Captain's Log

River Tyne

Well, this was my final day on the Hadrian's Wall Path. It would be short one too, being only a 5 mile plod along the River Tyne to Wallsend (the name's a bit of a giveaway isn't it?) There was also a museum at the end of the trail that I was looking forward to wandering around. I was full to the point of vomiting after the 'all you can eat' breakfast at the Premier Inn. Oddly enough, I didn't actually eat that much; it's just that I'm not used to greasy breakfasts and I always feel slightly sick after eating one. I still had space for a Greggs coffee though and I sipped it at one of the NE1 seating spots at the edge of the river. It had a great view of the Sage building, the impressive Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art and the winking eye of the Millennium Bridge. The Kittiwakes were still singing their songs from their lofty perches on the Tyne bridge. It was such  a great spot, I was reluctant to move, but I managed to sling my rucksack on to my shoulder for the last haul of the Hadrian's Wall Path.

There was a large group of Americans at the end of the Millennium Bridge. Given their gear I think it was pretty certain that they were Hadrian's Wall Path thru hikers. There was a black couple in the group and I felt like apologising in advance for the obscene racist graffiti that I'd seen on the footbridge over the A1, yesterday. Welcome to England, enjoy the incredible Hadrian's Wall, marvel at the ancient history, suffer awful racist abuse, come back again soon.

Walker Riverside Park

A little further downstream from the Millennium Bridge was the Galeon Andalucia, a floating museum no less. It is a replica of the ships used by Spanish explorers and traders between the 16th and 18th centuries. It looked a canny piece of kit, but would I trust it sailing over the seven seas? Probably not. It seemed popular with the public though and I debated whether to take a tour or not. I didn't want to limit my time at the Segedunum museum at the end of the trail though, and so I decided to give it a miss this time. 

Just around the corner I found the rather charming marina at St Peter's Basin. It was with some trepidation that I started the next section of the trail into Walker Riverside Park. My trail guide had warned me that thru-hikers had been known to be harassed by youths on this part of the trail. To be honest, I found this stretch nowhere near as threatening as the section between Newburn and Elswick, that I'd walked through yesterday. I even found a police car parked up next to the path, which may have had the purpose of deterrence or more probably, the police just wanted a quiet spot for a break. Even a police motor boat went by me up the Tyne, although I very much doubt that it would've fired any broadsides if any thru-hikers got into trouble. I even met a few thru-hikers starting their east to west venture. A couple of runners stopped to ask if they were on the Hadrian's Wall Path. I confirmed that this was the path. They said they were going to complete the trail in 3 days. It looked like a father and son team. The son looked fit enough, but the father was supporting a hefty balcony. I wished them the best of luck.

The Roman Baths And Segedunum

The trail diverted away from the river and up into an industrial estate. The units were obscured by vegetation and so the path wasn't actually as bad as it sounds. Even so, it presented a rather inauspicious end to the trail. Before I reached Segedunum itself a sign diverted me off on a short out-and-back to see some Roman baths. It was a bit of a litter strewn area with two Highway Maintenance council lorries parked up with the occupants dozing. It hadn't been until relatively recently that the Roman baths had been found. I read an information board about them and it told me a about a curved metal tool known as a stirgil that the Romans used to use to scrape dirt and sweat from their bodies. I could have done with one of those when I was scrubbing four day's worth of dirt from my body at the Quayside Premier Inn last night.

At last the trail brought me to the start/finish point at Segedunum. I was immediately struck by the impressive 35m high viewing tower that formed part of the museum. The remains of a Roman fort was next to the museum, but as might be expected, most of the stones had been stolen over the years and only the outline of the buildings was still visible. A couple of thru-hikers were just taking their photos at the start of their east to west venture. I wished them luck.

See Segedunum Museum for my Captain's Log of my visit to the excellent museum.

So that was the end of my Hadrian's Wall Path Venture. It had exceeded expectations. I'd wandered through a variety of landscapes, learned one or two things about the Romans, and ate two slabs of Paradise Flapjack that have probably given me enough calories to support me for the rest of my life.