Hadrian's Wall, Day 1- Bowness on Solway

Nigel at Euston with another famous explorer - Matthew Flinders

For a long time, Nigel and I had talked of walking the route of Hadrian's Wall.  

2022 is the 1900th year since the building of the wall, and the 60th year of our lives.

If not now, when?

We had thought the main problems with walking Hadrian's wall might be the weather, or our knees. But it turned out to be a train strike. 

We had to take a taxi to Euston.  The journey of a thousand miles may start with the first step, but this was quite an expensive first step.

In Carlisle, the transport theme developed.  We were to catch a local bus for local people which ran from Carlisle to Bowness only twice a day.  It was teetering on the brink of being axed.  

We had to run for the bus stands, only to discover they were not marked with the numbers of the services which stopped there.

A kindly woman called Fenella appraised our walking gear, correctly guessed our destination and took us under her wing.

Which was just as well, because when the bus finally arrived, it had no number on the front - luckily for us, Fenella recognised the driver, otherwise we might still be standing in Carlisle!