Category Archives: England

When life gives you boots…

February 25, 2022 XingfuMama 8 Comments

The Old Chapel Bed and Breakfast at Bowness on Solway was where we started our Hadrian’s Wall Walk. But most people walk in the other direction, ending there. A lot of folks had left their hiking boots in the trash at the B&B, never wanting to see them again.

The proprietor had a sense of humor and she fished boots out of the trash and used them as planters.

The night we stayed before starting, we chatted with a pair of hikers who were finishing up, they showed off their significant blisters. It was intimidating.

However, they had walked the wall in three days (for contrast we took 11).

We didn’t have problems with blisters but, even so, we did leave my husband’s boots on a trash can on the next to last day of the hike.

His boots started to come apart on the third day (after Carlisle, the last city where we could have found replacements).

He tried tying them together with string, then, at one wonderful B&B (the Henshaw Barn, somewhere in the middle of the hike), the owner glued them together for him. That lasted a short time, but, finally, he had to give up and bid them farewell.

He walked the rest of the way in his non-hiking shoes.

The moral of the story is: ALWAYS make sure you can walk in any pair of shoes you bring along.

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: bare feet or boots.

England, Hadrian's Wall Walk

A nine-patch of Hadrian’s trees

July 25, 2021 XingfuMama 11 Comments

Trees along Hadrian’s Wall National Trail in northern England.

In 2018 we walked Hadrian’s Wall from coast to coast. These are just a few of the trees we saw along the way. Often the trees were referred to as land marks in our guide book. I included two views of the “most photographed tree in England”. Who am I to buck tradition?

For Becky of Winchester’s Tree Squares-25.

England, Hadrian's Wall Walk

Hadrian’s Wall Walk

May 26, 2021 XingfuMama 9 Comments

Official start (or end if you go east to west) of the Hadrian's Wall National Trail in Bowness-on-Solway in northern England. — The starting point.

A section of the Hadrian's Wall National a Trail along Solway Firth in northern England. — Keep your eyes peeled for the acorn.

A straight section of the wall. — Straight ahead.

These are for Cee’s Black and White: Places to Walk or Hike, Brashley Photography’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Wordless Wednesday.

England

Canal way

January 15, 2021 XingfuMama 1 Comment

For Alive and Trekking’s Which Way Challenge.

England, Hadrian's Wall Walk

Pink piled up in the sky

January 11, 2021 XingfuMama 2 Comments

Setting sun lighting up a pile of clouds in a view across Solway Forth toward Scotland around mid-summer. — This is what I think of as a castle in the sky.

For Becky of Winchester’s Square Up Challenge.

England, Hadrian's Wall Walk

Up on a hill…motte, actually

January 8, 2021 XingfuMama 1 Comment

View from up on the motte to the north, You can see Scotland in the distance.

St. Mary’s is in Beaumont, Cumbria, in the north of England. We visited it while walking the Hadrian’s Wall Trail in 2018.

Here are a few more photos of the old church I showed in this morning’s Pull up a Seat. As I mentioned, I have a “thing” about old churches that are clearly very much still alive. I especially like the smaller ones, where you, in my mind anyway, feel the love and care of the centuries. They lift me up and create a sense of hope and perspective for the ability to come through strife.