Hiking Hadrian's Wall

In October 2011 I travelled to England for 2 weeks. While there I visited with my penpal Dorothy in Kent, met my 3rd cousin Karen (who I contacted on Geneology.com) in Cornwall, and met my friend Clive (who was my roommate for an Earthwatch Expedition studying macaws in the Peruvian Amazon) in Chippenham. But the main focus of my trip was to take a 5-day solo hike of the Hadrian's Wall Path in N. England, something I've long wanted to do.

After arriving at Heathrow I activated my Britrail Flexipass and travelled to Redhill in Surrey. Once checked into my B & B I contacted my friend Dorothy and that evening we travelled to the nearby village of Horley where we dined at Ye Olde Six Bells pub, reportedly the oldest pub in England.

















During my 4-night stay in Redhill Dorothy and I saw a wonderful performance of "War Horse" in London. One day we travelled to three different villages in Kent: Sissinghurst, Cranbrook, and Goudhurst. On another mild and sunny day we visited Hever Castle, the legendary home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, who fell head over heels for the king and lost her head in the process. We toured the interior of the castle then spent much of the day exploring the grounds and lovely gardens.

















On touring the grounds I couldn't help but be impressed by the topiary. From the second floor of the castle, which had rooms with portraits of Anne Boleyn and other family members, I was able to look out a window and snap a photo of one of the most fantastical and whimsical bits of topiary -- a series of shrubs that had been intricately pruned to resemble a full chess set.





















Leaving Redhill in Southern England I travelled North by train to Newcastle, then got another train to Corbridge. It was in Corbridge that I began my hike of Hadrian's Wall. After checking into my B & B I walked into Corbridge to explore the town. I visited a Greengrocer's to buy apples and a deli to buy bread, cheese and yogurt. After puchasing a sandwich at a shop I sat on a bench outside the church and chatted with some of the locals who were enjoying the sunny and warm weather. Corbridge is a lovely town with an interesting history, built at the location of what was the ancient Roman town of Corstopitum, one of several Roman towns once located along the wall.




The following morning I got up early and had a full English breakfast in preparation for my hike. I was working with an adventure company called Mac's Adventures. They had made all the reservations for the 6 B & B's that would be my lodging for my 5-day hike. They also provided a delivery service which picked up my luggage by 9 am and delivered it to the next B & B where I would be spending the next night and where my luggage was awaiting me when I arrived. By using this delivery service all I had to take on the hike was a small daypack which contained some food, water, and other gear I might need for the day's hike. As I got out of bed and prepared to go down to breakfast I moved my body in just the wrong way and felt a sharp spasm of pain in my lower back, my anatomical weak link. I feared that my back might give me some problems during the hike, but I hadn't expected to experience problems before I even started! The owner of Fellcroft B & B was sympathetic to my situation and during breakfast brought me a vial of pain pills to take with me as I started out on my hike. Corbridge is located about 2 miles South of Hadrian's Wall Path so it took me over an hour to reach the path. The day was overcast and mild and as I walked the pains in my lower back eased.

Julius Ceasar first invaded Brittania in 55 BC but achieved little success. It was the 4th Roman emperor Claudius, in 43 AD, who more successfully invaded with a large force of 40,000 men. The Romans made successive invasions. Some were successful in expanding their occupation, but there were also terrible set-backs, such as in 60 AD when an amazing woman warrior by the name of Boudicca (Boadicea), led a revolt in which thousands of Romans were massacred.
When Trajan became emperor in initiated a line of fortification in the area that is now the border between England and Scotland. The line consisted of forts and watchtowers. Trajan's successor was the emperor Hadrian who ruled as emperor from AD 117-138. Hadrian embarked on a series of travels in order to see firsthand the extent of the Roman Empire. He travelled to Britain in AD 122 and witnessed the extent of the empire in Britain and the difficulties of subduing the tribes of Caledonia, which is now present-day Scotland. Hadrian seemed more interested in stabilizing and maintaining the currently existing empire than in further conquest and expansion. He made an eventful decision. Build a defensive wall along the length of England to keep the unruly Caledonian tribes (e.g. the Picts) out of the empire and to control their movements across the line. It took three Roman legions, a total of 18,000 trained soldiers, only 6 years to construct a wall that stretched the width of Britain, a distance of 73 miles. The wall was approximately 14-20 feet high and 10 feet thick -- and much of it is still in existence today. There is now a footpath that follows Hadrian's Wall, now a National Trail, and thousands of hikers from around the world make the trek each year. Approximately 14% of these hikers are Americans. Not only did the Romans build an imposing wall! At each mile they built a fortified gateway, a milecastle. Evenly spaced between the milecastles they built two turrets or observation posts, a total of 161 turrets in all. They also built a total of 16 forts along the wall, each fort large enough to house from 500-1000 soldiers. To the South of the wall the Romans constructed a deep and wide ditch called a vallum, which flanked by two high mounds of earth; and to the North of the wall they made a deep, wide ditch called a wall ditch.

