We have completed the first 16 miles of the Hadrian’s wall path……and need a day off 😳. All estimates were 10…. Maybe 12 miles and so we were not quite prepared for 16.

Oh, I did think about packing it in about 4 miles into the hike, everything hurt, and I was so tired. Then I remembered to start drinking water amazingly everything went away. I tend to never get thirsty, so I have to remember to drink. Some days I am so sleepy in afternoon only to realize I have had nothing yet to drink, water IS the energizer. We took a bus from Carlisle to Bowness on Solway, which is where the path begins. All on the bus were also hiking, and all quickly bypassed us. A father and son on bus had planned on hiking the whole Hadrian’s. wall in 3 days, of course they disappeared right away. As we got off the bus, so too, another group got on, having just completed the hike, going from east to west. I guess that will be us in a week at WALLSEND, on the east end.

Josh is down in Liverpool and taking a train to meet us here in Carlisle tonite. Josh’s birth father lives in Liverpool.

We did the Camino several….maybe 6 years ago and we are looking at similarities and differences. Not sure if it is age, memory or distance, but this seems much harder than the Camino was. I do not remember the daily distances we did then.

There ARE characteristic signs to follow, signs you grow to seek out and find comfort in. The Camino was a shell, and we have not yet ‘sorted” what these signs are, either an acorn, or a helmet. Speaking of helmets…..This is King Edward the 1st, who was killed in battle by Robert DeBruce……. Apparently he took off his helmet (a plug to wear helmets 😒

The walk began somewhat boring, along roads and paths near roads.

We walked along Solway bay, but there were many signs warning of soft shifting sands, in the low tide, so we did not venture onto the sand, despite evidence of rocks out there. We figured it was a devil we are not familiar with. The second half of the day was much better walking along trails through fields, and we had LOTS of company.

We stopped for lunch on the side of the road, and later at the Greyhound Inn for beers and a chance to fill up our water camelbacks.

We did happen by some elder graveyards, and thought that this seemed a rather unceremonious end documented. Made me ponder how the end of the “current” empire shall be memorialized.

Hadrian’s wall was constructed 2000 years ago and very little remains of it,and we have yet to see any of the “wall”. However this church and graveyard apparently sits ON the wall, the only graveyard to do that.

Well that is a brief summary of our first day.

Thanks for reading, Janet, Ken and Tucker, whom we miss SOOOOOO much.