OK, so here’s a pre-bed update. In brief, the agony and the ecstasy sums it up about right. The agony? Blisters (I now have a few), wearing a 5 kilo helmet all day, sore shoulders from all the kit hanging off me, getting wet a few times and lots of squidgy mud.
The good bits? Walking with Russ, Ben and Mike, who’s a lovely guy and very tolerant of my Tourettes, seeing the Wall, and rediscovering just how bloody hard it is to shlep along up hill and down dale in kit (and I’m not the one wearing the iron sweatshirt). A big dose of the realism so important to the historical novelist.
Anyway, we made it to Lannercost and our amazing B&B – cordon bleu food, most of which I managed to force down despite having a small dose of the lurg, and now that the muscles have started to relax it’s not quite as heavy. Russ and I may walk the miltary road (100 yards back from the line of the wall) tomorrow in order to stay in the game rather than aggravating our various sores and cankers with going up and down a lot, but I’m sure Ben will be doing his best Mountain Goat impression.
See my Facebook page (Anthony Riches Author) for some photos.
Night all!