Humshaugh and Chollerford to Heddon-on-the-Wall

We left Mingary Barn and walked back to the bridge over the River North Tyne at Chollerford. We crossed the bridge and, bizarrely, encountered a watermill with no obvious sign of a river: this is Brunton Watermill. Then, rather than keeping straight ahead at the crossroads, the route turned right onto the A6079 for about a kilometre towards the village called Wall, then left up a minor road, to end up back on the B6318 not much more than half a kilometre from the point at which we had turned right. This walk along two (long) sides of a triangle allowed us to visit Brunton Turret, a pleasant diversion across a field, but I suspect that the main reason for the circuitous route was that they felt that the climb up the hill on the B6318 was not safe for walkers.

The route took us through an attractive strip of woodland, then we crossed the road and climbed up to Heavenfield (marked as "Heavenfields" on the OS map), where the Battle of Heavenfield was fought in about 634, between a Northumbrian army under Oswald and a Welsh army under Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd. The battle resulted in a decisive Northumbrian victory and thus to Oswald's rise to fame and sainthood. The site is marked by a wooden cross and an information board about St Oswald's Way, which starts here. There is also an attractive little church, St Oswald's Church, with an exhibition about St Oswald.

Hadrian's Wall Path is a popular route and to avoid wear on a narrow strip of the path, walkers are encouraged to walk two abreast. I can understand the logic behind this, though I'm not sure it works; there is a danger that you'd just get two worn strips with a less walked bit in the middle - and it was sometimes just not possible to walk side by side safely without risking a sprained ankle on the uneven surface to the side of the main path (which, to be fair, is probably only like this because everyone follows the same main path...). However, when we could we walked side by side, and even when I was walking behind Richard (which is the usual way round, though very occasionally I take the lead!) I tried not to follow the same path that he was talking. So why am I talking about this here? Well, we left Heavenfield on a nicely mown path and a short distance to the east we came across the men out mowing the path. Politely, we reverted to walking one abreast so as to pass them...and proceeded to be reminded of the importance of walking two abreast by the ranger who was cutting the grass! We didn't rise to the irritation (those who know me may be surprised...) and fell into a brief conversation; we mentioned that the path appeared to be open between Linstock and Low Crosby, so we had followed the original route not the diversion shown on the website. We proceeded to be told that the original route was NOT open and that we had been trespassing. Now, given the signs we encountered on the path, how were we to know that?! You'll be thinking, perhaps rightly, that I am getting even grumpier in my old age, moaning about other walkers on the path the day before yesterday, and moaning about the ranger today. However, I do wish people would stop and think...The issue really is that the path is too busy, perhaps a victim of its own success, with many walkers who don't have our experience (oh dear, now I sound arrogant). It's a pity, everyone needs a "first path"; I guess it would help if some of those on the Hadrian's Wall Path could perhaps be encouraged to start elsewhere to spread the load a bit.

We continued on the nicely mown path alongside fields then crossed the road and walked through Stanley Plantation (where some trees have now been felled) and on to the A68 at Portgate. The A68 in this area follows the route of a major prehistoric trading route; older even than the Roman roads and wall; the route then became Dere Street, built around 50 years before Hadrian's Wall. The Romans built a massive gate, designed to control the traffic on Dere Street as it passed through Hadrian's Wal (the remains of the gate are now buried beneath the Military Road) but the name "port-gate", came from Anglo-Saxon times, when the location had regional importance as a place of barter. Back in the 21st Century, there were several other walkers around, most of whom seemed to be heading to the Errington Arms for lunch.

We passed the entrance to Halton Castle and veered to the right around the photogenic Down Hill. There were good views down to the Tyne Valley, with a National Trail sign that would have made good foreground for a photograph were it not for the fact that there were a group of other walkers sitting by it! We headed back towards the B6318 and crossed several stiles then, just before the buildings at Carr Hill, we crossed back to the north of the road. St Oswald's Way was signed over a stile to the north.

We climbed up to Harlow Hill, with attractive buildings, some for sale with planning permission. However the campsite that was once here has closed and campers are directed back to the Robin Hood Inn. So I was pleased not to be camping! I was however getting really bored of the path, a constant mowed strip, usually separated from the Military Road by just a hedge. However things were about to get worse! There is a very short section of B6318 around NZ105677 with no path alongside it, so the path is routed down a supposedly minor road past Ironsign House (which does B&B) then parallel with the B6318 for a distance before returning to it. The problem is that the supposedly minor road is a rat run to the A69, about a mile to the south, and it was far too narrow for cars heading in both directions, let alone walkers (and there was no pavement). It was terrifying.

Hadrian's Barn gets glowing reviews from most people. Neither of the two problems that others have reported (having difficulty in finding the place and not realising that the breakfast was "cook it yourself") caused us any difficulty; Richard had found the location on the map and we walked straight there, and the freedom that cooking our own breakfast brought (in particular being able to leave early) was attractive, even if it didn't work out quite like that. However, I hadn't realised that there would be more than one cottage in the garden of the owners' house and the one we were shown (a converted stable right at the far end of their garden) didn't look anything like as nice as the photos on the website. It wasn't terribly clean, there were skylight windows with no curtains (not too good for sleeping in June) and there was only one bottle of beer and one kit kat in the fridge - and after Lesley, our hostess, had left us, we discovered that there were no towels. That was resolved reasonably quickly, but we never managed to get internet access and we didn't like to trouble Lesley again. To be fair, the location in the garden was nice and I'm guessing that Lesley may have put us in this cottage to be out of the way of her friends who were visiting for dinner - and perhaps she was just preoccupied by her entertaining!

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