Hadrian's - Day 6 - Corbridge

Chollerford to Corbridge

Elevation gain 1303'

Before I start talking about today’s walk I want to add a couple of things I left out last night in my weariness. 

This was my walk yesterday as tracked by AllTrails. Yellow means very steep.

Red means climbing up the crag over boulders, nose to the ground steep. 

Connie, if all these steps lead to heaven, I think I should have been there by now. Kind of like life, lots of ups and downs, some much harder than others, but all leading to our permanent home with our Holy God and Father.

One other thing of interest. There are only two of us here at the Inn and we visited with the owner for a good long time last night. We were talking about the sycamore tree and here’s the story. All the land around here is owned by the Northumberland Trust. You can’t buy or own any of it so all the farms are leased, many for generations. One man who leases the land around there wanted to cut down some trees and you are not allowed to ever cut down a tree. After fighting with them over this issue for years, he decided to take action. His 16 yr old grandson was visiting and apparently is, what we call a lumberjack but they call something else over here. So the grandfather plotted the whole thing and his two sons and grandson cut down the sycamore in an act of revenge. Originally I had read that they had arrested a 16 yr old and a 69 yr old who were released. The grandfather convinced the 16 yr old to take the blame because they wouldn’t do anything to him. It’s the two sons who are now charged with the crime. She said they don’t really have laws against that sort of thing over here and they’ll probably just let them off but the public outcry from all over the world has been so great that they might try to make them an example. So now you have the scoop. 😁

On to today. 

The tea room

Love the tiles around the fireplace

And the window box of flowers 

The starters

Some really nice fruit with breakfast this morning. 

After a good breakfast I am on my way. Today will be a long day. I also know that it will involve a lot of road walking so I'm not anticipating as nice views as the previous days. Setting off from Chollerford, I cross the bridge over the river. 

Blueblossom

Crossing over the Chollerford bridge I sat looking at yesterday. 

There isn’t a sign for the Hadrian’s Wall Walk and I wonder if I’ve missed a turn along a nice riverside path. Nope. Continuing up the main road I see the sign which points me to the right, along another road. The views are pretty as I look down on Chollerford below.

On the map I see that I'm on a bit of a detour. I'm not actually sure why as it seemed like I could have continued on the main road instead of turning off. But the path is the path and I go with it. The path turns a few times and after walking for what seems like a while I'm back at the road I set out on this morning – just a little further up.

This is Glada walking up the hill. She’s the other one who stayed at the inn last night. She’s from Spain but has lived and worked in London for the past 14 years. She’s almost 100% remote since COVID. She spends 4 months in London, 4 months in Spain and travels the other 4 months. Rough life. 

Watch out for these tree roots. 

Leaving Chollerford, whether the detour route or the main road, includes some uphill. The good news is the rest of the day will be fairly flat. The detour includes one of the only wooded areas I would travel through on Day 6. It is nice and covered, although the day is not yet warm enough to appreciate that.

Brunton Turret

The detour added about a kilometer and it turns out that this is to see Brunton Turret, one of the final parts of the wall you will encounter. If you don’t mind missing this you can keep on the main road and avoid the kilometer detour. I personally enjoyed walking the farmland vs the road. 

It was right along in this section that a man was jogging by with his Australian Shepherd. He stopped suddenly and asked if I was ok, which I thought was really weird. I think he just wanted to share his knowledge about the wall and I guess I had sucker stamped on my forehead. He proceeded to explain all about the ditch, the Vallum and the military road. After about 20 minutes of this I said I better be on my way so he wanted to know where I was headed. He asked if I had a map and I showed him the GPS map that Macs gave me. He grabbed my phone to look at the route (dripping sweat off his nose all over it I might add 🤢) and said well that’s just rubbish that. Then he started telling me which way I should go. After about the fifth turn which if I turned right I would go by this and if I turned left I would go by that, I would go through the woods which was lovely, and then I would turn between two stone pillars, etc etc etc, I was completely confused. He pointed at my phone and said I can’t believe they’re sending you down the road. That’s just bollocks! He wanted to know what company I was using and said he was going to send them a note explaining the better way to go. I thought Lovely! Brilliant. British for Great! Awesome! But I can’t go that way without a map so I’ll be on my way. He explained that his wife helped build the trail we were on 21 years ago. I asked if he was a historian and said oh no he was social services. Took abused children away from their parents. I skedaddled before he got too much into that story. Whew! I followed my app all the way to Corbridge and he’s right. It was rubbish, bollocks. I was on the tarmac about a third of the day, partly on a very busy road. Hopefully he will get Macs to see the light so they can change their route. 

