Walking The Wall for Julie Day 6 Carlisle to Bowness on Solway

Where to start is the question there was just so much going on yesterday.

Alastair and Sue turned up in the Mini Bus driving into the street with banners photos streamers on the outside and decorated on the inside with Christmas decorations... and he had a uniform on ....What a hoot :) Cars all over the place, family from all over the country, complete but organised chaos. Everyone aboard and it was back on to the A69 heading west for Carlisle. Looking behind me in the passenger mirror I noticed a red taxi which I'd seen before...Bill Colin and Wendy had caught up and were finishing their Hadrian's wall Walk with us. Thanks guys.

We arrived in Bitts Park Carlisle where yet another group joined us in the shape of Chris Foster his girlfriend and sister complete with dog. Wow that now gives us a party of 23. Then as we're about an hour out of Carlisle we bump into Dave Vallely a hang glider pilot and great friend who had walked 10 miles back over from Bowness to greet us!!! That's 24 :) What's going to happen next?

The pace was much slower today as it always is when you have a big group including Grandma....Yes Grandma Julie's mam at 73 years young was hell bent on completing the last leg, Ron Don's (Extremely Fit senior paraglider pilot extraordinaire) has got nowt on this woman. Also at the other end of the scale we had Pam's (Julie's sister) youngest daughter at only 7 years of age walking that incredible distance...Well done Alexandria

The sun came out and it was boiling hot a really nice day but not the kind of heat you want for walking. Plenty of food and water stops, feet repairs, hip replacements, uppers, and lashings of ginger beer were the order of the day.

Alastair was always on hand with the mini bus incase it was getting too much for anyone and as we were nearing the finish kept passing us slowly with the Ipod station hanging out of the window blasting such songs as "I will walk 500 miles " By the Proclaimers and "The Long and Winding Road" By the Beatles kept our spirits high, what a laugh we even started dancing on the main road. :)

As we came in to Bowness Alastair had Champaign, Bucks Fizz, and more approriate songs playing, Sue Pam and myself walked over the line together and everyone had a hugging and kissing fest you couldn't get moved in that little Roman buliding, it was quite emotional for all concerned but we had done it, we had crossed the country by route of Emperor Hadrian what a good lad he was.

I would just like to say on behalf of the Wallis/Twizell families a massive thankyou to everyone who has helped us make this work, the website only went up 2 weeks ago and the response has been nothing short of amazing and we've doubled our target of £1000. Thankyou to all who have donated towards the British heart Foundation it really is a worthwhile charity.

If you are a paraglider pilot reading this "You do not want to miss the meeting on Wednesday" Colin Chapman is going to do something very special for the cause :-)

The names on the group photoare from left to right. Graeme, Dorothy (Grandma) Diane (Her of young, fit Beautiful and single) Rachael, Lucy, Pat, Tom, John, Wendy, Chris, Katie, Jen, Alexandria, Joe, Pam, Sue, Sue, Pat, Dog No 1, Chris, Wendy and Millie, Colin, Bill, Alastair.

Best wishes from the Team!

Good grief almost forgot to give the minibus company a mention http://www.northernmotorhomes.com/
Great rates and great service you could do a lot worse than use these people for caravette and minibus hire.

Mission accomplished! Full write up and photos of the amazing turnout will be posted tomorrow.

Cheers

Team Wallis Twizell and fantastic friends.

Walking The Wall For Julie Day 5 Aug 1st Lanercost to Bitts Park Carlisle

Well with the forecast being a bit dodgy yet again we thought we might be in for another soaking. However the rain came through and as we headed west it started to brighten up. The team now down to the hard core of Pam Sue and myself for the penultimate day, another hard 16 plus miles. We all discussed the usual aches and pains before we started plus the bottle of red that I shouldn't have had last night but did, all added to the struggle. We all found the walk was taking it's toll today and we could feel it after 5 days. Alastair Wolf took us all the way up to Lanercost this morning and dropped us off which was very kind of him, it saved a two car journey and meant we could get the train home...Thanks Alastair!

The section today was pretty uneventful as the hardened walkers worked their way into Cumbria. Passing Walton, Newtown, Crosby on Eden, over the M6, Rickerby and Carlisle.

As we walked into Bitts park I could see what looked like a familiar figure coming towards me. It was Peter Rycroft from the Cumbrian Paragliding Club. He had come to greet us into Carlisle. But not only had he come to greet us he brought with him 2 bottles of Chilled Rose wine which we lusted after at Lanercost last night....and the paper cups to drink it from. What a hero what a man what a kind gesture, Peter I hope one day I can repay your kindness.

We picked a spot under the trees and shared a bottle between us telling stories and having a laugh it was fantastic a great end to the day. Peter then gave us a lift to the station where the train was waiting to take us home. We thanked Peter and got onto the train with the second bottle ha ha haaaa. We found a seat with a table opened the bottle got the nuts and sarnies out and had a mini feast on the way home. Poor Pam couldn't join in with the wine as she had to drive when she got off, Susan and I were "Happy"

This has been a hard walk but great fun and it's been very good for the family to think they have raised such a lot of money to help beat heart disease, it's makes us feel a little better inside after our huge loss.

Tomorrow is our final day and with a mini bus ordered and it's being driven by Captain A Wolf it should be a reet hoot tomorrow. We think we've got about 25 members of family and friends joining in the walk to Bowness on Solway.

