Hiking Day One: Newcastle to Heddon on the Wall (25 or so kms)

The order of the photos is a bit out of whack due to uploading photos from my iPhone and my camera but that just makes the day that much more interesting....at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Here's Annie and I waiting at the station early on Day 1. We have to get to Wallsend where our journey across England begins.  We both look like we could use a few more hours of sleep!

And.....here's dinner....see what I mean about the order? Fish and chips, of course, but thankfully the peas weren't mushy :)

Heddon on the Wall is the location of the first remnants of Hadrian's Wall.  See Annie in her blue coat way down there?

Back to the beginning again...Annie and I at the very beginning of Hadrian's Way. It rained and rained and rained.

My one and only (you're welcome) boat and reflection photo - but it's a good one!

An interesting roof top vignette - a cat trying to catch a seagull!

We had a loooong walk beside the River Tyne as we travelled from one end of Newcastle to the other end and out into the countryside.

We took a little side trip to take a few photos of a Norman castle which gave "Newcastle" its name.

Old as the hills!

One of the many great things about Annie is her ability to spot a good hot cuppa just when one was dearly needed.  We were a little (a lot) soggy at this point, especially me so we fortified ourselves for the next leg of our journey.

My raincoat and rainpants repelled the rain but the impermeable material caused another problem - SEVERE SWEATING!! You may be able to notice that my shoulders and front (and back) of my green shirt are completely soaked. Not from rain but from sweat. My pants were equally soaked. It's a wonder I was smiling!

One of the more elaborate signposts we saw along the way.

The roses enjoyed the rain :)

Now, this is more like it!

Follow the acorn! Only 1.5 miles to Heddon on the Wall.

Thankfully the rain let up later in the day...

 Though the sky still threatened...

Some of the unusual flowers in the Memorial Garden near the pub where we dried out a bit.

A couple more shots from the wall...

Yes, we touched the wall, leaned on the wall, sat on the wall, sheltered by the wall to eat our lunch one day and walked on a short portion of the wall!

Heddon on the Wall...

Selfie opportunity!

Such a cute face! A koala sheep?

Also came across a few sturdy horses on our way to our first B&B...

Walking through some misty fields...

 A magical entrance to our B&B...

Rejoicing in Heddon - it stopped raining...

And here we are at Ironsign Farm! We did it! Our first 25kms!

Here to Stay.....maybe...

Hi everybody! It's about time I got started on my holiday photos don'tcha think? I'm going to stay put for awhile (maybe) so that means getting caught up on previous events like Annie's and my BIG HIKE and my journey to PEI. ( Annie's blog - Northernlivingallowance)

Thanks to the weather today (rainy) I cancelled my hike this morning and am taking the opportunity to get sorted out a bit. So here's a few photos from the day before the hike started. We stayed in Newcastle upon Tyne 2 nights so we could explore the city a little, neither of us having been there before.

*Annie is now a pro at taking selfies :)  (though let's work on eliminating the extra chins!!) We had nice weather and enjoyed a river cruise complete with tea, flapjacks and shortbread! There was also an outdoor market along the riverfront where Annie found a unique gift for her cousin. The fact that she managed to transport it across England in one piece is rather amazing!

While Annie completed her purchase I goofed around with my phone taking pix of the unique mirrors and mosaics - I found I could get some interesting affects!

It was like the hall of mirrors at the fair!

Newcastle has successfully (I think) recreated itself from being a major exporter of coal (think 19thc dank, dark and dirty!) to being a modern city full of public sculptures and weird and wonderful architecture like this duodenal-looking centre for the arts. Newcastle provides many products needed by off-shore oil platforms (so they haven't quite gotten out of the fossil fuel business!)

Just one of many amazing sculptures - everyday objects (past and present) dipped in pewter coloured paint?

The Millenium Bridge that has a walking/biking etc part that raises up as high as the other portion to let ships through.

Annie! - look over here!

Annie!

ANNIE!

Oh, there you are!

Fortune teller complete with gypsy wagon :)

 Cakes, everywhere cakes!! We got some sliced lemon cake and she threw in an extra piece! :) Bless you! We scavenged for every pack of cookies, yogurts, fruit and cake that we could put our hands on during our hike for much needed energy (read "sugar" :p ).

There are lots of excellent examples of older architecture...

...some really lovely bits...

...some looking sort of squeezed in.

Whaddya mean I'm sweeping the wrong hallway??

Awesome ethnic brass band playing some lively toe-tapping music at a second outdoor market in an older part of the city!

La piece de resistance! I haven't had a hamburger in 10 years!!