My plan was to hike along approximately 48 miles of the central portion of the wall from Corbridge in the West to the large city of Carlisle in the East, the section of the hike usually called the "best of the wall". In addition to the hike on the path I would need to leave the path to reach my B & B lodging each night. When I totalled the distances from the wall to my B & B for each of the 5 nights and then back again the following morning I added another 7 miles of hiking to my total mileage.

As I started my hike along the path heading West from Corbridge I saw no evidence of the wall. But it was apparent that I was following the location of the original Roman wall because the remains of the wall ditch was visible, even though the wall was no longer in evidence. Finally, after a while I came across the first bit of the actual original Roman Wall, a 50 yard section of isolated wall located in a section of pasture.

Continuing to hike I began to see, in addition to the wall itself, other evidences of the Roman occupation, such as the base of the Brunton Turret and the remains of Chester's Fort at Chollerford, where the Roman Wall crossed the River Tyne.

On Day 2 I hiked from my B & B in Humshaugh to Vallum Lodge in Once Brewed. It was a long and difficult day. The morning went well as there was good weather, overcast with occasional sun. But then the sky darkened and I was soon battling fierce winds and bouts of driving rain. By the time I reached Once Brewed after 8 hours of hiking my thighs and calves were cramping, and when I removed my boots and socks I discovered that the entire nail on the second toe of my right foot had nearly disengaged from the underlying skin. However, the discomfort from the rain and fighting the brutal winds high up on the crags was balanced by the gorgeous scenery and the fact that I was now following long stretchs of intact wall.

High on the crags near Bromlee Lough I had panoramic views of the countryside and there were well preserved sections of wall as I approached the ruins of the large Roman fort at Housesteads, built in 122 AD, one of the first forts the Romans built along the wall.

Hiking westward from the Roman fort of Housesteads I followed long unbroken stretchs of wall, winding across the countryside like some gigantic serpent.

On Day 3 I hiked from Once Brewed to Gilsland. For those seeking solitude October is a good time to hike Hadrians Wall, as during the entire 5-day hike I encountered fewer than a dozen hikers who were hiking the entire wall. On Day 4 I hiked from Gilsland to Brampton. Leaving Gilsland I encountered the ruins of the original Roman bridge over the River Irthing, and shortly afterwards crossed the present-day bridge over the same river.

Hiking further Westward I eventually left Northumberland and entered Cumbria. The landscape became flatter with more trees, less rugged and desolate, there were more cows and fewer sheep. When I reached Birdoswald Fort, one of the best preserved of the 16 forts along the wall, I finally encountered two fellow hikers, and was able to get my picture taken next to a section of Wall.

That evening I checked into the Oakwood Park Hotel outside Brampton. The following morning, beginning my hike with a bit of frost on the ground, I walked across the farmland of the Cumbrian countryside, seeing no remains of the wall. When I got to the little town of Crosby-on-Eden the path followed along the banks of the Eden River which led me the Carlisle, the last stop on my hike. Before checking into my B and B I visited several locations in Carlisle (e.g. train station, ATM, McDonald's, public library, park bench to rest) and at one of those locations I walked off without my trusty hiking pole which had been so useful in negotiating the hilly terrain on the hike. The next morning I walked to the rail station and took a train from Carlisle to Liskeard in Cornwall, a 9 hour journey. At Liskeard I was met by my 3rd cousin Karen. We chatted and got to know one another better over dinner at her home, and then she took me to Tremaine Farm, the B & B where I stayed for 4 nights during my time in Cornwall. The following morning she picked me up at Tremaine Farm and we drove to Tintagel on the North Cornish coast, where we explored the ruins of the castle there -- as legend would have it the supposed location of King Arthur's court -- and enjoyed the spectacular Cornish coastline.

