Hadrian Wall Path — Day 6
Brocolitia to Portgate, 15km
We are at 94km on the HWP, and in practice walked more than 100km in 6 days of walk. Not bad. Today’s 15km walk from Brocolitia to Portgate was a breather compared to what we have walked in the last three days, despite the fact that today we walked up and down the highest elevation difference of the HWP, from 260 meters just after Brocolitia to 50 meters at the Chester Roman Fort and then back to 260 meters just before Portgate. Since these descends and climbs were across a relatively long distance, they were not that hard.
There’s much less to see in this segment of the trail compares to the last few days, but the Chester Roman Fort at 6km deserves a visit, if not for the fort itself than for the HWP passport stamp and for the tea room in the inner yard. It’s a great location for a break.
About 1km after the fort we ran into the George Hotel, which is where we are staying, and some of us decided to call it a day and stayed at the hotel. This might be a good time to day few things about the George Hotel. It is not perfect, but it justifies a higher rating than its 6.6 rating on booking.com. The location is awesome — right on the HWP and on the North Tyne river, the setting is magical just next to the bridge over the North Tyne, and the back yard is awesome. Yes, some of the rooms are old and could use a renovation and the room cleaning can be improved, but some other rooms are ok, the food is decent, there’s ample parking, a bar and more. I’d give it an 8.
From the George Hotel it’s about 8km to Portgate, walking mostly next to the road. The HWP make a strange detour just after the North Tyne bridge, and some of us (me, for one) decided to cut straight through the main road and save 1km… Just before Portgate there’s a temporary diversion of the trail which is actually beneficial as it goes thru a beautiful small grove.
At Portgate you can Find the Errington Coffee House which serves coffee, cakes and more. I couldn’t resist their Almond cake.
For dinner we ordered pizzas from Vercelli, a local Italian restaurant and ate pizzas and drank wine while watching the 2011 movie “The Eagle”, which is highly relevant to the walk we are doing.
