Hadrian's Wall Path - day 3 [Upper Denton to Carlisle]
Last day of my short voyage along the Hadrian's Wall, the wall itself just like around Newcastle area wasn't very visible with one notable example of Hare Hill the tallest remaining part of it - it survived as apparently it has been incorporated into a farm building in the past, so it's been left alone and stands tall until today.
Despite the lack of the main component the walk was quite pleasant, running along many farmlands and wooded areas, it was definitely better than its counterpart in Newcastle, perhaps due to the fact that the area is less developed.
Night was windy and I had to ditch the plan to sleep inside the Roman turret 49b (they all have fun names like that) as the gusts were trying to rip my tent apart, annoying thing was that it was getting dark so I had to find a replacement spot quickly which wasn't easy as the overall flat area was a perfect corridor for the wind to rumble. After a mile or so I found a cows field with a stone fence around it and just enough protection so I could set up there, downside being a very uneven ground which forced me to sleep mainly on my left side to avoid bending my spine upwards all night. I still woke up aching but hey it's the ache of the adventure, haha.
I pushed the remaining 16 miles fairly quickly and arrived at Carlisle just before midday. I've spend an hour there walking around enjoying the cityscape, then took a local Cross Penine bus 685 at 1:15pm which took me straight back to Newcastle city centre (in over two hours but it was well worth £7.80)
Once back in Newcastle I took a little sightseeing trip around the city and really enjoyed it, especially St Thomas church and the University grounds. After that I went to Dat Pub and had an obligatory Newcastle Brown Ale - I tried to find a place that has it on the tap but it turns out no pub in Newcastle does it anymore, it's all bottles and cans sadly - I even went to the pub called Newcastle Tap and has been informed that such thing is nonexistent.
After that I went to the Everyman Cinema opposite National Theatre to watch what I though will be Wakanda Forever, but (luckily I guess) I have been sold tickets to see the movie "Living" with Bill Nigty, an adaptation of the movie "Ikiru" by Akira Kurosawa which was inspired by "The Death of Ivan Illych" by Leo Tolstoy and it turned out to be a pretty good flick about inspiration, loneliness and taking matters into your own hands. When the movie ended I took another stroll along the nighttime weekend streets of Newcastle with many half naked females and males buzzing with testosterone, it was quite amusing watching all this energy going to waste. Life is wasted on the living I guess :)
Now I'm sitting at the bus station waiting for the midnight National Express bus back to London, it was cheap though and will take me back home just in time for work. It was a great few days exploring the past and present, I'd recommend walking the middle part of the wall if you have time restrictions probably from mile 35 to mile 50 is the best chunk of it.
Here's few notable wall connected village names I noted along the way, I'm sure there's more of them scattered around: Wallsend, Walbottle, Heddon on the Wall, East Wallhouses, Wall, Walwick, Oldwall.
On to the next one!
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