Hadrian's Wall Trekathon

Hadrian’s Wall had been on the top of my list of places left to see in the UK for a while.  Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of the wall in AD 122 to separate the Roman Empire in Britain from the barbarians of the north.  Even today, the wall marks the border between England and Scotland.  The wall took approximately 6 years to build and ran 80 Roman miles (or 73 modern miles) from coast to coast.  Most of the wall can still be seen today, and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

  

Ruins of Willowford Bridge

A few months ago, while I was on my way home from work to the train station, the shuttle driver was listening to Classic FM.  The station was advertising a Hadrian’s Wall Trekathon to raise funds for the Classic FM Foundation, a charity that provides music education and therapy to disadvantaged children throughout the UK.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see the Wall and do some good!  So I signed us up!

When David heard that I had signed him up for a 26 mile trek, he immediately joined a gym.

The training regime we were given by the trek organizers called for 8-hour hikes in the country each weekend.  But we live in the city, and honestly, who has 8 hours on Saturday or Sunday to spend walking around the countryside?  Instead, we spent 2-3 days a week in the gym, running or doing Pilates.

So the walk was hard.  Really, really hard.

To make matters worse, this weekend it stormed like crazy up north!  We were probably working twice as hard as we would’ve been in nice weather to get to the finish line.  The wind was relentless and it downpoured for hours. 

You can’t even hear David’s commentary in this video because the wind is howling so loudly.  But he’s basically showing you the weather, and asking if I’m ready to go.  I shake my head no, but actually once we started walking, I warmed up a lot.  So it was much better than standing there waiting!

When we woke up at 4:30 that morning to get ready to go, we looked out the window and then at our phones to make sure the walk wasn’t being called off.  (And to be honest, if we didn’t have all of those sponsors who had donated money for us, we may have considered just going right back to our warm, comfy hotel bed!)  But the weather does not faze the English.  They will go on, hell or high water.  And there was lots of high water!  Some of the hikers didn’t even have water-proof shoes on, but they didn’t care at all – just kept on trekking.  One man even came dressed as a Roman, in a skirt and a matching red cape.  At least he was wearing proper socks and hiking boots.  But even so, he had to give up before the halfway mark. 

We were prepared with new outfits, going on a shopping spree at North Face a few weeks before the hike for light, comfortable pants, windbreakers, and Gortex boots. 

I’m not sure if you can hear me in this video, either, but I’m basically saying that our waterproof shoes held up for about 4 hours before finally calling it quits.  Water started to leak in about halfway through the hike, so our feet were soaked.  At the end of the day, we actually dumped water out of our shoes and wrung out our socks.

Throughout the walk, I kept wondering how many people out of the 127 that started actually made it to the finish line without injuries, because it got pretty scary at some points.  It was very, very steep going up and down all those hills.  The grass and rocks were slick with rain and mud.  At one point, David almost rolled his ankle in the soft grass.  And I punctured my hand on some barbed wire fencing when I instinctively reached out for support on one hill.  Good thing I just got my tetanus shot!

Climbing down this cliff was the scariest part.  There was a lull in the rain, but the rocks were still wet from earlier and the path was set at almost a 90-degree angle.  Some people, including me, just scooted down on our backsides.

David kept making fun of me because I had no peripheral vision with my hoods on, so every time I wanted to look around me, I had to swivel my whole head.  Being able to see properly probably would've made the hike more safe!

Some parts of the trail were completely flooded, so we had to climb up onto the wall to keep going.  Here I thought the wind was seriously going to blow me right off.  And the wall was pretty high, too.  David had to boost me up and then jump almost 5 feet back onto the trail, pulling me down.  I don’t know how some people did it, especially the older people in the group that were travelling alone.  I bet there were a lot of good Samaritans that helped them.  David was one of them.  A group of ladies he helped out called him their “knight in shining armor.” 

It wasn’t all bad though.  I didn’t believe the leader when she told us it was going to rain all day, but we would still have fun.  We actually did have a lot of fun – it was an experience we’ll never forget and it made us feel like we really accomplished something.

David demonstrating how windy it was!

I look annoyed, but I think David just caught me 

at a bad time, halfway up the hill.

David and I broke up the walk by having some fun with the local livestock.

Cow:  So, how’s your walk going?  David:  It's udder-ly amazing!  

Cow:  Well, you'd better get a moooove on!

And when the weather did clear up, the scenery was breathtaking.  The land around the wall is mostly farmland now.  There were some small towns that we had to cross through, complete with picturesque ruins and babbling brooks.  At one point, I told David, “I can’t believe places like this still exist.  I feel like I’m in a Disney movie!”

Not quite Disney, but this is the tree from Kevin Costner's Robin Hood

In the end, the walk was supposed to take 12 hours but David and I finished in 10.  And that included multiple snack/water breaks and a 20 minute lunch break to eat, rest, and stretch!  So we averaged about 2.5 miles per hour, which we were really happy with!

The finishing line at Lanercost Priory.  By this point, I was already asleep.  David is just holding me up for the last shot with our medals!

Thanks again to everyone who sponsored us!  We raised more than £550, surpassing our target!  Way to go, Team House!