Hadrian Wall Path — Day 5
Steel Rigg to Brocolitia Roman Fort, 13km
The HWP segment from Steel Rigg to Brocolitia is the most scenic part of HWP, and thus the most popular. We met more people on the trail today than in all previous days combined.
But it’s a beautiful trek indeed. The first part of the trail is up and down along the wall that spans above the Hotbank and Highshield crags, several kms of cliffs that provide sweeping views of the area. Crag Lough lake is beautifully situated below the crags, and the Sycamore tree in one of the gaps is a tourist attraction because some of the scenes in the movie Robin Hood were filmed there.
The first few kms are slow because of the ups and downs trail, until at 4.5km we made it to the Vercovicivm (this is not a typo) Roman Fort. Lots of people there, as well as a museum (we didn’t visit) and the option to buy some ice cream and drinks (we definitely did). Toilets are available too. As with other Roman forts along the way, we didn’t actually visit the fort, but just looked around. We are here for the trail and the hike. After the fort it’s another 3km of ups and downs, before the terrain finally “calms down” into long mostly flat path with the last 4km next to a road. Not much to see in this part.
We made it relatively early to the hotel, and after mending to out tired feet, blisters and all these things, we hit the city (Hexham. ok, town) around 18:00 for groceries and dinner. Some chose Indian and some went for Italian. Being at the Indian group, we went to Zyka in Hexham. Great food, but the service can be improved and mainly the part of figuring out and paying the check.
For those of you who care about steps, we are logging around 30,000 steps every day, with the record of over 35,000 steps on Day 3.
