Much of what follows will mean nothing to anyone reading but it's important for me to try and record the mental screenshots of my journey before they're lost.
Images trigger memories.
You know how songs, or smells or other sensory stimuli have the power take you back to a time, a place, a mood? Where you were, how you felt etc? Who you were, even?
Well, Proust had his madeleines; I have my dead rat.
A dead rat? On Day One of my walk, there was a point at which the footpath (up to then following the line of a former railway) dropped down to the River Tyne. Virtually the first thing I saw was a dead, dessicated rat on the path.
In my head, the image triggers the river, a vague smell of tar, the trees on the opposite bank, the light not-quite-drizzle hanging in the air, the possibility of the Newcastle skyline around the next bend etc etc.
All from a dead rat.
The things in the following list trigger more of these thoughts for me. You may choose to skip it:
Segedunum
Swan Hunter
A gas holder
A dead rat
The Marina
Bacon butty at the Cycle Hub
The bridges
The blinking eye
The Sunday market
The quayside
Business park hell
The Newcastle site at Scotswood
Fenced off guard house
Denton Dene
The glass cone
Asda
The Riverside Park
The Warden on the folding bike
Wylam Waggonway
Bistro En Glaze
The Border Reiver
Puffing Billy
Dead voles on the lawn
Heddon Wall
The Military Way
The A69
The Wall ditch
Robin Hood Inn
Carrot and coriander soup
A German looking for Sycamore Gap
The Vallum looking south
The found walking pole
Planetrees Wall
Chesters
Oystercatchers
Black Carts
Limestone corner
Refreshments at the Mithraeum
Sewingshields
Loughs
Housesteads
Twice Brewed
Sticking plasters
The quiz
A quiet early morning sofa
A packed lunch
The highest point
Distant explosions
The view behind along the crags
Swearing at my own feet
The quarry cafe
Shaking a stick at a hostile cow
Willowford Wall
Avoiding bulls
Brampton Co-op nosey man
A taste of Spain
Black pudding and haggis
Honesty boxes
Chickens!
A Magnum at High Crosby Farm
A beautiful headstone
Crossing the M6
An early morning set off
Lost in Beaumont
A view of Scotland
ENERGY DRINKS!
The Marshes
Journey's end
An old man and his dog
The Solway Viaduct
Sorry about that. Back to the job in hand.
I've been asked whether I had any insights or epiphanies on the journey.
I'd have to say I'm unsure yet. Maybe that will come once I've had time to fully absorb the experience?
The point of the trip for me was to fulfil an ambition, to a degree. The Wall is something I'd fancied doing for a long time. Turning 50 last year gave me a reason to do it this year; I've had one or two weird health things start to rear their heads in the last few years. Perhaps I felt it important to do this walk while still able!
I wanted to test myself physically, enjoy the history and the countryside and give the thing a focus and sense of purpose through raising money for Brain Tumour Research. It's very satisfying to have raised in excess of £800 for them. Nearly £10 a mile!
I have my books and my photos and my T shirt. Soon, I'll receive my badge and certificate.
I tried to approach the walk with open eyes and ears and soak up the experience like a human sponge. I don't know if I entirely succeeded, but that's what the trigger list is for!
As time passes and the memories fade, I hope to use this list to transport me back to the Tyne, the ridges, the hills and the Wall: The Wall, always the Wall; snaking away into the west; over the hills towards the sea and the setting sun.
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