DAY THREE: Harlow Hill to Portgate

HEY! SUP?


An easy 9.96 miles today, not bad for day 3. 

The good news about life is recovery. No matter how fatigued you are or how sore your toes get, a good nights sleep will refresh and get you set to start again for new adventures. The unknown adventure anticipation is kicking in, the rhythm of walking. Green tea in the window seat, waking to peacocks and the biggest rabbit I've ever seen .... let's get going! 

See Who It Is?

We got off to a later start than usual, wanting to time ourselves to be at the Robin Hood Inn for lunch. Thats the second Wall Walk Passport stamping stop.


Back at Harlow Hill we head west again beside Wade's Military Road. Remember I said it was built ON the wall? So that's where we walked today, along the A6183. Not right on the center line, that would be veddy inconvenient, but behind hedges in the neighboring fields, sometimes in the Roman ditch itself, but it was a constant presence. Lunch at the Robin Hood was not to be, no big loss there. We got there sooner than we thought, but also it was just a lonely roadside pub anyway without a real welcome. We stamped our passports and moved on. 

At Halton Shields we got our first massive view of the Vallum. The Vallum is the ditch between the defensive earthworks to the south of the Wall.  This was a vast amount of landscape manipulation.
They built a ditch, the wall, the military area with their main road, an embankment, a ditch ( Vallum) and another embankment. In typical Roman warfare way, under the first ditch was a false floor with spikes sticking up. Nasty. 

At Halton we turn off the Wall to the Roman town of Corbridge. I'm starting to see that in Northumberland and the north there was a lot of unruly strife and conflict. People lived in small castles, like the hotel we're staying in. We passed another on the road, the first of many I'm sure. Northumberland alone has 39 major defensive castles. 

The last leg of today heading into Corbridge was the worst kind of walking, on pavement. We did 2 miles of tough leg-jarring downhill terrain, but the beauty here is hard to beat. 

To Corbridge

Corbridge is charming, the typical traditional English village with the butcher, baker small grocery and village post office  (what, no candlestick maker?) clustered around a medieval central square. The locals objected to fast food vans and chains keeping the village locked in time. I'm sorry I didn't have more time to explore here. 

Lunch at the Angel

Corbridge was the center for Roman operations in the north. The first fort was built in AD85. All roads lead to Corbridge. When you walk into the fort site you are immediately halted by the size of it. Though nothing but foundations are left, the rest being used over time throughout the village, you can still see  how substantial this fort was. 





The couple we met when we first started out said "yeah yeah by the end it's like another Roman fort... so what." I haven't reached that saturation point, I'm still in awe. Though I admit, I AM getting a little tired of the peacocks... shhhhh...don't tell anyone I said that. 

Roman Kitteh

What Is This?