Hadrian's Wall, Day 6 - Walton to Carlisle, 18 km

Another lovely start to the day in pretty Walton. We got started a bit later this morning - about 9:00 instead of our usual 8/8:30 goal. We had to wait until the morning duties were done, but that's part of the process.

Regardless, we were anxious to get started, seeing as we were on the penultimate leg of our journey - already! Where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday we were heading out of Newcastle. 

12 miles! Easy peasy :)

Clouds moved in quickly, but the temperature was pleasant enough. It was about here that the group of 6 Canadians caught us up and overtook shortly afterwards.

If I ever have a house, I'm getting a weathervane exactly like this!

We took the sign at its word - I didn't feel the need to check, even though there was no sign of the bull in the immediate vicinity.

We reached this sign shortly before noon.

Little Crosby on Eden - bursting with energy on a Saturday morning. My kind of place! We ran into the Canadians here, sitting outside the pub (by the white van waaaay at the end of the road) and having their lunch. We kept going and took a wrong turn just past that. We may have been talking too much because we missed the sign post and had to double back, adding about another 1.5 miles to our walk.

The peaceful River Eden.

So close!! Less than two hours' walk. :)

We have reached the fringes of Carlisle, the city of lovely red stone.

The folly (see Jane's post to get the name of this). This part of the walk wasn't as scenic, although it was flat, so we made excellent time, covering 12 miles in about 5.5 hours.

Our daily motivation. Ha ha! Not really, but it did help. We sat at the pub, after getting the stamp for our passports, for almost two hours. We needed to figure out which way we needed to go to get to the B&B. I bumbled about with Google maps and asking the pub staff, and Jane went to find a city directory.

We eventually found our way and I enjoyed the walk to the B&B. Carlisle has lovely colours and the houses are 3-storied in most cases, rather than the typical two-storeys you find everywhere else. I'm unclear why, but it's a city I'd like to come back to and explore. It's smaller than most - only 80,000 - so quite easy to get around. And only 1.5 hours from Glasgow by train!

Fern Lea B&B, our destination for the evening. 

Staying true to the hike, we had actually passed this earlier on, so had effectively double back on ourselves. Ah well. We couldn't check in until 4:00 anyway, so time at the pub was an enjoyable way to rest up before check in.

Our cosy room in the eaves. Cosy and quiet, despite being on a main road. The bathroom was roomy, and breakfast in the morning was delicious. Another terrific stay!

Dinner was at the packed and noisy Beehive pub, just down the road. I have to admit, had Jane not been there, I wouldn't have gone in on my own - I'm very nervous around lots of people drinking (it's an English pastime). It was football on all the TVs, with loud, rowdy fans in attendance. As it was the World Rugby Championships that week, they had gathered to watch Wales and England play once the football had finished. I'm glad we didn't have to stay for that. We ate and left. 

Tomorrow would be our last day of this amazing journey!