Hadrian’s Wall-the Crags (the middle)

 Our third day of walking was cloudy with the chance of rain later.  We had the option of a shorter, or longer walk and decided to play it by ear and see how we were feeling after lunch.

We got our bags organized, and set off in the misty drizzle from our B&B.  From what we had heard, the walk should cover some beautiful area.

Our guidebook was so helpful. It listed all kinds of details about each section of the walk: spots to refill water, bathrooms (few and far between), spots for tea, benches for picnics, muddy areas, and snack sheds.

Usually Keenan or myself had it at the ready.  

We were in the English countryside, walking across farm after farm, and rolling hills.

And arrived at Birdoswald Fort for an early lunch.

This was when Keenan cleaned his phone off that he had dropped in a field....in some "mud."

Ew.

Birdoswold Fort was where we had visited five years ago and the idea of walking the wall took shape.  

We had visible sections of the Wall parallel to the path as we left the Fort, and it looked like the skies were clearing.

The views were just gorgeous.

A herd of bulls were waiting for us at the top of this hill.

Made for a few tense moments, but they let us pass without bothering us.

We reached the point of our walk where we could stop for the day, or continue three more miles giving us a shorter day on Saturday.  Since it was early afternoon, we felt good, and the weather was supposed to be yucky on Saturday, we decided to walk the extra three.

We had reached the Crags of the walk and were excited about the big views from the tops of the crags.

The crags are the lumpy hills we were climbing up.  

The Romans didn't use switch backs-the wall and the trail goes up and over any hill/crag.

Straight up and straight down sometimes.

(And don't stick your hands in the rocky crags.)

We headed up the first section of crags, figuring we would be at our B&B in about an hour and a half.

The skies were clearing and the views were amazing.

Up, down, and over each crag.  Along the highest point of each crag.

The views were huge & beautiful.

Each time we climbed a crag, there was another one to climb behind it and we were getting tired and hungry.  Our additional three miles felt like it was ten and we were ready to see the road to take us to our B&B.

Finally, we could see it.....waaaaay in the distance.

Down another crag, up one more, through the trees, across a farm and field.

It felt like we were never getting off the crags.

Finally, we made it to our B&B.  Our hosts were just absolute angels-they did a load of stinky laundry for us, and walked with us to the nearby pub after we had showered and rested.

Dinner was delicious, and dessert was well earned.

Sticky toffee pudding with a scoop of vanilla.

Then a shuffle back to our wonderful rooms at the B&B and bed.

The next morning we slept in a bit, and took our time over breakfast before packing our bags and setting off.  Thanks to our extra mileage the previous day, we only had to cover five miles.

Good thing since it was already raining.

We headed back up to the crags to continue on.

The boys moved a lot quicker than Kevin and I-see them on the ridge?

There are the boys again-at the top of the next crag.

The rain picked up and so did the wind.

A lot.

Like tropical storm gusts.

So much that Kevin and Keenan had the hoods of their poncho's rip and they parked their hats on top to keep the rain out.

We were all cold, and soggy when we arrived at our turn off.

Quite cold.

Thankfully there was a visitor center for the wall next to our Inn, so we made our way there and warmed up with tea and scones while we watched others wander in off the trail.

Lots of soggy shoes.

We took the chance that our room might be ready early and made our way to the Inn.

The rooms were ready but our bags had not arrived yet.

It was fine-we were thrilled to head up, take off our shoes and socks, and relax.

And park our shoes in the drying room down the hall-fantastic!

It wasn't long before our bags arrived, and the hot shower was wonderful.  Plus the heated drying racks in the bathrooms were helping dry our soggy socks.

The boys had a view of the crags, and we hung out in their room drinking tea, playing hearts, watching Live Action on tv, and watching other walkers along the top of the crags in the wind and rain.

Like little ants.

Then the boys hit the shower before dinner and had hardly any hot water.  And when we arrived downstairs at the pub we found out why-the gas for the entire Inn was out.  And was not going to be restored until the morning-yikes.

We planned for an early evening, and an early breakfast since Sunday would be a long day.  Even though our weather had been icky, it had been a lovely day.