It was a chilly start to the day but as i boiled my water and sipped on a lovely hot mug of coffee the air began to warm. It had been quite uncomfortable during the night my muscles seizing up throughout. As i began to pack up an early morning walker passed by wishing me a good morning commenting on my temporary accommodation and how cold it looked. As the conversation progressed i was informed that directly opposite where I'd stayed was an old chapel that was open with toilet facilities and refreshments, by donation.
Leaving the woods and footpath i headed over, sure enough there it was and just as i arrived a gentleman pulled up in his car to unlock the doors. He didn't give me his name but he'd been in the coastguard for 12 years before retiring. His wife had been running the chapel for a couple of years now to raise money to keep it open. Inside was lovely, the chapel was well kept and in the kitchen a nice selection of teas, coffees, hot chocolate and biscuits.
I made myself a mug and ventured outside to watch the solar eclipse a fantastical natural phenomenon. How is it that moon just so happens to be just the right distance from the earth that it completely blocks the sun as the two celestial bodies pass.
Before leaving the chapel i had one last coffee, left my donation and signed the visitors book. I then headed back to the hadrians wall walk from whence i left it and although it had rapidly turned chilly as the moon eclipsed the sun the air soon began to warm again. I was still looking for signs of the wall as walked the banks of the river which was rapidly opening up to join the solway. The first real sign that I'd now rejoined the coast was the remains of a harbour wall near port Carlisle, a small village a mile before bowness.
Making quick progress along the coastal road it took me less than half an hour to reach the next village. As i hiked the main street, following the hadrians wall walk sign posts i passed a b n b. The sun was now shining and the clouds were clearing. Outside the b n b the host was saying goodbye to her guests who had returned after completing their five day hike following hadrians wall across the country, a mini camino. As i hiked passed the lady called out "well done you've almost finished", de ja vu. A similar thing had happened to me as i walked through john o groats the year before. With a smile i stopped "not quite", "its only another 230 yrds" she replied. Obviously i had to explain the challenge much to everyone's amusement. "Shall i put a pot of tea on?", well I'm not one to say no. We all went inside and began to banter. It was fascinating hearing about the adventure the two friends had embarked on, a spur of the moment adventure. The look on their faces emanating self satisfaction. The look of conquerors.
Leaving bowness and bidding farewell to the two intrepid explorers i continued with my mission to tackle the English coast. Stopping off briefly at what was apparently the end or possibly the start of hadrians wall for a photo op i wondered how much of the actual wall was left. It was a reasonable hike following the salt marshes towards an array of enormous antennas which I'd been told were military in nature. In fact i was told on several occasions the antenna had something to do with submarine communications. Others had mentioned the history of the site dating back to the second world war where the navy had used it as an airbase. Apparently during the war the Canadians flew over and also used the base but in some cases the aircraft ran out of fuel just before reaching the airstrip having to ditch into the solway not far away. Apparently undercarriage from the wreckages can still be seen at low tide.
As i passed the antenna array the skies filled with clouds and from nowhere it suddenly began to pour. Hoping the showers would pass quickly i continued to hike back inland to make my way round the estuary and to make use of the bridge at Kirkbride. Thankfully as i reached Kirkbride the rain eased off, the sun returned and i was able to pick up the cumbrian coastal path which I'd be able to follow all the way to the coastal town of silloth, home of long serving rnli crew member and loyal trek supporter sue kent.
Sue, now retired from active service, had remained with the station taking on the roll of press secretary. I'd received many messages from sue since tackling the east coast asking when I'd be arriving at silloth. Derek fleet, a charity supporter I'd met early on had at the time told me that when i eventually arrived at silloth would experience one of the greatest receptions i could imagine. He wasn't wrong.
A bed had been made up and plans were afoot for my welcome. In fact my weekend had been planned ahead of my arrival. That evening i was treated to a lovely vegetarian lasagne, cooked by hannah, sues daughter. Melanie, another crew member joined us later and the rum came out of the cupboard. Sue had also baked me a birthday cake which ironically was shaped like an enormous chocolate booby, I'm sure it wasn't intentional.
It was a fantastic evening and being presented with a laptop for me to do some admin on which hannah had left herself logged into Facebook a series of random posts simply had to be made. Well and truly "fraped" and after consuming a respectable amount of rum we eventually retired around 4:30am. I wasn't going to be going anywhere the following day.
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