During our time together Karen did a lot of driving to/from my B & B to fetch me each morning and return me each evening. The day after our trip to Tintagel we spent much of the day at Lanhydrock House, one of the most magnificent estates in all or Cornwall, and now part of the National Trust. On the next day, a very gloomy and rainy one, we spent most of our time inside the giant biodomes of the Eden Project, the largest greenhouse in the world. On my 4th day in Cornwall Karen and I had "just one more cup of tea" together and then I was on the train heading back to London. I stopped for half a day in Chippenham where my friend Clive met me at the train station. Together we visited Bowood House, another large estate with a magnificent house and spacious gardens and grounds. It was in Bowood House that James Priestly, working as a tutor for the owners children, discovered oxygen. Clive and I toured the house, walked parts of the estate, then sat by the pavilion and observed the house from a distance across the lake.

Far From the Maddening Crowd

When I saw retirement on the horizon, I decided to pursue one of my lifelong dreams -- to have a place in the country that I could manage for sustainability and increased biodiversity, a sanctuary for wild things, many of which are persecuted and pushed aside by humanity in our headlong rush to "progress". I began searching for land in NE Iowa, not to far from Cedar Rapids, that wouldn't take me half and day and many gallons of gasoline to get to. The counties comprising NE Iowa are very unlike the rest of the state, much of which has been altered from its original state, and converted into a monoculture of endless fields of corn. NE Iowa, the so-called "driftless area", was never covered and eroded level by the last glacier, and is characterized by lovely rolling tree-covered and limestone out-croppings. After several months of searching I settled on 30 acres, 23 acres of which were woodland. I was able to make the purchase with money inherited from a very frugal person, my mother Dorothy, one of the finest mothers any man could hope for. One of the first things I did in 2003 was to purchase a log cabin, hand-crafted by the Amish. The bottom half of the cabin was built by Amish in Wisconsin and was delivered by a huge truck. I was taken aback when I saw the flatbed truck carrying the cabin coming down the road! The cabin was then lifted by a crane and carefully set on pilings. Then it was the turn of local Amish carpenters who constructed the top half of the cabin on site. Because I like to hear the sound of rain on a metal roof I opted for the slightly more expensive option of a metal roof. Once the cabin was in place, I could then think about my water and energy needs, and all the landscaping and tree planting that I knew would keep me busy for years to come.
I knew I wanted to be off-grid and to generate my own electricity, so one of my first decisions was to purchase 4 photovoltaic panels. I purchased an energy efficient DC refrigerator which runs directly off the batteries. For my lighting needs in the evening, I have an inverter which converts DC to AC to illuminate the compact flourescent bulbs in my lamps. At the same time I started a modest garden, which has grown bigger and bigger with every passing year. The photo below shows my PV panels and part of a bumper crop of butternut squash.

I considered the cost of putting in a well prohibitively expensive, and so I installed a 500-gallon tank which collects rainwater off the roof. I use this water to water the garden and to take bucket baths. My drinking water needs are met by water that I bring to the cabin from Cedar Rapids, less that 75 miles away. I enjoy long-distance hiking and when I am at the cabin I often hike the property, and so one of the first things I did was to establish several trails, many of which were already there thanks to the many deer that live on the property, and take more than their fair share of my garden and the young trees I plant. Below you see a photo of part of the Ridge Trail and some of the limestone bluffs on the property.