Just had a knock on the room door. The young man from the pub was bringing back my freshly done laundry. I was to call the Inn for transport from Corbridge. Apparently they normally call a taxi to pick you up but one wasn’t available so the owner of the pub came to pick me up. I asked him if there was a laundry around. He said they had a washer and tumble dry in a detached cottage. Is that what I was talking about. I said yes, that’s perfect! He said I’ll sort it with the staff when you check in. So the young man who checked me in and carried my heavy suitcase up to the room said just to bring him my laundry in a bag and he would do it for me. Wow! He was off doing my laundry while I was having dinner. What a deal!

Carlisle 39 Newcastle 18

Much shorter by car 😁

Planetrees is a short section of Hadrian's Wall, about 15 meters long. At Planetrees the Wall is narrow and is set upon very broad foundations. This illustrates clearly the change in plan that was implemented partway through the construction of the Wall when the initial wide Wall design was downsized to allow for a much narrower wall layout.

The first design for Hadrian's Wall designated a thickness of 10 Roman feet. Sections built to this plan are termed 'Broad Wall'. This plan was later altered to call for only 8 Roman feet in width. These sections are termed 'Narrow Wall'. Why was the plan changed? Various theories have been put forward, from lack of local building materials to expense, but the most likely theory is that the Romans simply wanted to finish building the Wall as quickly as possible and the narrower design speeded things up.

Duck!

Hmmm. Can I straddle this? Made it!

I’m not sure what turns this water that color. 

Mowing the trail

I laughed when I saw this sign 

This is the uneven surface

I am at the highest point of the trail today. Here’s the trig point. 

Nicely cleared path through this field. 

Needs a little clearing. 

Needs a lot of clearing 

If I didn’t have my Mac’s app saying I was on the trail, I would think I was lost. What trail?

And then it gets even worse. 

It’s up to my chin and I’m just walking down a row in the direction the app shows. Macs definitely needs to work on this. 

Finally I can see where I’m going, but now I can’t breathe. Allergies just went berserk after walking through that field. 

Corbridge is way down there in the valley. 

2 miles

Much road walking

Stopped for a little bit to watch them sheer sheep. 

1 1/2 to go. It’s misery walking over 3 miles downhill on tarmac. 

Corbridge began as Corstopitum, built by the Romans to supply troops manning the Wall. Stones from the Roman town have been used in many local buildings, including the Vicar's Pele, a fortified tower house beside the church.

The site of the Roman settlement has been excavated and can be viewed just north of the modern town. The Roman town survived into the 5th century, and surviving features include shops, townhouses, and military barracks.

Corbridge Roman Town

The Corbridge Roman Town museum, operated by English Heritage, includes items from The Corbridge Hoard, a wonderfully preserved set of Roman artefacts found in a wooden chest bound with leather and iron bands. The chest helped keep the objects in almost pristine condition over the course of almost 2000 years. Among the Hoard objects are weapons, writing tablets, armor, and a fully-equipped Roman workshop.

Corbridge is also known for its large number of independent businesses. The present day Market Place has a baker, art shop, traditional grocer and more and it was really busy today.

I’ve been hearing about this bakery from different people for two days so I had to go in and take pics. I can see why it’s so popular. 

In the medieval period, Corbridge was second only to Newcastle upon Tyne in size and importance. That wealth drew the attention of Edward I, who levied heavy taxes on the citizens of Corbridge to help finance his Scottish wars.

The first bridge across the River Tyne at Corbridge was erected in the 13th century. By the end of the medieval period, the bridge was in very poor condition and was finally replaced by the beautiful stone bridge I see today. The bridge was the only one on the River Tyne to survive the devastating floods 

The parish church of St Andrew is of Saxon origin, with an 8th-century tower. 

1771.

Within the nave is a complete Roman arch, doubtless scavenged from the old Roman settlement. 

Interesting stained glass. 

Just outside the churchyard wall, to the west of the Saxon tower, is The King's Oven, all that remains of a communal oven for baking the townsfolk's meat and bread. The oven was first recorded in 1310 and remained in use until the 19th century.

On the other side of the churchyard, tucked into the shadow of the pele tower, is the Old Market Cross, which stands atop a Roman altar salvaged from Corstopitum. The cross stood in the marketplace opposite the church throughout the medieval period. It was removed in 1807, restored and re-erected in its present location in 1975.

There are several attractive older inns, including the Angel Inn on Main Street, which was built in 1726. Another 18th-century inn is the Golden Lion on Hill Street, built as a coaching inn. The Golden Lion stands opposite the striking town hall, built in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

My lodging tonight is the Duke of Wellington Inn, a village pub located in the heart of the local community.

Hospitality tray

Crispy garlic chicken, cole slaw, salad and sweet potato fries. Yumm. 

It was a very unusual day of terrain, people, sheep, and conversation. 

Stats

Steps - 26,730

Miles - 11.6

Elevation gain - 1303’

"For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): 'I am the Lord, and there is no other.'"

Isaiah 45:18