Hadrian's Wall, Day 2, Carlisle to Walton

On Tuesday 28 April we woke after a good night's sleep. I think the fresh air and exercise did the trick. We ate another hearty breakfast and set off from Marlborough House B&B in Stanwix, Carlisle about 09:00.

We decided to check out Carlisle Castle before starting our wall walk. It's a very attractive castle and we're pleased that we did go and see it.

There's a great children's trail around Carlisle with some fab pieces of art. 

We got on the trail about 10:00, and this took us through a beautiful park ...

... and then headed out of Carlisle. The further on we went the more undulating the countryside became. We crossed the M6 and continued heading east.

We passed through farmland, with ...

... birds tweeting ...

... lambs baaa'ing ...

... and cows moo'ing.

We stopped about 13:00 to eat our flapjacks and I had my flask of hot chocolate.

This was our lunchtime flapjack view for the day.

With no actual wall to follow we had to keep checking the map and look out for sign-posts.

We stopped to chat with some passing walkers and Jackie also decided to quiz this chap who looked like he was doing something interesting with a pole! Turns out it wasn't interesting at all; he was just doing research for new pipelines. We talked to a couple of guys from Liverpool (with broad accents) who assured us that we would actually see some wall tomorrow and to expect some tough up-hill walking. Bring it on!

Today's walk was shorter than yesterday's, about 11 miles, and we ended just after this river in the village of Walton. Our accommodation for the night was at Linstock so we had to ring the owners when we got to Walton so they could come and collect us.

We got to Park Broom Lodge about 16:30 and sat in the lounge warming up in front of a roaring log burner. We had got quite cold sitting on a bench waiting for the lift to turn up so a hot drink and a warm by the fire was very welcome. Sadly the hot chocolate they made for me wasn't very nice so I couldn't drink it. What a let down! We were however very lucky with the weather today because although it was windy all day it was dry until we got in the car for our lift to the B&B when it started to chuck it down.

After a hot shower we went to the restaurant for dinner of fish and chips for Anne-Marie and Jackie, and steak and chips for me. The girls' fish had more batter than fish and there weren't enough chips for our liking but it was a hot meal and it could've been worse! We decided to have an early night as we had an early start and a long day ahead of us.

The accommodation chap explained that there are no wall remains down this end of the trail because it was made of wood and turf. Now we know...

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