At the same time that I was exploring the woods I began an ambitious project of building rock walkways. Whenever I found flat rocks I would collect them. As I am a low-tech operation with my machinery, the rocks were hand-carried out of the woods. Other rocks, for either the walkways or for landscaping, were collected with my car from rockslides at the side of roads. As I was building the walkways I began planting trees, shrubs, and flowers. Every year I plant dozens of trees: pines, spruce, oaks, black walnut, chestnut, and many others. I planted dozens of serviceberries around the cabin: these produce lovely white flowers in the Spring, soon followed by berries which attract robins, cardinals, cedar waxwings, and other birds. One of my major tree-planting efforts involved hazelnuts. I have planted many hazelnut trees, located in a small grove next to my storage shed and very sturdy outhouse, and with others scattered around the property. The nuts are produced inside clusters which develop from small inconspicuous flowers. Because most of my hazelnut trees are hybrids they produce numerous clusters, some of which can contain up to as many as 10-12 nuts! I love flowers, especially lilies and lupines, and I planted many around the cabin. Some hazelnuts clusters from the hazelnut trees and some of the lupines I have planted by the porch of the cabin can be see in the photos below.

One of the features of the property that I found attractive when I first saw it was the fact that there was a small pond. The pond had no resident fish, so it was an ideal location for the breeding of amphibians. During the first year, as I went to bed at night, I could hear many different kinds of frogs calling from the pond. I also found a few Tiger salamanders near the cabin, so assume they are breeding in the pond as well. During the first year I installed a nest box for woodducks, and they soon began using it. I also saw a lone painted turtle, but over the years more turtles have miraculously made it to the pond from elsewhere, and now I have counted as many as 7 painted turtles sunning themselves on logs or on shore. Water attracts wildlife, and since my goal is to provide sanctuary and as much useful habitat for wild critters as possible, I also built a small Amphibian Pond next to the cabin, which collects some of the rainwater from off the roof of the cabin. Below is a photo of the pond and the small amphibian pond which I built, which is filled with American toad and Gray treefrog tadpoles each year.

Back in Iowa after a wonderful 2 weeks in Belize

I returned to Cedar Rapids on June 26, 2011 after spending 2 terrific weeks in Belize, one of my favorite destinations. On this trip, instead of going solo as I often do, I took a group of 12 adults, ranging in age from 60 or so to 76 or so. I organized the trip and made all the arrangements, and then served as a Group Leader of sorts; everything went off without a hitch. Nobody got sick, nobody sprained an ankle or fell down and broke a bone, no one got impaled by a Southern sting ray or nipped by a 5 foot barracuda.

And although it was hurricane season, we lucked out and missed any bad weather. We began by spending a week on lovely Tobacco Caye, about 12 miles off the coast due East of the coastal town of Dangriga. Tobacco Caye is a 5-acre paradise of an island, conveniently situated right next to the barrier reef. We stayed at Tobacco Caye Lodge, which had nice accomodations and terrific meals. From our rooms we were able to look out at the Caribbean with waves on the forereef breaking on the reef crest, about 100 yards away. A nearly constant comforting breeze off the ocean allowed for insect-free enjoyment. The island sports a variety of tropical vegetation, with lovely swaying palm trees. Most everyone in the group during our week stay tried their hand at opening the coconut fruit to get at the nut inside.

During our week on Tobacco Caye we were in the water snorkelling at least once -- and usually more often -- every day. At the end of the day we would gather to talk about the fish and other sea creatures we had seen. Although primarily a vacation trip, it was also an opportunity to learn about reef ecology and the many vertebrate and invertebrate animals inhabiting the Belizean barrier reef, the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the most biodiverse reefs in the world. I have a personal interest in sponges and in the many animals, especially small shrimps, that live inside of them. There are many organisms on Planet Earth that have yet to be discovered and catalogued by researchers. A major reason for our ignorance of the totality of the planet's myriad life forms, is that many organisms are very small and easily overlooked and/or because of the fact that we often don't make the effort to look for them where they live -- like inside the canals and chambers of sponges! As we snorkeled in the sea grass beds surrounding the island we saw cushion sea stars, many kinds of fishes, including lionfish, an alien invader, sea cucumbers, and long-spined sea urchins, to name but a few. One day we found a giant red hermit crab, the largest marine hermit crab in the W. hemisphere. I mentioned to the group that there are other organisms that often live in close association with hermit crabs, a "living-together" relationship called symbiosis. Often there are small porcellanid crabs that live inside the Queen conch shell occupied by the hermit crab and -- sure enough -- when I looked I found a male-female pair of these brightly-colored porcellanid crabs living inside the conch shell, sharing the same shelter with the hermit crab.

