Chesters to Caw Hill.

This weekend we did a double-walker.  We decided as we were now driving two cars around an hour each way from home, it would be cheaper to grab a little Bed & Breakfast and put a whole weekend of walking behind us.

So, Saturday late morning, we packed up the car and off we went.  We drove on to our finishing point, which having looked at the map we believed to be around Ruchester area.

It was only when we were driving over a bridge my Hubby asked me to pull over, mumbled something about reading the map wrong and toddled off to see Ian in the other car.  Yep, it turns out there are TWO places on the map marked as 'Chesters' and we were putting ourselves at the wrong one.

A quick recalculate and off we set again and parked at a place called Caw Hill.  We all jumped in the second car and drove back to Chesters Fort car park to begin our walk.

The first part of this was on the actual roadside, so poor Dotty was on the lead for quite a while.

We walked through Chollerford and over Chesters Bridge.

Then up the hill heading in the direction of Hexham.

We walked up a hill on a bit of a 'dogs leg' route of the wall, through a little wooded area and popped out at Planetrees where we saw a nice chunk of wall.  At this point it started raining a little so the raincoats came out.

The next little Hamlet we walked through was called 'Wall'  and there was a little cafe called St Oswalds Tea -Room.  We didn't stay for tea as it means a few miles down the track you have to find a toilet ;)

On the way past the tea-room we spotted a bucket lid tie to a tree advertising the tea-room, only someone had written 'don't bother' on it. I guess the moral to that story is to check your signs now and again  :)

Just past the tea-room we pulled out our waterproof seating mats and had some lunch. Mine was some Vine Leaf rolls made by my Turkish friend Meltem, and as no one else wanted any, I ate the whole lot - what a piglet!

Dotty had crusts and dog biscuits, but Andrew had to hold her dish while she ate, talked about spoilt.

Time for a little play on the phones before setting off again.......

We are back into the Farmers fields now, pretty trees, crops and views, but no wall. :(

Like last week, our walk crossed from left to right of the road every few miles.  At one point we walked through this gorgeous woodland area where there was loads of different Fungi.

Ian even saw two red deer bound in front of him, by the time I had caught up I only saw the hoof marks in the mud.

Leaving the woods we realised that time was now moving on, and as the car park back at Chesters Fort was shutting at 6pm, we decided the boys should romp on (as they are decidedly fitter than us girls) and go back for the car.

So they waved goodbye and off they went....

We wandered on and as luck would have it we crossed a pub car park!  Well, it would have been rude not to stop and sample the lager wouldn't it ;)  The pub is called The Errington Arms.

We sat for a little while, and enjoyed our refreshing drinks, used the facilities and then as it started to rain we thought we should make an effort and move on.

So, down a field or two, past a sheep or three and just as we were coming up to having to climb a hill the boys past us in the car.  We waved them down with our walking sticks and jumped in.

They congratulated us at making 'good time' not realising we had spent half an hour in the pub, but we owned up eventually.

But.... because we had jumped in the car a mile earlier than our finishing point, we knew that the next day us girls would need to do a mile more before the boys joined in.  Ho hum!

We drove to the Bed & Breakfast we had booked.  We weren't expecting too much to be honest, it was not en-suite and it was above an old fashioned looking pub (you know the type where old men used to sit with a tankard of beer and their tobacco pipes?)  but it was the only one that would allow Dotty Dog in.

We were so pleasantly surprised, the place was gorgeous, spotlessly clean, and modern. The staff couldn't do enough for you, and Dotty even got her own breakfast the next morning!!  Would definitely recommend it - it's called The Tap And Spile at Hexham.

Total walked today- approx 8 miles.  Time spent - approx 3.45 hrs walking.

Grand Total - Miles 69 / Time 36.30 hours.