Day 3 - 26.5km. A glorious wall and marriage
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Hiking with Mr Darcy after 40 years of marriage, and five years of law school courtship before that, is a fascinating social experiment. Also known as survival. There is no way it could happen without respect, support, tolerance, compassion and a great deal of laughter (a challenge to my pelvic floor at the best of times).
Speaking of which, weeing on the trail is not only a physical but a personal challenge. There aren’t any toilets which is a wonderful thing as the landscape is magnificent, but Mr Darcy insists that only drinking thermos lids of tea all day is not good for my hydration (more on hydration later). Men have it easy of course: stand behind a tree and shoot. Women have to remove various items and squat. Facing a tree, always a chance of someone straying off the path (assuming there is a path) and thinking the sun is sinking early. Facing away from a tree, there’s the chance of making eye contact with an intruder and tumbling backwards in fright. Mr Darcy has been schooled in what to do, stand ten respectful metres away and defend my right to privacy (fight, offer lollies, talk about different types of mortars used by the Romans, anything really) if anyone comes along, but it’s still a very stressful experience.
Back to travelling compatibility. Compromise is essential. Mr Darcy has proven himself to be something of an expert and a fascinated (if not always fascinating) commentator on Roman drainage and sewerage. He also spots rocks that ‘clearly come from the wall, a fort, a milestone or a turret’ which are to me just … rocks. It’s interesting, but can be tiring when we have to walk extra distances to follow the line of stones (which represents the sewerage system in AD122). Then again, Mr Darcy was the general counsel of engineering companies for many years, so I think that might have gone to his head. I’m sorry I have none of Mr Darcy’s photos in this regard, but much as he walks with the determination, strength, perseverance and reliability of a robot, he falls asleep at night so can’t send them to me. I might do another blog post on ‘things that don’t interest me much but might interest others’ at the end of our trip and include these photos.
Of interest to me are plants, birds, animals and the landscape (not just geologic and volcanic and other formations: see stones and Mr Darcy above). But … I couldn’t do this walk without Mr Darcy as he carries his weight in water and warm jackets ‘just in case’. He also walks to the bar to buy cider at the end of the day when I cannot walk one more step. I cheer him on, of course, and tell him a lot of useful information about the Romans.
As to our walk today, much as other people’s holiday snaps can be a trail, the photos say it all (actually only 5% of it). The weather was perfect and at every turn there was the stretch of the wall, or the promise of it, or the scattered stones to show where it was: Northumberland is just marvellous. The image above of a path with greenery either side is a spot where we actually walked on the wall. There are a lot of opportunities for this, but I don’t feel comfortable doing it unless there are no other options on the trail. As to the foundations of the wall (over the past 1600 years, many farmers and others have helped themselves to the stones above ground) sheep and cattle wander over the wall all the time!
The Roman soldiers and legions and the workers for whom they were responsible (more on historical facts tomorrow) either dug 6 metre deep trenches/ ditches to one side of the wall (like a steeply walled moat), or they built the wall alongside natural ridges in the landscape. So anyone wanting to move to Roman occupied land had to make their way through the trenches and then climb the wall. The Day 3 hike was up high on the ridges so the views were particularly glorious. On the dark side, when the breeze was strong, we kept well clear of the edges because it would be frighteningly easy to tumble to one’s death at any moment.
Once Brewed, the town and pub that marked the end of today’s hike, is on the trail of the Hadrian’s wall walk, but our accommodation for the night is at Haltwhistle, a lovely little town that dates back to pre-Roman occupation. Our room is actually three rooms (two bedrooms, a large living room and dining table for eight) at the top of three flights of stairs in a tiny and ancient hotel. Whenever we are randomly given a lovely room like this, I remember how often we crammed ourselves into tiny spaces with six children because it was too expensive to do anything else. This morning, waking up and looking at the towering ceilings and fireplaces was wonderful.
Rain is scheduled for our walk to Lanercros today, so Mr Darcy’s rain gear might come in handy. I will also take an umbrella because it is such a hassle putting rain gear on if the rain is stop and go. The rain might also limit the incendiary warmth I feel in my feet while walking up hills (or walking on the level or walking down the hills, come to think of it). My feet no worse yesterday though, which was a blessing. And my new favourite woollen socks are airing on the rack in the bathroom.
Finally, I am in too much of a hurry to read this missive over (Mr Darcy has morphed into Mr Collins and is telling me to ‘Make haste! Make haste!’) so apologies for a non edited post today!
