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| Self at Banks Turret |
The End of Summer has
definitely been delayed, judging by the harsh reddening that the left
side of my face and neck has suffered, and whilst that should be the
primary source of my moans, the reality of my situation has me
wondering just how we managed to live in the 20th Century.
Sure it wasn't really that different from now, but once you have
gotten used to having mobile communications and wi-fi you start to
forget what it is like to live without them, and I'm hardly one who
is umbilically attached to my mobile device, but things do certainly
get a bit more complicated when sending a message when out on the
trail becomes a task in itself. Similarly, having no wi-fi means
getting an accurate weather forecast requires a trip to the nearest
available coffee shop to piggy-back on their free service, and any
query about facilities in the locality or the accessibility of sites
in Carlisle has you rooting through leaflets and maps in your holiday
house. Such are the risks of staying in a location as mobile
unfriendly as the Eden Valley, I suppose, and it's a real shame
because I got myself a laptop for the purpose of live blogging when
away from home and haven't managed to get it done on either of trips
away this year, and I'm in the writing form of my life too, hammering
out the paragraphs at the clip, when shorn of distractions my writing
can proceed at a pace, it seems, so maybe that's a reason to
not
want wi-fi?
Hadrian's Wall Path #5:
Banks Turret to Eden Bridge 14.6 miles
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| Hare Hill Wall |
It's a slightly later
start than I'd wanted from Banks Turret, not getting going until 10.15am,
having got stuck behind slow moving heavy plant and German
camper-vans between Brampton and Lanercost, and setting out with
another 6 hour window, pausing to admire the remains of Turret 52a
and the associated stretch of wall along the roadside. Soak it in, as
that's going to be the last significant stretch of wall we will be
seeing, lapsing back into a landscape of fragments and earthwork
features, giving us a virtual mirror of day#2, and the track starts
to descend, taking its leave from the higher lands of the previous
days on this trail, passing along the roadside through the hamlet of
Banks, dressed to look appealing now, but largely composed of those
low-rise cottages which suggest an aspect that is far more Scottish
Borders than Northern England. The road walk descends down a leafy
glade to cross Banks Burn, rising on a track beyond, above the site
of Milecastle 53 to find the Hare Hill wall, not very long but
standing at eighteen courses tall, regarded as the highest section of
wall remaining though it's true nature is that of an 18th
century garden folly, a romantic reconstruction that can still excite
the mind of the 21st century observer. Rise to Hare Hill
farm and follow the wall line as it hugs the field boundary, hitting
a plateau at over 130m up, beyond which the upper Eden Valley and the
catchment of the Esk opens out, illustrating that it will be all
downhill from here (not quite literally of course, as I'll curse
every 20m elevation to come), and the path drops down sharply
following a rubble foundation beneath the farm wall to Haytongate
farm, and then continues down to the crossing of Burtholme Beck,
following a broad stretch of the North Ditch as we go. Ascend along
another stretch of rubble rigg at the field boundary, and over a
rough field to top out over 75m, clearly illustrating our arrival in
the midst of traditional farmland, and a jaunt via a short lane leads
us over a field to descend into a damp depression above Howgill farm,
where a pine tree grows out of the rubble of Turret 54b.
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| Dovecote Bridge Wall |
Over the farm track and
along the next field boundaries, where the going gets sticky through
the fenced-in section by the equestrian fields, and if you've lost
your boots in this morass in recent days, someone has thoughtfully
retrieved them and hung them to dry on a fence post. We meet the road
near the prettily turned out Holly Bush Cottage, and we are compelled
to follow the road if we are to get to Walton, my 2010 guide book
suggesting an alternative is imminent and my map suggesting one
already exists, but it does not in 2014, and I'll hug the verge as I
head down the lane toward Dovecote bridge, thankful that this is not
a crazy road for drivers. The view offers us a look towards the old
bridge, visible above the snaking hedges concealing the road, and up
the parish church in Walton, a Victorian monster in Red Sandstone,
that looks like it might be bigger than the village that it serves,
and plenty of pedestrian warning notices are in place as the route
slips down to the river crossing, passing across the stone bridge
over King Water, and the eyes have to be alert to spot the next
antiquity. Hidden behind the hedge and under an embankment is the
Dovecote Bridge wall, the only remaining section of wall build in the Eden
Valley Sandstone, buried in 2003 after only 20 years of exposure as
it was not weathering well, and now this inauspicious lump is the
last authenticated wall remnant on the trail, all that endures from
here is rubble and earthworks, with another 25 miles to go. Rise up
the lane to Walton itself, mostly a cluster of farm and cottages, one
no longer able to support its pub, The Centurion, it seems, and with
a tea shop that closes for half the summer too, so I won't be
lingering here, instead following the path out to the south-west,
close to the wall line before being forced to detour through the
woods that surround Sandysike farm, and then getting dropped on the
lane to Swainsteads farm, before following the wall line back to the
descent to the crossing of Cam Beck, where another good ditch remnant
comes down the hill with us. Passing over this tributary of the
Irthing, I look off to the woods to the south, knowing that somewhere
in the grounds of Castlesteads house, the remnants of
Camboglanna
fort can be found, and even with at least nine fort sites on my
itinerary so far, it frustrates me that this one, pre-dating the wall
establishment like
Magna, should be off limits to the
traveller.