Cheers from the Team

Walking The Wall For Julie Day 4 July 31st

Well we did the "Biggie" Today and after all the hype it wasn't that bad. A fair bit of uppy downy on the first part of the walk which slowly got less the further west we got. We passed some beautiful parts of the county like Steel Rigg, Cawfields, Walltown Crags Thirlwall Castle, Poltross Burn, Birdoswald and finally Lanercost Priory. We were knackered as we arrived and thought there was nothing there but the old ruin. Katie spotted and Ice Cream sign which was actually a country shop and a brand new restaurant. As we walked in and saw the menus with food and drink we started to giggle like idiots because we were starving and dry. The food was ordered we were in good spirits and the only thing they couldn't supply us with was a bottle of cool wine to finish off the day... Bugger!

Back to Birdoswald and the Americans!

The local lass in the shop was doing her best to demo the info for the Birdoswald site to this American guy. He said "Do you have an Audio presentation to take us around the site" She said no! As I went back to the table with my tray of ginger beer (Another story) and tea I spread the word about our American friends and then the jokes started.

.....So if the yanks took over running the Roman Wall do you think as well as audio presentations we would have replica Coliseums built and Christians would be fed to the lions every hour on the hour :-)

Or......Would you like a Big Mac X simus Burger with Cheese and extra fries as you watch the gladiators flight sir.

Do these people not know they are in Haltwhistle and district :-)

Today has been a fun day...The bus driver was so miserable Sue thanked him for the lovely ride and customer service as she got off the bus, I kid you not. This is one woman who does not take to people who don't smile and enjoy themselves.

Pam was as reliable as ever but was a little worried about this being a big section of the walk...She breezed it with energy to spare. Katie who so often set the pace got bad blisters today and was hobbling by the end of the walk. I'm sure with a bit of attention she'll be back to finish the task.

Tomorrow we pick up the trail where we left off and our destination is Carlisle where when finished we will take the train back home to Ovingham.

I'll speak to you tomorrow night after the penultimate day.

Cheers

The Team

P.S. Forget Red Bull Drink Ginger beer for extra energy and a lift I kid you not! Lashings of it!!

Walking The Wall for Julie Day 3 July 30th Chollerford to Steel Rigg

The team today was re-joined by Katie Wallis after her successful job interview also Diane (Twizell) Palmer, Rachael Wallis, Joe Tolchard, Lawrence Scott, and the regulars Pam, Sue, and myself.

The weather started out good today if a bit windy and the team set off in good spirits with the new members joining in well with the crack. Some work had to be carried out on various people's feet today as the distance was starting to take some prisoners. Repairs carried out and we were on our way once more.

Climbing up onto Sewing Shields Ridge the views were spectacular however we could see a few showers on the horizon. Diane Palmer, blond tall,beautiful,single and slim aged 27 who has never been out in the hills walking in her life was gliding along majestically with Katie by her side leaving most of us in their wake, she didn't even break sweat!!

Holding up the rear guard was my old mate Lawrence Scott who hasn't been out walking for a few years was finding it hard going by the end of the day. I thought it would have got easier for him as he waded through the 20 corn beef and onion sandwiches in his day bag. I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat so much while out on a walk :-)

We passed Housesteads and made our way along to Crag Lough with it's fantastic stone buttresses which is probably one of the most photographed parts of Hadrian's Wall.

As the showers approached the wet gear was on and off but it stayed on for the last few miles as we got torrential rain, hail and I'm sure a few locusts were thrown in to make it a more realistic biblical occasion.

A million thanks once again to Alexander Wolf for picking us up from Steel Rigg. Day 4 tomorrow Steel Rigg to Lanercost and that's a biggie.

Cheers

The Team

Walking The Wall for Julie Day 2 July 28th Heddon to Chollerford

A 9.00am start from Heddon on the Wall Saw Sue, Pam, Jenny Wallis, and myself pushing further west with a slightly dodgy weather forecast, however it was excellent walking conditions with just a couple of light showers which didn't even make us drag the water-proofs out of the bags. Again it was a 15 mile leg but slightly more undulating. We had to get our passports (Proof of the walk) stamped at the Robin Hood pub on the military road however it was shut. Not to worry they have a little box screwed to the wall with the rubber stamp and ink pad inside it. All stamped up we set off again into Roman Wall Country where signs of the Vallum and defensive ditch north of the "Wall" are now evident and still in great condition after 2000 years. We discussed how many Brit's it must have taken to carry out such a feat of engineering? The Brit's at this time would have been the labourers and the Romans the engineers. We wondered how Bigus Dickus would have coped with the Northumbrian weather :-)


Stopping at the Errington Arms for a lemonade with ice and lemon which perked us up for the next section. Apart from Jenny Sue, Pam, and myself had problems with blisters, boots, pending hip replacements and the like but this passed and we continued to walk at the blistering pace Jenny was setting. She's 20 today and she told us she feels old Haaaaa ha ha ha. Anyway older dad told he she would pay the penalty for going so fast and she did :-) However after a quick bath she's out celebrating and dancing tonight :-( doesn't youth make you sick.


We got to Chollerford in 5 hours 20 which was about the same pace as yesterday and again not bad going. The weather tomorrow is pants so we are having a day off and carrying out remedial work on our bodies ready for Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday if the the weather forecast is to believed.


Thanks to Alexander Wolf for picking up the team from Chollerford, this really is a great collective effort from some great people and friends...Thank you!


Watch this space to be continued.........


The team.