Leaving Tobacco Caye we travelled inland to the capital city of Belmopan, where we visited the government buildings and explored the market. Then we travelled further west to the town of San Ignacio, close to the border of Guatamala. We checked into Martha's Hotel and spend several days exploring San Ignacio and the surrounding area. One of the highlights was a visit to the Mayan site at Xunantunich, one of the many Mayan sites in Belize, and one of the most impressive. Nearly everyone in the group climbed to the top of El Castillo, the largest structure at the site.
In addition to visiting Xunantunich, we visited Rio Frio cave, the Mayan site at Cahal Pech, and a conservation center where they were raising Blue Morpho butterflies. Our last day, before heading back to Belize City and then home, was spent at Banana Bank Lodge outside Belmopan, an eclectically interesting resort in the jungle with a wide variety of accomodations and a swimming pool. Most of the group opted to spent the night in one of the thatched roof cabanas.

Cedar Rapids, apres les blizzard

Well, it's February 4, I'm back in Cedar Rapids, and I'm looking out at a snow-covered landscape. I spent several hours yesterday shovelling out about a foot of snow in my drive-way, and clearing away the nearly 4-foot high snowdrift in front of my garage door. Like many Iowans I am waiting for this nasty Winter to be finally over. I arrived back from Peru and Ecuador on January 21, after two weeks of adventurous travel with daughter Susan. Before we started our travels and while we were still in Lima, Susan invited some of her Peace Corps friends to join us for lunch at a local restaurant where we dined on ceviche, the national dish of Peru.

There were many highlights of the trip, but two stand out. The first was our 5-daystay in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, located in the so-called "Valley of Longevity". We stayed at a resort hotel where we treated ourselves to massages at the spa located there. We did a lot of hiking and exploring, including a trip to the cloud forest. We hired a local guide, a lawyer by profession, who was very knowledgeable about the areas bird life and natural history.

One day we hiked all around the perimeter of Vilcabamba, stopping at the small Vilcabamba zoo, where we saw an Egyptian vulture, the most colorful of all the world's vultures.

Before we left Peru, Susan's host family threw Susan and I a Going-Away party, that featured dancing and much drinking. Periodically during the festivities the band would stop and they would read a message about Susan, thanking her for all she had done during her 3 years there with Peace Corps. I think I danced with every woman there, ranging in age from teenagers to 80+ year old grandmother. It was obvious to all that the members of the family had taken Susan to their hearts and would greatly miss her. When we departed their modest home the next day, to take the bus back to Lima, everyone was in tears.

When I returned to Iowa I brought back her laptop and two large bags of "stuff". She is currently travelling in Chile and now is somewhere near Mendoza in the wine country of Chile. Just before the most recent blizzard, which delivered one of the heaviest snows in a long while, I drove up to my cabin and acreage in Clayton County to check things out. There was so much snow piled up in from of the gate leading to my access road, I had to park the car at a friends house, and hike in. A friend had left several deer carcasses by the gate, which had been fed on by bald eagles and other animals. I dragged the carcasses to near the cabin and hung them up in trees near the pond. In a short time the birds had discovered them, and chickadees, white breasted nuthatchs, and both downy and red-breasted woodpeckers, were feeding on the meat and fat. The deer have been very active near the cabin. There were many footprints and several areas where it was obvious they had bedded down. Some of my white pines have been heavily browsed, and I could see where the deer and rabbits have been eating some of the other trees I have planted, including my service berry and hazelnuts.
Several days ago to ease the winter blahs and help hurry the thought of Spring along, I drove out to Menard's and came home with packets containing the seeds I want to plant in the garden come Spring.

