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It started raining early, and pretty much rained on and off most of today. The first part of the walk had us trekking out of the city, and we remained in the suburbs and along busy roads for most of the morning. Where the path is supposed to finally turn off and get less congested (yeah!), we found that the route was closed (ugh), so had to stay along the the busy roads for a bit longer. Finally we veered off into an area that was away from the road.
Let the games begin....
When you spend many hours a day walking together as a group (and you are trying to take your mind off the fact that it is raining cats and dogs) you start to make up silly games or contests to occupy your time. Being in congested areas the last few days, the current game is "who can find the strangest thing on the ground" game. It's pretty simple - when you see something odd on the ground, you say "I'd like to submit xxxx for review". The group takes your entry into account and determines if your item is better than the last best item. Yeah, I know - this is what our lives have become.... and we've only just begun.... I fear for us.
We came across the Boat House Pub around lunchtime, so we decided to take a break. We were the only customers, which was probably good, as we looked like wet rats and began our version of a strip tease taking off rain gear, boots, etc and made the place ours (ah... the sights and smells). We ordered a pint and asked for a lunch menu. The bartender had a funny look - we asked, "do you serve lunch?" - she said, "well, we do.... but the cook just quit and walked out a few minutes ago". As the british say, LOW-va-lee. She took pity on us and did go back and make some very odd sandwiches (take one full size hamburger bun, spread 1 tablespoon of egg salad inside, and serve with some extra salty crisps on the side). Well, at least the beer was good ;)
Got our gear back on and continued on to Heddon-on-the-Wall, which was our next stop for the night. The last part of our walk today was a pretty good incline, but we were rewarded with our first beautiful views of the countryside that surrounded us.
Before checking into the Heddon Lodge (which is where we were booked for the night), we stopped off to see our first view of the Roman Wall - Heddon is home to the largest part of the "broad wall" that still remains (the Romans started wide, but ended up making the wall more narrow later). After getting some photo moments here, we headed off to check in.
Turns out we were in a bed and breakfast. Jacquie was the owner of the home, and greeted us on the front deck with refreshments, and had our packs carried to our rooms (is this the Plaza??) The home was very new and beautiful, and we are the only guests. Our rooms were amazing, and the bathrooms palacial.
In speaking with Jacquie, we mentioned that we didn't have any reservations past tonight, and that we were "winging it". The look of horror on her face said it all. In her adorable thick accent, she let us know that this just would simply not do, and that she didn't think we were the types that wanted to sleep on the side of the road somewhere as everything is pretty much sold out... then, she flitted off back into the kitchen where she made some calls, and came back having us booked for the next 2 nights. She then took a look at our bags and said, "you know they have a porter service and I can have those picked up and delivered each day, right?"
My thoughts on this are that a big part of the walk is the fact that you are carrying all of your own "stuff". But within a few minutes (or was it seconds??), the rest of the group had signed up for pick up and delivery of their packs. I'm on the fence, and will make a game time decision in the morning....
Jacquie booked us in a town called Corbridge for tomorrow night. She raves about it and calls it a "Proper English Village" that is not to be missed. It is located on the alternate route (you can take a straight route west, or there is a loop that goes south and then continues back with the path). So - off to Corbridge we go tomorrow - tonight we enjoy this luxurious stop.
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Kathryn Kanaan Is that deputy droopy drawers in front of you? :)
Kathryn Kanaan abandoned or one of the pink elephanst from the dance you all had last night? hahahahahah I crack myself up.
Kathryn Kanaan breathtaking!