Day Two: Heddon on the Wall to WALL

On the second day of hiking Annie and I walked from a part of a wall in Heddon on the Wall to a village called Wall via Chollerford which also had some bits and pieces of wall! Confused much? Must have something to do with Hadrian's Wall - yup, I figured that out all by myself!

 It was a misty start to the day, rained a little off and on.

Annie not paying attention to the road instructions! Hey, slow down there!

In between cloudy skies and rain the sun would pop out allowing us to get some lovely photos of the landscape.

 Some of the hills we climbed were pretty steep as you can see! There are some tiny people in the lower right hand corner of the photo.

Annie - the cow whisperer! We encountered lots and lots of lovely cows, sheep, chickens, a rabbit and several horses.

We climbed over about 500 of these styles - there was also a stone version. I liked the wooden ones because the handles gave us something to pull ourselves up with.

Poor sheep...

but this one is okay :)

Our destination was the Hadrian Hotel in Wall. The views from the dining room were gorgeous.

On the way we passed through Chollerford and crossed Chester's Bridge - dating back to Roman times and still in great shape!

I don't remember if this was a turret of a mile castle.

This Roman temple has a fairly intact altar and various carvings. Over the centuries farmers and builders helped themselves to the stones from the wall and various buildings as they were ready to use! It's a wonder there is as much left as there is.

Some of our more challenging hills coming into view.

I see you bunny!

Yes, I love sheep. (Have you seen Shaun the Sheep movie?? Go if you can!)

From above we watched a farmer on his 4 wheeler along with his border collie rustle up some sheep.

The hills we went up and down and up and down were called shields or crags as in Halton Shields or Carr Crags. Every time I would crest one hill and see several more in front of me I would swear a little bit (quietly)...but eventually it didn't matter anymore as we got used to them. Our feet and legs protested for awhile but it did seem to get a bit easier the more we climbed.

There was a photographer racing ahead of us from time to time, with a huge lens, and occasionally we would catch up to him. He took a couple shots of Annie and I. It must have been cold as we're all bundled up.

Annie, wait up! We took turns leading and following - it all worked out fine. One of us was always stopping to take photos and then we'd catch up.

This is what the landscape looks like when it's raining! I missed some good shots due to the off and on rain but between the two of us we have more than enough!

I love this one as it shows a tiny person cresting the hill and you can see many more hills in the distance. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

Now...is this a crag or a shield?

Such a dreamy shot.

Here's our lovely hotel - IT HAD AN AMAZING BATHTUB!!!!!

 Annie's sister said putting our feet up would help :) I think it did!

Coming soon: Day 3 - The mother of all days!!