I suspect it may be plain if you’ve followed this trip that I’d spoilt John and now it was time to bring him back down to earth. In summary, the sumptuous countryside, the antiquities, the museums, my scintillating company/guide skills and lastly the up market hotel in Hexham, The Beaumont. The latter cost £158 per night, which isn’t the way I usually roll but when divided by two it becomes more like it. However, you can take the boy out of Yorkshire but not Yorkshire out of the boy and the £17 breakfast option was a sausage too far. Anyway John absorbed the blow well and got his face around his Egg McMuffin.
Again another chilly morning (and as it turned out chilly day) and we left the Hexham rush hour for Corbridge and a route that generally followed the River Tyne as the river progressed to the estuary and then the North Sea.
The road itself was straightforward to navigate and eventually gave way to a cycle path that actually took us all the way to the end of the Wall.
Along the path we came across many walkers who were either starting out on the Hadrian’s Wall trek or finishing it. As we cycled we came across George Stephenson’s childhood home.
I have to say the walk through Newcastle is straightforward but involved a selection of Zebra, Puffin, Pelican and Toucan Crossings. (We both know you have no idea about the difference between these various ‘bird’ crossings yet the Highway Code would expect you to know. Shame on you). It might take a day or two at the start but for these hikers but the change to rugged paths and splendid views was going to be a tonic when it came.
Stops along the way were few and far between but we eventually came to rest at a Sicilian café a couple of miles from the centre. John liked the coffee so much he bought some to make back in Hampshire.
Soon we were in the heart of the city and passed under the various bridges before finding the continuing Route 72 signs toward Tynemouth.
Overall Day 4 was an easy ride with little climbing. In discussing the route beforehand John had been surprised that our local map had identified so many Morrisons. Me too. On closer examination John had misidentified the signs for the Newcastle Metro!
These ’72’ paths were not the actually route of the Wall: the wall was a little further north in a more urban part of the city.
At Wallsend we came to rest at Segedunum (‘Strong Fort’) Fort. This location was the site of the first fort along the Wall in the east. Up until the last few decades it was a large housing estate. They cleared it and exposed the foundations. A villa that housed some exhibits was closed as was part of the main building. In fact this whole site is run by an amalgamation of five local councils and was shabby in places and a little unloved. The Vindolanda Trust museums were frankly on another level of presentation and care.
The Fort was sited here by the Romans rather than along the estuary at Tynemouth because the fort could ‘police’ the countryside to the east with its view of the land. Also on the south bank there was another fort (Arbeia) should the pesky Scots/Picts fancy a swim. A reconstruction of what the original Wall looked like had been built. It must be added that a vallum and other impediments would have made it a completely daunting task to overcome. It’s also here that the Wall ends.
With photos taken we retraced our route back to the centre. Near the bridges we had the slightly daunting challenge of finding a route up the hill to where the station was located. A combination of bridge construction works and a road surface that was shamefully potholed made the ascent memorable. At the Station we booked the earliest train we could get for the hour’s journey south to York and until it arrived we ate chocolate and John listened to me moan about how cold I was.
In summary it’s got to be one of the best short rides in Europe with so much to see, so many important and unique places to stop and stay or eat and terrific rail links south to either end. We had a great time and John has passed Module 1 of cycle touring.
Tony Ives’ Blog 