Running the footpaths of Britain

It's great to get out on a summers evening and make the most of these tracks and trails but have you ever considered finding a path that will take you for more than your normal 45 minutes or an hour? Two of my friends, Kath and Sue, ran the Coast to Coast last year, did Hadrians Wall this year and are currently studying the map of long distance paths to plan their next challenge.

For this year's run along Hadrian's Wall they managed to talk their respective husbands into joining them. Brian sent me his report on the five day run!

"I don’t know whose idea it was to run Hadrian’s Wall, but it was not mine. My idea of an enjoyable run is a nice fell or trail run, with the occasional road run for a bit of variety. So the concept of running 85 miles over 5 days was not one I ever considered for myself. I do have friends who rack up 100+ miles when doing marathon training, I find that amazing but not for me. So on a Saturday morning I found myself driving to Carlisle and then onto Bowness in the other couples car. There was initially going to be four of us, myself, my wife Sue and friends Kath and Tony Ward, but Tony injured himself training for the London Marathon, so he dropped us off, we said good bye and he drove back to Carlisle and got his bike out so he could meet us on the route. That afternoon we did 15 miles of nice flat rural trails and roads, Carlisle is a decent sized town but the route takes you along the river and you hardly notice the town besides the park behind the castle.

The next day we were dropped where we finished and ran to Gilsland, which took us into the hills, as we left the flat flood plain we saw our first bit of wall and had a few nice climbs to get up. This was our first proper hot day and as we had done 20 miles running east to west, so we should not have been surprised to find we had sunburn on our backs and right arms.

The third day was possibly the best. Starting at Gilsland we were going up and down climbs like yoyos, there was a military road to the south of us but the wall followed along a ridge line giving spectacular views. Clearly this was a slow speed day but there were plenty of excuses to go at a leisurely pace, walking up steep hills and standing on peaks to admire the views being the best. After seeing plenty of wall and interesting places, including Housesteads, lots of turrets and mile castles with interesting information boards to give us a breather. There were some interesting place names, we passed through a place called Once Brewed which was not far from Twice Brewed, names to conjure with as to their origin and make me smile. Eventually we finished at Brocilitia, the ruins of a temple and a welcome sight.

Day four was less challenging, the wall was following more gentle contours, the terrain and scenery still enjoyable as we rolled along the route going from moorland to arable farmland as we left the Pennines and started to run alongside the old roman road down to Heddon-on-the-Wall.

Our last day and still feeling good, no injuries, no feeling stiff when we got up, no sense of giving up, but this would be the hardest day. England were playing some foreign team in the World cup at football, so we had to be in a pub for 3.00 pm. Luckily the route was mostly on well made tracks or footpaths so we could keep a good pace. This was however the only day we missed a way marker, we had a guide book but to be honest the route is so well marked we only used it for reassurance when there was a doubt, but we missed this one as we entered the edge of Newcastle’s suburbs, making a detour after asking one of the friendly natives how to get down to the Tyne. Then we just followed the river watching it get more industrial and developed. Running under the Tyne Bridge that all those Great North Runners have run over was a good sight along with all the other sights along the riverside. Eventually we made it to Wallsend. (Just how many names can there be including the word wall?) And a rather small piece of wall by the side of the path lets us know that our challenge was complete.

Unfortunately there is no easy way into the Roman museum from the path, so we ran further to find the road, our car and driver (Tony who had been off cycling and eating bacon butties) and onto the museum. All three of us had finished, none of us had attempted to run high mileage every day for five days, but we took it easy, enjoyed ourselves, and ran conservatively, it was not a race, rather an excellent excuse to run in some wonderful parts of Britain. Tony for his part did an excellent job of ferrying us around. His time spent exploring the cycle route and diversions off it does make me think that cycling across Britain at this point could also be interesting and challenging, and that is from someone who is a big softie and does not really like bikes without engines, but I also thought running 85 miles was a daft idea!"

Written by Brian Holland Edited and corrected by, Sue Holland Kath and Tony Ward