So I thought I'd get the one  covered in macaroni and cheese!! Storing up carbs for tomorrow's hike! Yeah, right - I'm sure I'm still carrying that around on my hips!  It was as scrumptious as it looks!

We had a nice room at the Premier Hotel and got a good sleep.  Good thing.  On Monday morning, Sept. 21st, REALITY quickly set in...

On the Road Again!

I'm off to PEI to see my sister! And today my brother asked if he could come too! That should be interesting. He's often talked about taking a road trip with all of our siblings but we haven't been brave enough to try it out yet. So we'll try just the two of us and see how that goes....(he's quite a talker! I could probably put in my ear plugs and he'd never know the difference!...haha just kidding...sorta...)

 Last year, when I sold my lovely Crofter's Lane I had to get rid of so much stuff!! I made several trips to drop things off at the Salvation Army store in Summerside. And I made one trip to my sister's place and stored some stuff in one of her barns. The rest I stuffed into Dougie and brought it home last August.

This past winter some wee mice made a home in a blanket or two over the winter (glad I could help out a few little rodents) so I need to get out there and retrieve the rest. I was supposed to go in June but had some back issues.  Now that I am managing the pain much better it's time to hit the road!

I'm taking Dougie the Dodge on it's last trip east; in the photo below I'm in New Brunswick. I'll probably keep Dougie for a while longer as he's been such a good boy for me. Other than oil changes I haven't had to spend anything for repairs. But the time will eventually come for me to get something smaller and more economical on gas. Fortunately, for me, gas is quite low right now so it's a good time to travel. Plus my bro will help pay for gas too! Win win!

It's likely a good thing that he's coming with me as the temptation is there to go see my old house and take a painful walk down memory lane. Don't need to do that!

So, my friends,  I likely won't be posting over the next week. By the time I get home Canada should have a new, and I mean NEW, prime minister!! Should be an exciting election - and yes, I voted already in an advance poll, just in case I didn't make it home in time.

Talk to you soon!!

Foto Friday

 One year ago today...
I was writing blog posts about last year's trip walking from village to village in the Cotswolds area.

 And.... Kazi had just rescued 2 sassy little kittens. Look at Lily sticking out her tongue! Honestly, it's always hanging out just a tad. When I see her licking herself her tongue looks like it's a foot long! I think she must have been abandoned due to her deformity!

Here's a more recent photo of her letting it all hang out! And what's with those demon eyes? Should I be worried??

Before and After

Hi everyone - we're back!! ( me & Annie of Northern Living Allowance) I'm still sorting through photos and posting daily albums on Facebook. When that job is done I'll do a day by day description of this year's trip like I did last year. In the meantime (due to gearing up for a long drive out to PEI - more on that later) I'll post when I can.

Frankly, I think we look more tired in the first picture which was taken in the Metro station and we hadn't even taken the first step of our cross-country expedition! It's probably just the harsh flourescent bulbs emphasizing our bags and wrinkles, yeah, I'm sure that's what it is...'cause I KNOW we felt like teenagers about to have an incredible adventure - what could go wrong? Blisters and sore feet, rashes and sore achilles tendons were the furthest things from our minds - we were invincible!

And we were! Invincible that is...we lost track of our many aches and pains and no matter how tired and sore we were (and we were really sore) when we went to bed we woke up feeling better and ready to hit the trail. Mostly.

Calamity Jane and Annie (get your gun) Oakley - Day One

 We got to use our rain gear on the very first day - yippeeee!!! And many times more over the next few days. We got to be super fast at putting on our jackets etc when the first drops started to fall - the problem was it would start and stop raining about 100 times a day! Phew! We faced rain, mud, gale force winds and then sunshine (we're in short sleeves on our last day of hiking) - at least it didn't snow!

Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane - Day Seven

 On our last day of walking we encountered an older gent making an extra pound or two by posting where hikers were from and the mileage on a signpost he created and taking photos. A nice keepsake - behind us is Scotland!

A long long way from home!

Before I sign off I just want to say that the world of blogging has brought many special people into my life - people I'd never have met otherwise.  Annie is one of those people. I think Hadrian's Wall would have been hard to do on my own and I'm glad I didn't have to. Annie was always positive and though we both had moments when we wondered what the heck we were doing out in the middle of nowhere with the rain pouring down and the wind almost blowing us over we kept going, encouraging each other. We learned to appreciate and take great joy in the little things - a hot cuppa, a bathtub, a bowl of hot soup and a crusty bun, and managed to keep our sense of humour most of the time :)

Thank you Annie - WE DID IT!!