Hadrian Wall Path — Day 4
Birdoswald to Steel Rigg, 15km (actual 17km)
The landscape is becoming hilly, which makes it a bit harder to hike. We started the day with 5.5 km to the Haltwhistle golf club hoping for a coffee break there. There was a Cafe at Gilsland, but it was too early for us to stop, although Doron had tea with some youngsters. There is also a trail diversion at Gilsland which we had to take. In general we are not taking risks with trail diversions: if there’s a diversion, we take it and do not try to go in the main route anyway. This is so un-Israeli.
There was no Café at the golf club, so we made our own break at 5.5km, and appointed Gadi to be our Barista. He makes awesome coffee with Kardamom. From the golf club the trail starts climbing towards a park near a lake. You can buy an ice cream there and also get an off-passport stamp. From there the climb continues to a bunch of Hadrian Wall sections on top of a cliff with sweeping 360 degrees views for miles.
At that point in time it became clear that while the overall height gain is not huge, this specific trail goes up and down until it reaches that height. There was a lot climbing to do today, and by the time we reached the hill at 354 meters (the highest elevation on the trail), just 1km from the end point at Steel Rigg, we were pretty exhausted. Along the way there’s a section of the trail which traverses along the edge of a cliff, with a striking resemblance to the karbolet in The Israel’s Big Crater, which we walked on the Israel National Trail.
This section of the HWP is rich with Hadrian Wall views. Throughout almost the entire section you walk next to the wall remains, which is really impressive. It’s also the first section where we nearly didn’t walk on any paved roads.
As we finished the trail for today, the hardest trail on HWP so far, we added 700 meters to walk downhill to the Twice Brewed pub for drinks and dinner. Recommended.