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| Heads Wood farm embankment |
The path sets a clear
course forwards, along the edge of freshly mown hay fields and
through the flocks of docile sheep to pass through the yard of
Cambeckhill farm, which fair reeks of cattle, before pressing on to
find more sheep, sheltering beneath the hedges on the wall line, and
finding that the path snakes its way around The Beck farm, which has
been constructed right across the alignment. The way beyond, in a
field dominated by only three horses couldn't be more obvious, as the
ground beyond rises, modestly in comparison to some of the elevations
previously encountered, but the earthworks that rise up to it seem
quite gargantuan, maybe that's an overstatement, but they have put in
great resistance to 16 centuries of agricultural use, and would be
highly regarded ancient features if located in another part of the country. The rise
beyond Heads Wood farm offers us a view for the first time in a
while, and the top end of the North Pennine ridge is still our close
companion, but its profile has shifted once again, giving us a look
at the hidden valley of Geltsdale, and to the profile of Castle
Carrock Fell to the west, which got a visit during our 2011 jaunt in
these parts. The next village on the wall shows up quickly and
surprisingly, as I find myself in the back garden of Laburnum cottage
in Newtown, and I try to not make myself too conspicuous to the
holiday-makers as I examine the rough foundations of the wall of the
adjacent farm, looking all for the world like Roman work to me, and
even if this is just re-used stone put back at a later, it is
mistaken for authentic by these eyes. Slip into the village and
across the A6071, and it seems to mostly consist of the farm, a green
and a long string of cottages that have developed along the wall
alignment, mostly in the low rise style previously encountered and
all with south facing gardens, also quite a number of newer
developments too, which suggests there's little of antiquity around
the site of Milecastle 58 left to disturb, I wonder if this is the
place where my Mum found a holiday let 'right on Hadrian's
Wall', because it would be, very literally.
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| Bleatarn Park causeway |
Out of the village and
onto a track along field boundaries that surely can't all have wall
rubble at their bases as they don't align properly, and the track
rise to a pasture edge along an impressively deep cleft where the
North Ditch ran, and a look to the west gives us a first sight of
Kriffell in an absolute age, the distant Scottish hill in
Dumfriesshire, which appears to be close by, but would actually
require a 100 mile round trip to visit from Carlisle. Buzzing
aircraft indicate that we are near the site of Carlisle airport, a
modest aerodrome that seems to be mostly a stationing point for car
transporters from the angle at which I can see it, and despite 10+
miles of walking since first getting a view of the Lakeland panorama,
it doesn't seem to have changed much since I first saw it. The path
enters a track enclosed by hawthorns bushes, giving it a nicely
ancient feel, as the upper edge follows the wall line with the north
ditch above it, and if more recent military facilities are your
thing, three WWII era supply depots associated to the airfield are
visible to the north too, and this rolls us up to Old Wall farm,
where no wall can be found, but it is convenient for a bus stop, where
the local service drops off as I emerge at the roadside. Press on in
search of a shady spot, and the trail leads on towards Bleatarn Park,
the north ditch still persisting enclosed by hedges on both sides for
a solid half mile before the path drops into the lane at the back of
the farm, with wall rubble evident in the retaining walls, maybe (?),
and the secluded enclosure beyond seems an ideal spot to grab lunch.
Unfortunately, I've done that trick of leaving in the fridge again,
so I'll have to be fuelled by snack bars and liquids instead, helpfully
augmented with crisps and a chocolate bar from the honesty box
conveniently located by the farm gate. After my rest up, move on to see
the extensively renovated Bleatarn farm, now made over as a holiday
village, with the actual tarn below being largely weed-choked, but
still just about in water, and the track elevates onto an impressive
earthwork which once carried the wall alignment and the Roman
Military Way, with the north ditch on one side and remains of ancient
quarry workings on the other, altogether a fine last hurrah for the
Roman wall, again one only to be seen by the trail walker and by the
local cows. The wall line continues to the west above White Moss wood
and past Wall Head farm, with a minor road following it all the way
to Walby, but we are now compelled to leave the ancient alignment
which we have been on for most of the last four legs on the trail,
forced from it by a lack of paths that would lead us on to Stanwix
and Roman
Uxelodunum (or
Petriana if you prefer).
