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The crossing last night was smooth seas all the way. We met some folks on the deck this morning that are from the area, and they said that this was not at all typical, and that they are normally tossed around all night during the crossing. This morning was still glass. Wonderful.
The breakfast buffet was huge and slightly decadent - but the walk begins today, so maybe we should chalk it up to "carb loading"?
We disembarked, went through customs, and looked for a taxi to take us to the shore so we could dip our feet in the North Sea and begin our walk.
The accents were really thick in this area, so when the taxi stand gentleman didn't understand my request, I spoke it slower and louder (isn't that what you do?). Turns out he understood what I was asking, but just couldn't understand why we'd want to begin at the sea, much less even begin at the start of the wall, and go to the end as there was only visible portions of the wall in the middle. After a long conversation (good thing no one else was waiting in line), he finally gave up and directed the next cab in line to take us to the sea.
Paul, our taxi driver, packed us up and we headed east. During the ride there (which I must admit was pretty long and winding), one by one the group started thinking about what the taxi stand guy said and decided they were not going to start at the sea, but only dip their toes and then take the taxi to Wallsend to begin the walk of the wall proper. By the time we got to the shore, I was the last man standing and the plan changes to dipping and cabbing and walking the entirety of the wall only (which was very close to a coast to coast walk...right???)
Paul was great and even offered to go down with us to the beach to take pictures of us. His smirk gave me an indication that he was getting a kick out of our odd request.
It was low tide and the beach was huge - it took some time getting to the water. We dipped, had some photo ops, and then Paul took us to the start of the wall - stopping on the side of a busy road and taking some more photos of us. He wished us luck, told us of a pub to stop at for lunch, and said he'd honk if he saw us on the way.
The beginning of the pedestrian path was the same as the cycle path, so there were a number of bikes passing us. Shortly after starting, we stopped to get our first official Hadrian's Wall "passport" stamp.
Today's walk was mostly through business areas and busy roads down to the Tyne river where the path continued (not such a pretty part of the walk). We stayed on the river path until it led us to the pub that Paul recommended, we stopped for a pint and a burger, and continued on the river to our destination - Newcastle Upon Tyne.
This city is full of really nice bridges. There Are 7 very unique bridges within 1/2 mile on the river. My favorite was the Millennium Bridge which is pretty in it's own right, but it actually tips up for boats to fit under the bridge. They do this 1-4 times a day, so we made sure to check the schedule and get back to the bridge to both walk across it as well as watch the "tipping" occur.
We found our hotel, dropped the packs, and after a failed attempt to find a laundromat, we washed out clothes in the sink and met up at the pub (that just happened to be below us in the same building).
Once together again, we went back to the riverfront area and watched the Millennium bridge do it's thing. It took about 3 minutes to complete the tilt up, then a boat went through, then another 3 minutes to lower it back down to allow pedestrians again. It really was amazing!
Dinner tonight was unique (well for us yanks) and delicious. It was a "make your own pie" place (see photos). We had a lot of fun creating our own combos - all 4 were different and all were incredibly good. Definitely our best meal so far. I tried my first pease porridge (hot ;) - I'm hooked! (note to self, look up recipe and attempt to recreate when I get home).
Beginning around 2pm, something very strange started occurring. A whole bunch of people started showing up in groups all dressed up (like a very fancy wedding or clubbing?). As the hours went by, the more beautiful people in sparkly dresses and extremely high heels (not easy in these hills/uneven surfaces), started pouring into the streets. We suddenly felt incredibly under dressed in our hiking attire, but had nothing else to wear. I've really never seen anything like it, and it was a Sunday!? We asked the woman at the hotel what the occasion was, and she explained that tomorrow was a "bank holiday" in the UK, and that everyone came out to celebrate the fact that they had tomorrow off of work. It was crazy!
We headed to bed, and left the windows open (as there was no air and it was a bit warm). It was pretty loud with the brewery below us - especially given that about every 1/2 hour (through and including 5:30am), the bartender would take a huge garbage can full of bottles and dump them into the large recycle dumpster directly under our window. As we awoke to the crashing Tom said, "well, it's a good thing they recycle here!" (I sure married a glass half full kinda guy!)
We're expecting a lot of rain all day tomorrow, and while Newcastle was really beautiful, I'm looking forward to seeing some countryside on our walk tomorrow. Next stop - Heddon on the Wall, which is where the remaining wall begins to be seen.
- comments
Kathryn Kanaan I thought it was toes in the sand. Kristi you got gypped.
Kathryn Kanaan I love it!
Kathryn Kanaan awesome!
Chris O Looks like great fun. No peas Becky? Bad childhood experience? Looks like Tommy "longlocks" let his hair grow out for the occasion. (Course, I'd do that if I could. : )