Hadrian’s Wall was built by the Romans across northern England nearly 2,000 years ago.  The modern border between England and Scotland is close to the wall in the area west of Carlisle but far from the border on the other side of the country – the wall goes sort of straight across but the border slants steeply north as you go west.  Anyway enough with the geography; why was the wall built?  Short answer: politics.  Perhaps to slow down any raids on Roman territory from the north.  Or just to provide a convenient taxing point?

Some historic texts say the wall was to “separate the Romans from the barbarians”.  By which they may have meant the Scots’ ancestors.  Some keen readers of our blog will recall our earlier visit to this region and remember my reiver ancestry as a Northumberland Dodd.  Keeping Scottish scum out of England is one of my ancestral obligations* so I understand this viewpoint.

Asking why I am walking the Wall is, of course, a silly question.  Sensing that others might agree, someone made the decision to create a walk via the usual option of linking pathways, trails, minor roads, bridleways, bike paths or whatever was handy on a map until they had a route that basically followed the wall from coast to coast.  Then they linked the more bike friendly bits to make a Coast to Coast bike route as well.  A few way-signs raised and, voila, a tourist attraction is born.

Today, being Day 1, we drove from Carlisle to the coast (or the south side of the large sea tidal inlet known as the Solway).  We found the official start of the walk and I headed off east.  After about 26 km and 6+ hours of walking I was back at our Carlisle accommodation.  It was windy, but not really cold, particularly along the coastal areas, and did not produce a lot of exciting moments.

Did I see the wall?  Nope.  After about 15 km I had left the Solway and was well inland.  At this point my map indicated that I was actually on the wall path and I could see a line of trees that separated some farm areas which was most likely the wall route.

What happened to the wall?  Most of it has been “recycled”.  Once the Romans left it was a handy place to get the stone needed to fortify your farm from pesky raiders (like the aforementioned reiver Dodds).  Most of the walking (or cycle) route is generally near the wall route but often up to a few km apart.  If we are lucky, we may see some wall in future days.

My route eventually followed the south bank of the Eden River into Carlisle on riverside walking or cycle paths of varying quality, a bit like following the Yarra through Melbourne.  Day 1 job done.

*I also have Scottish ancestors as a proud Campbell.  So when we are in Scotland next week, keen readers may notice that I will have a rather different attitude to those arrogant English b***s.  I think Billy Connolly said it best: “it’s pointless the Scots hating the English; because the English simply don’t care”.