The sun was shining when I set out on this day. But my shoes were still wet from rain on the day before, and soon so were my socks. But it was warm and friendly, and in no time both would be completely dry.
The first stop on this day was Lanercost Priory, a set of magnificent ruins, part of which is still functional and in use as the parish church. Originally founded in about 1169, most of the priory’s buildings were built in the 13th century using stones from Hadrian’s Wall. The church was dissolved by Henry VIII. in 1538, and only part of the buildings was still in use. Today it is in the hands of English Heritage. You can learn much about the rich history of this place there. It is an exciting place to visit, and it is photogenic, too, as you can see in the images attached to this article. Here I put my tripod to use for the first time after I had carried it for so many miles.
The landscape and the path became flatter and flatter, meaning so that walking became easier and easier, but also visually less appealing. I was still able to get some lovely rural landscape photographs. But I took fewer and fewer images, and this trend continued on the next day. It was a pleasant walk though, and I was more at peace with myself than I had ever been before on this walk along Hadrian’s Wall. While I had made precautions to prevent blisters, some minor injury at my left heel caused nasty pain with every step, but this could be handled with the painkillers I had brought to treat a headache. It is worth noting that both, the headache and the neck tensions that had plagued me regularly in the months before my trip were completely gone when I began walking. “Don’t work, just walk”, shall be my motto henceforth. The 21st century way of life definitely is not healthy. Time to simplify.
Without further problems or exciting incidents to report, I reached Carlisle at about 6 PM. This night’s accommodation was OK, but the landlord clearly didn’t like his job, and so I was happy to head out to the next pub and have a decent dinner. There I met Joe and Richard. Joe was a Brit who lived in Denmark and spent his holiday in Britain together with his old friend Richard from the United States of America. I had first met them two days before at the Mingary Barn, my accommodation in Humshaugh and it had been them who had told me where I had left my tripod the day before, so it was a bit of sitting together with old friends and sharing stories from the way behind us.
Thus ended my time in Carlisle. The next day would be my last walking day, and I was looking forward to it with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I enjoyed the notion that I had achieved what I had set out to do. On the other hand, I was sad that it all would be over soon.
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2 Comments
Great photos, and fair play walking the full thing in one go, I walked West to East in 2011 as far as Heddon, but then left the last bit until 2013. While I enjoyed it I spend much of it in a bit of a haze due to lack of fitness and a nasty blister from day 1. It had the major impact of making me get up and out and a lot fitter and I have done the Wicklow Way and Cotswold Way (well, mostly, I have one last section to do of it) since then.
Obviously being a professional I expect your photos to outshine mine, but the detail and lack of artifacts is excellent, assuming your kit is digital are you on a lossless compression setting? They enabled me to re-live my experience (with better weather than I had, mostly 🙂 ) in a very enjoyable manner.
Cheers
Bill
Bill, thanks for your interest in my blog and for taking the time to respond. You are right, I shoot in RAW mode to get images in the highest possible quality onto my card. From there, it’s all editing on the computer.
You have got a very interesting site, too. I will bookmark and come back to it next year as I am planning to walk the West Highland Way and I find your website’s section on this path very informative.
Cheers,
C.