Day 4:Twice Brewed to Chollerford

• Distance: 12.7 miles
• Accommodation: The George Hotel
• Map

Day 4 began with a superb breakfast at the Twice Brewed Inn, a full English to give me enough fuel for the day. I’d ordered a packed lunch the night before which was ready for me to collect when I checked out, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the lunch knowing I would be fine for food until I reached my next nights accommodation.

Sydney and I set out well rested after a great nights sleep at the pub, with full bellies and feeling ready for the next stage. The winds were still strong so I was a little worried about the distance we had to cover with a blistered foot but made sure to keep positive and headed back up alongside the road to Steel Rigg where we had come off the trail the day before.

I knew there would be some more ups and downs throughout this stage but had hoped there wouldn’t be too many after sycamore gap which I’d walked along to several times before returning to Steel Rigg. To my legs dismay I was met with a crescendo of crags in a rollercoaster fashion which did not help the blister situation. The foot pain wasn’t too bad just felt a bit of a sore spot but boy would I suffer for carrying on later in the walk. I was greeted with glorious views to the north and south.

This section of the walk is the most popular section of the wall, with some of the best historic highlights to be found such as Housteads. My favourite sight so far along the wall so far if Sycamore Gap, standing proudly at the bottom of the stone steps the stately tree stands against the elements.

Here we would usually climb back up the other side from the tree and carry on along the wall, but the wall was obstructed with a wooden structure and a County Council sign for a footpath diversion. Following the recent storm there had been huge amounts of damage across Northumberland including this section of the wall where several trees had fallen across the path.

I was glad as the wall started to flatten out, we were being beaten by the wind again so we found some respite against a farmers wall to eat our lunch. Sydney gave me the biggest puppy dog eyes so got a good share of my sandwich and even got my down jacket as a shield from the wind for 10 minutes.

The rolling rollercoaster ups and downs evened out to a constant long up hill running alongside the Military Road and around Brocolitia. The wall and vallum run along the Limestone Corner before the descent to Chollerford began.

As we began heading down towards Chollerford I was really starting to feel my foot and the tiredness was setting in. We were well ahead of time for when I’d expected to make it to this point so that was promising and gave me the motivation to get this last section done.

By this stage I wasn’t caring as much about the history of the wall but just focusing on getting my sore foot to my hotel to get my boot off my foot! The last section of the walk to Chollerford is along a tarmac footway alongside the road, it felt like the never ending pavement with my blister, my walking sticks helped me to drag myself to the George Hotel, a former coaching inn.

When we arrived at the George Hotel I was met by the most welcoming member of staff, the reception area was lovely but when I got to my room as was very underwhelmed by the outdated shabby room. I didn’t care much as I could have a hot shower and tend to my foot. As I took my sock off I found my blister plaster had taken the skin away from my foot and left a whopping hole on my heel. I took to my bed for a little nap and to let my feet rest and get some air.

In the evening my parents came across to meet me for a meal, they had brought my wellies with them as a back up for the next day so I had to send my walking boots back with them. We went for a meal just up the road from Chollerford at the Crown Inn, the food was amazing and filled a huge hole after walking all day.

I’d brought my flipflops in my rucksack just in case my feet got sore so it felt like walking on clouds not having anything rubbing on the back of my foot as I took Sydney out for her last pee of the evening and we curled up in bed early, enjoying a bit of downtime.

Hadrian's Wall Path - Walking the Wall Long Distance Walking Trail National Trail Northumberland Northumberland National Park public rights of way publicrightsofwayexplorer