Hadrian's Wall Path - Day 6 - 14 miles
This is it! The end at last.
After a good sleep and a veggie biryani for breakfast from last night's Indian restaurant, our host was gracious enough to give us a ride back up to Sands Centre to pick up the Path where we left off. As we planned, we paired down Tiff's pack to just water and snacks, and set off on our final day.
Our little cow friend. We were walking through a farm and found this old stone building full of cutesy baby cows! This one in particular was very interested in us. She eventually walked right up to me and licked my hand as I took her photo! You could probably hear my shrieks from a mile away. Btw, cow tongues are very much like cat tongues.
Cumbria is a geographically distinct region of England, completely different from Northumberland. Gone are the grand hills and vistas, supplanted by the vast expanses of flat green, a telling sight that the coast is near. Today, to be honest, was not as visually compelling as the rest of the trail has been, though still pretty in its own way. Large swaths of grassy marsh punctuated by small stands of trees meant little shade for us today, but this was largely offset by not having big packs to carry and didn't present too much of a problem.
The famous Honesty Boxes! When you're on a thru hiking trail, you'll often find that the people who live on the trail will create these little things for you. Sometimes they're donativo (donations), sometimes they're free and sometimes they're maybe a dollar or two. They often show up right when you need them! One day last summer while we were in Spain we had completely ran out of water. Mile 17 was quickly becoming very, very difficult and we still had a couple more to go. Suddenly, off in the distance you could see a little shack that was covering a tap. Free water for pilgrims! Things like honesty boxes and water shacks for pilgrims make me think there is still some good in the world.
All the vitamins! All the veggies! Tiny juice!
Not being particularly captivated by the landscape or challenged by the terrain was its own blessing as it turned out. It freed us up to reflect on our journey, the hardships and the moments of levity, the challenges and the rewards. As we approached our destination, we could almost physically feel the end getting near, like knowing you're on the last few pages of a very good book.
These old churches were everywhere! They were fascinating. Huge, leaning tombstones dotted their yards and made it very haunted house looking. We loved reading the different markers to see how old they were, where they lived, who they used to be.
Bowness-on-Solway is a quaint little sea side village of maybe two dozen squat buildings and it was interesting to finally be there after such a long journey. The town is entirely unremarkable in the best way. The monument to the end of the Path is set apart from the settlement, and there are few mentions of it throughout the village itself, the residents not phased by its presence whatsoever. I say 'in the best way' because it does you a service, in that it forces you to realize that this type of travel more than any other, the destination is the goal, but not the point. The meaning is the walk itself, the getting there, not in the arrival. And the getting there this time around has been fantastic.
A man on the side of the road asked us if we were interested in having our photo taken for £1 and typically we say, very politely, no thanks but this dude made this entire thing himself and made a metal contraption on the back that made the arms swing around and point to your point of origin. I thought it was such a clever little thing that I had to say yes.
Like a fresh tattoo, thru hiking is an interesting dichotomy in which you go through a wide range of emotions, from pain to pleasure, defeat to victory; but no matter what, as the end approaches you can't help but think of what you're going to do next. We have a couple of destinations in mind but that's for another post. For now we feel grateful for the opportunity to hike one of the great trails in the United Kingdom and look forward to returning to explore the country more fully.
Until then, thanks for reading, and happy trails.
