From Carlisle the walk is totally flat, and it gets flatter. It’s so flat, every bump above 5 feet seems like a mountain. On such bumps one finds villages huddled like desperate sailors on desert islands, usually including a medieval church built from Roman stone.
One of the last sections of the path follows the course of a 3-mile long dyke built to protect against flooding from the Solway. I think I saw more people along that stretch than anywhere else on the walk – it was a Saturday in July, so a lot of hikers were just starting the hike from west to east.
A mile or two before the end I stopped at a pub and had a steak and ale pie for lunch. When I first walked in the barman saw my rucksack and said, “Bloody hell, have you brought the kitchen sink an’ all?” So I replied no, that would be a stupid thing to take on a hike, and he was an idiot for even suggesting it.
Then I walked to the finish line, which is in Bowness-on-Solway, a village on the edge of the known world to which nobody ever goes for any reason at all, except walking Hadrian’s Wall Path. They’ve made a cute hut and terraced garden overlooking the windswept mudflats of the Solway Firth.
And then I went for a pint of Guinness in the village pub, where I saw a big cardboard cutout of a Roman.
And then I went home.
This is a rollercoaster of a ride of emotions. I'm dizzy just reading it.
ReplyDeleteI like it. I'd buy the film rights, cut out the references to the world's economy and 1950s new wave cinema (too preachy) and focus on the implicit search for gold threaded throughout the plot. I'd call it 'Mr Diver's Gold Hunt Spectacular' to lure people in. There'd probably be some talking side-kick animals too. A bit of CGI for the dragons. I'd probably lose the wall too. As a character it doesn't prove the 'life-truths' which I need in 'Mr Diver's Gold Hunt Spectacular'.
ReplyDelete