field of longer than usual grass – because there are no sheep! No sheep also means no sheep poo – I take the wins where I can find them.

This is what you aren’t supposed to do. 

Less than a kilometer past Birdoswald and there’s another really prominent Milecastle, Harrow’s Scar. The path here appears to go right over the top of the wall, but if you look closely there’s a trail around, so don’t walk on the wall. 

The trail goes straight down the hill here. A very steep downhill in order to cross over the River Irthing. 

Crossing the bridge at Willowford I glance into the Irthing river below. It’s shallow, and clear, and if there was a bench I would have sat for a spell. This was the start of one of my favorite stretches of wall on Day 3. 

A turret precedes a narrow path between the snaking wall and a fence on the other side. As the wall gains elevation, so do I by way of some stone stairs that when you turn and look behind you, there’s the most amazing view of the wall cutting through buttercup-encrusted grass.

This is a really good example of the broad wall changing to the narrow wall. The wall was started with a base of ~10’ but later narrowed to ~8’. 

The path continues similarly for the next mile until a sign for Gilsland lets me know I'm almost at the end of today.

Arriving Gilsland. 

Gilsland village is unique in that it straddles the county border, half the village is in Northumberland and the other half is in Cumbria.

But there is really not much here.

There is a little stream

And a tearoom (see below), and a book stop, bus stop and mail post. This is where I sat when I got kicked out of the tearoom until I could get into the Inn. It blocked the wind a little bit but was still cold. 

Gilsland lies at the  confluence of the River Irthing and the Poltross Burn, where the remains of a Roman milecastle can still be seen. The sulphur waters brought tourists here 250 years ago and the railway confirmed its prosperity as a holiday destination. The Spa evolved into a convalescent home for Cooperative Society workers and became the maternity home for Newcastle and Tyneside during the Second World War.

Situated in the heart of the village is House of Meg tearooms, which offers a wide range of food and refreshments. The tea house has historic connections with a notorious seventeenth-century landlady called Meg Teasdale whose story was written in a novel by Sir Walter Scott.

John Keat's well-known poem, Meg Merrilies, is painted on the wall inside the House of Meg. 

I had vegetable soup and gluten free roll. I would love the recipe for that roll. 

I arrived in Gilsland at noon but checkin wasn’t available until 4 so I had some time to kill. There is nothing here except the tearoom. I’m really glad it was open on a Sunday. I sat in the tearoom for 3 hours (until they closed) using their internet to download pics for the blog. The owner was very gracious and said I could stay as long as I wanted. 

I felt bad so after about 2 hours I ordered a piece of gluten free carrot cake and some herbal tea and told myself it was the right thing to do. 😀

My lodging tonight is Dacre House, a luxury B&B right on the Wall path. Built in 1860, Dacre House has served many purposes, Temperance Hotel, Board Residence, Tea Rooms and Antique Shop. The question of the evening is: hot waterfall shower or soothing bubble bath. hmm

The decor is more 1960 than 1860 but nice. 

Dinner is the lamb harissa. 

Stats

Steps - 18,512

Mikes - 8

Elevation gain - 715’

"Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!"

Psalm 99:3