As expected, today was difficult due to the climbs required, but also probably the “best” bit of the walk.  All off-road walking with 18 km covered in just under 6 hours (including a 1 km walk “off-route” to get my walk passport stamp at Housesteads).

The Romans knew that defence was all about having the high ground and so if there was a high spot to be found, they built the wall over it.  Today I could have kept a finger on the wall for most of the walk so I followed all the ups and downs.  I did see some lower, parallel tracks that walkers were using to avoid some of the ups and downs but, as a pretend Roman soldier, I followed the wall up every little and large hill.  449 m of climb was the result.  Exhausting.

Much of the original wall is gone or you can just see the foundations laid out.  In its place there is often an ancient dry stone farm wall – a whole lot thinner and not as high as the Roman wall.  This can trip up the uninformed and the seasoned walker can usually tell the difference – after you’ve followed it for dozens of kms! 

The car park that the tourists head for to walk the 1.5 km section of the walk to Sycamore Gap is called Steel Rigg.  1 km before getting to that spot, I passed over the high point of the walk (around 330 m), from which I could just about see the gap (as it is a low point, it is somewhat hidden).  I could see lots of cars in that car park as I descended the km on a nice bit of pasture, eating one of the energy bars my cousin gave me before I left home  (I finished my niece’s GF cookies on day 1 of the walk.)  Really all the walking is just to justify all the eating.

Sycamore Gap is pretty empty without the tree but still full of tourists, one of whom at least seemed to be leaving in an ambulance that had come in across the farm fields.  Tourists do die here, especially in summer – if you are unfit it’s not the place to get your step count up.  Sycamore Gap is far from the only gap in the crags sections that I was traversing, and it may not be the best spot to stop along the walk, but the path each side of it is pretty spectacular so if you only have one day…

After a few kms of much easier, flatter (boring) terrain I finished up at Brocolitia car park.  I’m now over the hump – 80 km down and 65 km to go.