Travels in Peru and Ecuador, January 2011

From January 6 to 20, 2011 daughter Susan and I travelled in Peru and Ecuador. It's now January 17 and we are in Chiclayo, N. Peru, having just returned from spending 8 wonderful days in S. Ecuador. We started our journey in Lima where I met Susan and we spent the day exploring the Miraflores area of the city and treating 6 of her Peace Corps friends to a lunch of cerviche (the Peruvian national dish, raw fish garnished with lime, onions etc.) Having spent time in Japan I was apprehensive of trying cerviche, but found it a light and deliciously satisfying dish. We took a night bus to the N. Peruvian city of Piura; the bus was one of the plushest and comfiest I have ever been on, with plush seats that reclined into beds, TV entertainment, and a hostess that served dinner and then breakfast the following morning. After a day in Piura we travelled by bus to Loja in S. Ecuador. Loja was a very picturesque city, surrounded by mountains. It is the oldest Spanish colonial city in Ecuador. On the following day we took a bus South to the lovely small village of Vilcabamba, located in the so-called Valley of Longevity. People here live to very ripe old ages and have been much studied by scientists. Some say the key to their longevity is the rhythm created by 12 h of light and 12 h of dark each day. Others say their long life is the clear and delicious water, which is high in manganese, magnesium and zinc, which are chelating agents that remove harmful chemicals from the body. We saw many very elderly people and I wasn't able to determine the secret to their long life, but my personal feeling is that it's due to living a casual stress-free life in an absolutely gorgeous valley that has a superb climate. Vilcabamba is located in a lush valley surrounded by majestic mountains. Susan and I stayed 6 nights at Madre Tierra, a hotel/spa/restaurant located a 15-minute walk from the city center. Every morning when we relaxed in the chairs and hammock on the porch of our room we could see the lush green valley surrounded by mountains and Vilcabamba in the distance. We had a wonderful view of Mt. Mandango, the majestic mountain sacred to the Inca. While in Vilcabamba we did a lot of hiking and exploring. One day we did a large loop of the city, visiting the small zoo. On another day we hiked the Rumi-Wilco nature reserve and cooled our feet in the Vilcabamba River. Our highlight was the day we hired a guide, Luis, and went to a sections of Podocarpus National Park. We hiked up to an altitude of 3,300 meters and hiked in the lush cloud forest, with trees festooned with a rich growth of epiphytes -- mosses, ferns, bromeliads and parasitic plants. As we travelled Susan took close-up photos of many of the flowers we saw blooming, and these are posted on my Facebook page. During parts of the hike we were surrounded by the mist of clouds shrouding the forest, at other times we were pelted by light rain and intervals of sunny patches. When we weren't hiking and exploring, we were sampling some of the restaurants in Vilcabambe, snacking on the many delicious tropical fruits (mango, papaya, etc), or trying out the services of the Spa. On one day I have a full body Shiatsu massage from Carmen and Susan has the spa "Special", a 3-hour treatment. The following day Susan had the massage and I opted for my first facial. Saying a sad goodbye to Vilcabamba (while there we met several people from different parts of the world who had come to visit and then decided never to leave) we returned to Loja for a day, and from there made the very long bus journey from Loja to Chiclayo in Peru where we now are. We spent today exploring the large Mercado (market), with endless stalls selling everything under the sun. I especially wanted to visit the Mercado Modelo (witchcraft market), one of the largest in South America, to see the variety of herbal plants, potions, animal parts, etc. At the flower stalls in the market we bought a lovely bouquet of flowers for Susan's host family here in Chiclayo, and at the fruit stalls I enjoyed seeing the wide array of tropical fruits and vegetables for sale. We then bought several mattresses which we will take as gifts -- along with out many other gifts of candy, books, and clothes -- to Susan's other host family that live out in the countryside in Pacora and adopted Susan as one of their family for the first 2 years she lived in Peru. They will miss her and much as she will miss them. They are hosting a large Going-Away party for her and we will stay the night there, likely recovering from all the food and alcoholic drinks they will expect us to consume. We will then return to Chiclayo and get ready to take the night bus to Lima. We will spend the day in Lima, where I intend to get my first pedicure. My 71 year old feet have seen a lot of wear and tear and I pity the poor Peruvian woman who will give me the pedicure, but I intend to tip her well for what will likely be a Herculean task of scraping away calluses and trimming toe nails that are as hard as roofing nails. We will then part ways for a while. I will return to Iowa with much of Susan's "stuff" and her laptop and the laptop of her friend Karen. Susan and Karen will travel in Peru for a few days, and then head for a lengthy exploration of both Chile and Argentina before they return to the Estados Unidos in mid-March