I didn’t think I would start having doubts about this walk on the very first day, but sitting here resting my feet at the Houghton Farm B&B, I’m wondering what I’m in for during this walk. And the conditions today were as ideal as they could be. The weather here si perfect for walking. It was cool and cloudy almost all the way. I would guess that the temperature was in the 60s climbing occasoinally into the low 70s when the sun came out. There were a few drizzles along the way, but nothing that lasted too long or was even heavy enough for me to pull out my jacket or cover up the backpack.
Gagan dropped me at Wallsend station at about 9:30 in the morning. Even though we were only supposed to get there at 10 AM, there were already a few people there. The larger group didn’t get there until a few minutes after 10 AM and we set out on our walk soon after. The first depressing part was walking for about an hour and turning the corner to find the Tyne and Millennium bridges in front of us. Of course, these are close to Newcastle town centre and I had gone by it on my way to the Wallsend station. Psychologically it just seemed that we hadn’t made much progress since all that walking had just got me back to where I started. As we were walking by the Millennium bridge someone mentioned that it was going to go up in about ten minutes. Since Srini had explained to me earlier a little about this high-tech bridge, I was intrigued to see it go up. It was really quite an impressive sight and we kept going after watching it go all the way up.
After a while, I caught up with Archie, Dan’s father-in-law. I found he waslk walking at a pretty solid pace that seemed to match mine. As I suspected, it is actually a little harder to walk slowly and so it was nice to find someone who walked reasonably fast. We quickly moved near the front of the pack and kept going. Frankly, although I enjoyed keeping that torrid pace, it was very different than what I anticipated. I thought it would be relatively slow with frequent stops and lots of conversation. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much to see on this first leg. We walked along the river and crossed a couple of motorways as we followed the path. There was absolutely no sign of any wall along the way and so we just kept walking. In fact, our first stop was at 1 PM on a bench for lunch. Srini had made a couple of kabab rolls for me that were fantastic. I also owe Gagn a vote of thanks. She gave me two individually wrapped rolls and I insisted that one would be enough. She pushed me into taking both. Am I glad I had two. By 1 PM, I was definitely hungry and had no trouble finishing both the rolls. And, they were really delicious. The lunch on the bench slowed us down only about 15 minutes and we quickly got back on the path and kept up our steady pace along the path. A little after 2 PM, we came across a nice looking pub along the river called The Boathouse and I decided to stop for a coffee and a toilet break. Yes, this was my first stop of the day! We ran into a couple of walkers in the pub and they gave us the encouraging news that we were barely four miles from our destination of the day. We had walked about 12 miles in less than 4 hours. Encouraged by this news, Archie and I set off on that last leg.
After a while, we actually came to a sign that told us that Heddon-on-the-Wall, our stop for the night, was only 1 ¾ miles away. I remember turning to Archie and saying “We’re almost there!” Famous last words. It turns out that starting at that point, it was all uphill. Okay, I was feeling fairly good at that point even though right after the Boathouse stop I had a twinge in my left calf that would not go away. But, it didn’t get any worse even though Archie noticed and asked why I had a slight limp. Still, when we started going uphill, we slowed considerably. Then we went uphill some more. After going uphill a little more, we got to town and had to go uphill some more to get to the Farm where a big part fo the group was staying. I was scheduled to stay at another B&B a few miles away, but we were gathering at the Houghton North Farm and a taxi had been arranged to get me and a few other people to the Ironsign B&B after dinner. I’ll admit it was tough. Still, Archie and I got there at exactly 4 PM. I sat in their nice lounge and relaxed. My calf is still “twingey,” but I hope a couple of Ibuprofens tonight and tomorrow will take care of it.
The other thing I learned was that I had grossly overpacked. It *is* a lot different walking with a full backpack and my backpack really was very heavy. Honestly, it was not even easy to pick up off the ground. Now, thinking about it, why do I need 8 pairs of underwear for six days of walking? Exactly what was I planning to do with the extra underwear? I also carried 8 pairs of socks for the six-day walk. Since underwear are not that expensive back home, I have decided to leave them behind each day rather than carry that extra weight. Really – the backpack is HEAVY. Anything I can get out of there would be worthwhile. There were times today when I was wondering if it was even worth bringing this laptop with me. So, the decision has been made – underwear must go!
The early arrivals were chatting with the owner of the farm and I mentioned that the last two miles were really hard for me. She said, “You think this was hard? Wait until tomorrow. And it’s the last two miles is very steep uphill.” “This was nothing,” she repeated to make sure I had heard. “Tomorrow is really steep. There are hills up and down all the way and then the last two miles are really steep and it’s all uphill.” She pronounced “uphill” so it sounded like “oophill.” She was vigorously nodding her head with pursed lips and raised eyebrows. Not an encouraging sign.And, tomorrow is our longest day. We are supposed to be walking 16 miles tomorrow. Now I know it is all uphill and downhill – ending with a long, steep uphill climb. Maybe being prepared for it will make it easier. If not, there’s always Ibuprofen.
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