Housesteads to Chollerford and Humshaugh
Walked by Sally and Richard, 1st June 2016
11.25 miles of walking, about 10 miles on route of Hadrian's Wall Path
Click here for all our photos of this walk.
As I sit drafting this description in the evening of the walk, the sun is shining and I'm inside out of the wind (in the pub, waiting for my evening meal!) so it is easy to forget that today has actually been quite cold; indeed it was so cold that at one stage I ended up wearing a spare pair of walking socks on my hands in lieu of the gloves I forgot to bring with me. So much for blazing June! It was however dry all day and we enjoyed the walk.
We had another good night at the Ashcroft Guest House and another lovely breakfast (omelettes this time) - they thoroughly deserve their 5 stars and Gold and Breakfast Awards and I was amazed to discover that they run the busy B&B alongside other jobs. We've had an early breakfast to ensure that we had time to catch the 9.08 AD122 bus back to Housesteads Roman Fort. Thus is was that we found ourselves walking back up to the fort shortly before they open; there is a path around the visitor centre, presumably for use when the latter is closed, but in fact the exit barrier at the visitor centre was open so we just walked straight through. Housesteads felt much nicer without all the people!
We took a path around to the east of the fort itself and rejoined Hadrian's Wall Path. I managed to graze my knee on a wall (not The Wall!) trying to take an artistic photograph of the crags to the north of the fort, then we set off through a small area of woodland then back onto open ground, all the while walking alongside Hadrian's Wall which in turn followed the edge of the whin sill outcrop as it rose and fell.
We climbed, in turn, Clew Hill then King's Hill, then the ridge took a turn to the north and we climbed up to Sewingshields Crags, complete with triangulation pillar. The visibility was not great, but there were still good views back to the crags we had walked along yesterday, with Broomlee Lough in the foreground.
The landscape became gentler to the east of Sewingshields Crags, and we walked through a small plantatation and past a house at Sewing Shields. The path drew close to the Military Road; we were walking to the north of the road, but I think there is an alternative route in this section to the south of the road, closer to the "Shield on the Wall Dam". We were walking at about the same speed as a group of teenagers on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition. They were carrying heavy loads (apparently camping) so stopped quite frequently, but when they were walking they were going slightly faster than us, so we were playing leap-frog with them for much of the day.
We skirted Carraw Farm then crossed the road and a ladder stile. Here was just the sheltered place we were looking for, so we sat down and ate our lunch. There was a boggy section within sight of where we were sitting, and we watched various walkers finding their way through to Brocolitia Roman Fort and Mithraeum (the Temple of Mithras). Then a group of men, also laiden with camping gear, came past us and said hello. Somewhat to our surprise, shortly afterwards they turned around, passed us again, climbed back over the stile and turned right along the road.
After lunch we continued through the boggy bit to the temple of Mithraeum. It was quite small (much to the disappointment of some other visitors), but it was an interesting place, with three (replica) altars; I'd never really thought about the religion of the Romans who policed the Wall and it was good to have this reminder that they were people, not just soldiers. However there was very little to see of Brocolitia Roman Fort and it was at this point that I felt uncomfortably cold; I suspect that both the DoE group and the group of men (who turned out to be part of a bigger party) had stopped for hot drinks at the van parked in the nearby car park.
Our path soon crossed back to the north of the road and we negotiated Limestone Corner, something of a misnomer because although the wall changes direction at this point, making it the northernmost point on the path, it is actually a section of vallum containing boulders that are very definitely dolerite not limestone. Dolerite is an igneous rock, part of the Whin Sill formed by the cooling of magma in layers between earlier rocks, whilst limestone is a sedimentary rock, usually formed by the accumulation of shell and coral etc. in a shallow sea. Here endeth the geology lesson!
Attractive views opened up to the North Tyne Valley and we could see Chipchase Castle and a fire nearby. We continued past Black Carts Farm and emerged onto a road, which we followed for a short distance to the right, over to the other side of the wall, though still to the north of the vallum and the military road. At Walwick Hall the diversion was more substantial; they obviously don't want us plebs walking too close to the Hall!, so we followed a footpath which took us to the north and out onto a minor road. We followed the minor road down to the attractive hamlet of Walwick, then turned left onto the B6318 (the Military Road).
We followed the road all the way to Chesters Roman Fort and Museum, passing the stable block which the guidebook describes as "grand", but which looked in need of some attention. We paid our entrance fee and started our visit by heading to the cafe for tea and cake. There was a group of young female walkers in the cafe, walking Hadrian's Wall Path from east to west. One had a really heavy rucksac and was clearly struggling. Oh dear; I wonder how far they got!
I really enjoyed Chesters. It was the first fort on Hadrian’s Wall to be excavated, at the start of what became the lifelong obsession of John Clayton (1792–1890), who owned the land on which Chesters Fort lies. Clayton also acquired as many other sites in the central sector of the Wall as he could, and had many of these excavated too. Clayton is considered a great hero of Hadrian's Wall; no doubt that he did huge work in investigating its story. However, his method for protecting the wall and forts from those who would otherwise plunder the stones for their own buildings involved moving many of the artifacts from other sites to Chesters; they are now in the museum. I suppose that's how the Victorians did things, but it seems a bit of a pity.
We looked around the museum and then the rest of the site. It has an impressive bath house and whilst looking at this we had the company of a delightful oyster catcher, which sat on a fence by the river.
After leaving Chesters we walked along to Chollerford, perhaps best known for its bridge across the River North Tyne. We didn't cross the river today, but turned left at the roundabout and walked up to the village of Humshaugh, the location of our B&B, Mingary Barn (otherwise known as Chollerford Bed and Breakfast). We had a very comfortable twin room, with a lovely view of the garden. In the evening we had a good meal at the nearby Crown Inn and here we met up with the men who had walked past us then changed their mind re direction at lunchtime. They are part of a larger group of scout leaders walking the path and camping. Their description of their campsite, "on the roundabout" at Chollerford, was amusing!
