UniBrain Trust

The walk to Chesters Fort was worth it. I’m a little frustrated that my muscles and heart and lungs are up for the all day walking but my dogs are barking. Pat said a hiker friend suggested taking two Advil at lunch time. I’m going to try that tomorrow. My feet did do better today, so I hope they’re toughening up.

As Jim said the fort was preserved. The stone walls were up to several feet high in places. We were very curious about whether they were just as they6d been found or had been restored. Since the original excavation was done in the Victorian era we don’t know.

I especially liked that we could walk right amongst the ruins. The excavations were fenced of, but there were kissing gates to let us threw. They seemed more concerned about keeping the sheep out than the people. So I wandered happily imagining the life in a Roman Calvary Fort. Walking back as we saw where the wall cut across the hills I imagined the impressive sight of the wall really separating the north and south.

Total walk today: 10.2 miles.

Btw, the pub name game is a hit

We waited until after the rain for the quick 1.8 mile walk to the fort. Well we tried to wait until after the rain and got a little wet on the way. Nothing too bad but a taste of what I’m sure is on the way. Got to the fort and looked about. This is supposed to be one of the best preserved calvary forts on the wall. Not too much left but what is here is well preserved and the interpretive signs and narratives are very well done. I’m always impressed when the signs say “we don’t know.” The sun even came out and warmed things up while thunder was doing the thunder thing in the distance. After the rest, it is back up the hill 1.8 miles to the hotel. I for one am going to sleep well tonight!

Another fun thing – at the b&b’s where we we’ve been staying, the keys are old fashioned skeleton keys.

Met up with the wall path today: right there was a large chunk of wall. Very exciting. Lucky us the sun was out when we got there. Took the “we’re here,” pictures and grabbed our coats since the rain was on the horizon. As we arrived at the decision point for the town of wall or chollerford it started to sprinkle. Since it was about 1300 and lunchtime we decide to stop at the hotel, have lunch and rest a bit. Much discussion about how far it is to Chollerford and how we could get there with a minimum of walking. Jim’s pedometer says 5.8 miles today but some of our feet think it was longer.