Day 4: Chollaford- Twice Brewed
Weather: Sunny
Distance Walked: 13 miles
New Beers Sampled: 3
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| David at the Temple to Mithras |
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| Chesters Fort Information Board! |
A new day dawned, and again it was sunny. Rumour on the trail was that the weather was on the turn and that it would rain later in the day and all day Friday. But this morning was hot and sunny, so day 3 of walking began with the collection of our third stamp on passport outside Chester Roman Fort. We were there before it opened, so missed out on the 'best preserved cavalry fort in Britain'. Oh well, there will be more [and we had planned to visit two over the next days]. Before long we had got to Brocolitia Fort [a grassy bank] and the well preserved Temple to Mithras, which was worth a look around. Both here and along the way we kept bumping into fellow walkers from all nationalities, with an American, and a Dutch couple [who we later found to be Church of England Priests!] This was one of the delights of the walk- swapping tales with fellow travelers. Everyone has a tale to tell, and this is mine.
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| Lunch! Sewingshields Crag. Milecastle 35 |
The scenery really was changing now and we were climbing up onto the Crags- Sewingshields Crag to be exact. Very dramatic escarpments caused by volcanic action some 295 million years ago - that's even before the Romans! Dramatic and picturesque they may be, but hard work to walk up even for fine athletes (!) like David and myself. We were now immersed in the high moorlands of the Northumberland National Park and the range of Roman ruins and natural panoramas were breathtaking, quite literally at times. It was time for lunch, so we found the extensive ruins of Milecastle 35 and I cooked up a boil in the bag vegetarian curry. Very tasty it was too. I wonder if the Romans had boil in the bag curries? Must check that out. Refreshed and raring to go, we set off along Sewingshields Crag, down into Kings Wicket / Busy Gap, up again onto Kennel Crags and finally onto to the Roman Fort of Vercovicium [AKA Housesteads].  |
| View West from Kennel Crag |
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| Me & David, View back [East] to Kennel & Sewingshields Crag |
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| Leading up to Housestead |
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| Inside Housesteads Looking East |
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| Garrison Latrines Roman Style There were wooden benches along the walls. |
Housesteads was the first-and best preserved- major fort ruins we had stopped at since leaving Newcastle. Perched high up on a Crag, it commanded superb views. It didn't take much imagination to see why Hadrian chose such sites to build major forts such as Housestead. For many of the 800 troops stationed there, it was probably a wild and bleak place, and really did feel like the Northern Frontier of the Roman Empire- the end of the earth. Why not a posting to Italy, Spain, North Africa - anywhere except here! Today it was hot, sunny and stunningly beautiful, but again, it doesn't take much imagination to picture this place in a northern winter. Brrrrr. Unless. of course, you were a high ranking officer, who unsurprisingly had underfloor heating all year around. Must have felt just like home [almost!]. But at least there were well designed and functional latrines.
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| Crag Lough from top of Highshields Crag Looking East |
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| Looking West down to Sycamore Gap What was Robbin Hood doing this far north ? |
Further stupendous views were to be had on the final leg of today's walk. Which is just as well, as it took the mind off the pain of the ruck sack. It was beginning to hurt now. Legs were OK. Back and shoulders hurt. The sun was also still shining and the sky looked clear. Which was a bonus. Descending off Peel Crags, a short walk along the road took us to the YHA Once Brewed where we had decided to decamp for the night due to impending rain. The staff at the YHA deserve a mention for being extremely friendly and helpful. A quick bottle of beer [Cumberland Ale] and hot shower. Bliss. Perchance there was a pub - Twice Brewed - next door. So called because original brewery, that was there many years ago to cater to the Navvies building the Military Road, became greedy, started watering down it's beer, so the navvies demanded that the beer was brewed again- hence Twice Brewed! A big bowl of mushroom pasta followed by a few pints of Yates IPA and Exp5256 replenished most of my lost energy. Thankfully the beer is not watered down now. It had been a tough and hot day. I almost fell asleep in my pasta! Scenically and Wall wise, it was by far the best day yet. This was classic Hadrian's Wall countryside and it did not disappoint.
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| Castle Nick Mile Castle |
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| Steel Rig-View East |
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