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| Stanegate (?), near Crosby on Eden |
Sandy Lane is the track
that takes us due south, lined with bracken and overgrowth, and
taking some more hardcore walkers of the Wall path towards the much
more interesting scenery to the east, as I descend between fields of
corn, and along the boundary of a wood that seems to be littered with
old agricultural equipment, before rising to the bridge over the
arrow-straight A689, a final hello to the 18th century
Military Road, our long time companion to the high lands of the Whin
Sill. Passing through the bucolic splendour around High Crosby Farm,
and drop to the road to Crosby on Eden, and this road, or maybe the
enclosed hollow beneath the trees on the south side, was perhaps the
route of Roman
Stanegate, and have I actually mentioned that
on all my travels so far, the pre-Wall road which ran from
Corstopitum (Corbridge) to
Luguvalium (Carlisle) on a
route that is still largely conjectural? The footway leads along to
the village of Crosby, greeting us initially with the eccentric
church of St John the Evangelist, and the state school of 1844 still
in use next door, and onwards into a village that does quaint and
expensive in equal measure, with a mash of red sandstone and white
stucco on one side and a whole bunch of villas in an Italianate
styling taking prime locations with the back gardens facing the
river. Contemporary development has also landed in the village, but
most of the prime sites are already taken and you wouldn't think that
Carlisle would have that much of an executive commuter belt, but what
do I know? And the houses are left behind as the footpath drops me past the
last riverside development, leaving me the enjoy the long flat banks
of the Eden in peace. It feels odd to be so low down after all the
high land, getting a much reduced perspective of the elevations of
the North Pennines and Lakeland, pacing the meadow alongside the
river's flood plain before diverting away from the bank to cross an
intermediate stream and to walk right up to the edge of the grounds
of the very attractive Eden Grove house. Step back to close to the
water's edge, mostly hidden behind a wall of nettles, thistles and
pink balsam, but still offering a few graceful curve here and there,
as attention is drawn inland towards the hay mowing and the potential
whereabouts of the path that leads away from the river, it comes
later than I'd expected, striking inland onto a farm track where
heavy machinery needs to be avoided before I can press on.
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| Memorial Bridge, Rickerby Park |
Past Linstock Castle
farm, where the notable feature is the tower, a converted Peel tower,
which has proved to be a relative rarity along my travels when I had
thought there might be more to be seen, and the track leads through
Linstock village, which seems to have evolved from a collection of
farmsteads around a green to another commuter village, all looking
very pricey and my camera and interest are directed to all of the
older buildings before I pop out onto the lane leading over the M6.
There's no footway to use along here, but thankfully it's not too
busy traffic-wise and only cyclists need to be avoided, as the Wall
path finds itself sharing a road with National Route 72, the way to
do the wall if you wish to do it on two wheels, and the pacing starts
to feel heavy and dull as it goes on and on, even once you hit the
dedicated cycleway it starts to feel like a drag. Spirits pick up as
I approach the Greek styled Rickerby House, which seems to have
acquired an unusual selection of buildings around it, many in the
Tudor style, but also having a farmhouse with a battlemented tower in
its yard, a former school looking like a small chapel, an octagonal
folly tower in the fields opposite and a gatehouse with a Doric
portico in the fashion of a temple. It's the kind of grouping that
gets a good write up in Pevsner, but the route guide goes as far to
describe the contemporary development of the site as 'bijou', an
analysis that won't get disagreement from me. This all leads to the
way into Rickerby Park, the park left to the city of Carlisle as the
home to the War Memorial, impressively scaled off to the west, and
feeling wild with untrimmed grass and herds of cows still wandering
the fields, a little different from most municipal parks, and our
route leads all the way down a finger of land that the Eden weaves
around, which we finally need to cross via the Memorial bridge, a
cantilevered iron structure of 1922, again falling into the Great War
memorialisation bracket. Good to see folks out here as the day has
stayed warm, and I'm not at risk of burning up today as the sunblock
got slathered on, and the riverside walk to the finish feels like
it's going to take an age after teasing me with some school buildings
that I mistake for the Sands Centre, taking me all the way around The Swifts
nine hole golf course to eventually get sight of Eden Bridge, and
popping up by the artistic interpretation of the Roman Wall behind
the leisure centre, just as my Mum wanders out of the back of the
canteen to call me and check my whereabouts. Only a few more steps to
make on the edge of Carlisle to end at Eden Bridge at 4.15pm, and
then return to the Sands to get in a properly cold drink with my parents and stamp #6
onto my passport, and to share the mild amazement I'm feeling right
now, only one more trip to go!
Next on the Slate: The
Wall Path comes to its end, with barely a contour line to be seen.
1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1284.8 miles
(2014 total: 371.6 miles)
(Up Country Total: 1189.2 miles)
(Solo Total: 1069.3 miles)
(Declared Total: 1076.6 miles)
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