(this is the longer version of what appeared in Northern Review)
The idea that a bus route is justified from the urban red brick life of Wallsend to the tiny settlement of Bowness on Solway some seventy three miles to the west and on the opposite coast of Britain would, in ordinary circumstances, seem pointless. Bus operation is usually a commercial activity and prior to the summer of 2002 no-one had hit upon the idea of linking these two places by direct bus. Had anyone wanted to undertake such a journey it was possible with changes in Newcastle and Carlisle and for anyone needing to visit relatives, the task of connecting the two by public transport with these changes was not too difficult. The journey from Wallsend to Carlisle is not particularly challenging and beyond Carlisle a long established bus route to Bowness numbered the 93 provides several journeys a day. That route has its history and the old Ribble bus depot in Bowness still stands, albeit disused. Way back in 1985, just before de-regulation rather changed things I made my way between Carlisle and Bowness courtesy of Ribble. Apparently I did it twice within a week despite living at Crossflatts in the Aire Valley (my image below is of a Leyland National near Bowness on the 26th September 1985).
The attraction of travelling by bus between Carlisle and Bowness was simple. Apart from any interests of bus enthusiasm and history, the route was a rural charmer. Not a hillclimber but a wader. For several miles the road hugs the salt marshes of the Solway. It is a birdwatcher's road and one that floods with the tide. Not every tide, but severe enough for the buses to pass signs advising that there could be two feet of water ahead. The years rolled past, my life moved to the Firth of Clyde and then to the Tyne Valley. In the summer of 2002, I found myself living 10 minutes from a stop on a new bus route between Wallsend and Bowness on Solway. This seemed such an incongruous prospect that it cried out to be explored. In the intervening years, as a car driver I had made just one or two more calls through Bowness. There, the local bus route 93 had via the process of tendering "enjoyed" all sorts of operators, although in the run up to 2002 it had seemed settled with Ribble's successor at Carlisle, today's Stagecoach in Cumberland operation (although traditionally this is actually the old Cumberland Motor Services company).
There has to be some logic to creating a bus route between Wallsend and Bowness on Solway and a clue comes in the route number which is rather strange: AD122. The special factor in this new bus route is a World Heritage Monument rather familiar to most of us in Britain: Hadrian's Wall. AD122, the year, was certainly when Emperor Hadrian visited the British Isles and it is most likely that during this visit the decision to make the Wall was made. The Wall was destined to run from Wallsend on the tidal Tyne, but not quite on the east coast, to the wide expanses of the Solway Firth in the west at Bowness on Solway. In doing so it crossed the narrowest neck of England (but not Britain, that vantage point was later occupied by the Antonine Wall) and thereby the Watershed of Britain.
With those geographical circumstances, it became inevitable that Hadrian's Wall could be regarded as a matter of beauty. Whether the Romans quite saw it like that I cannot say, but for several centuries now the conjunction of the ruined wall and the landscape it passes through has worked its magic on the lovers of the picturesque. Landscape drama and tragic history seem linked in the land that the Wall passes through. The tragedy certainly did not stop when the Romans left, in many respects it was only just beginning as battles between heathen and Christian took place on the wall itself in the 7th century; a whole era of bloodletting followed in the days of the Border Reiver in their heyday in the 15th century. Human drama of a different sort followed with the industrial revolution in the 18th century from whence the stories of coal, shipbuilding and the railway all get intermingled with the remains of the Wall. The Wall's fate was even to become inextricably linked with Bonnie Prince Charlie, which connection directly impacted on the bus journey on the AD122 that I made on the 27th August 2002.
Let's leave ancient history behind for a while and concentrate on this bus. As visitors sought to see the wall, the question of their transportation arose. The classic means combined walking and riding. This was the method the earliest pilgrimages to the wall adopted. William Hutton's famous excursion in 1801 involved him in walking from Birmingham. In 1849, the first of a series of study tours started and one way and another they have continued ever since. Already in 1849 a new factor enabling mass tourism had appeared along the line of the wall. Britain's first cross-country railway linked Newcastle and Carlisle from the 18th June 1838. Its line directly encountered the Wall at Newcastle, Greenhead, Gilsland and Carlisle When in 1851 a Handbook to the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway was published, its subtitle was "with a visit to the Roman Wall" and the folding map therein clearly indicated the route of both these linear connections between Tyne and Solway.
Tourism to the wall has ever since involved the railway line. There are a huge number of little guides, published almost each year putting the railway line and the wall together. The older ones (even some of the newer ones) are quite collectable. One before me from the old LNER in the 1920s directly conjoins the Roman Wall with its entry about Wylam "the birthplace of the railways". The latter statement has an element of oversimplification to it, but the gist is fair and the connection will be relevant to our day on the AD122. Will this be a bus journey to a sole Roman end or an experience of the best of travel itself?
The railway faced a simple problem. The best parts of the wall were usually some three to five miles from the rail route. Back with Bonnie Prince Charlie, his wanderings in 1745 and inept attempts to counter them had subsequently produced a new road. Today's B6318 from Heddon to Greenhead is often regarded by the new driver (with a small knowledge of history) as a drive along a classically straight Roman road. It is also called The Military Road but its military is Georgian and not Roman and between Newcastle and Chollerford, the road was built by the simple expedient of using the Roman Wall as a foundation!
A visitor who could drive out of Newcastle (or even Wallsend) would be driving on top of the Wall. The road conjoins vandalism and pedigree in one fell swoop. Another step change came with the internal combustion engine. Auden's piece Hadrian's Wall described the Wall that he saw in 1937. Already the car seemed a feature of the scene. He has a family group driving out of Newcastle to Housesteads. A female voice says "Don't go so fast father, I want to see the countryside". Father replies "Sorry but it's a grand straight road for speeding. It's a pity there are'nt more Roman walls to build roads on top of". Auden knew the special character of the B6318 and when they arrived at Housesteads the comment was "Here we are. Just look at all those cars".
With the best parts of the wall in deepest rural Northumbria, with a road capable of high speed leading straight to these locations from Newcastle, a road itself that had ruined a long length of the monument, the mix of issues between conservation and visitor access is deep rooted. The central section of wall between Chollerford and Greenhead is virtually bereft of population and could not support its own bus service for inhabitants. A railway line that had a station at Chollerford closed in 1956. whilst Greenhead and Gilsland stations closed in 1967. Despite some campaigning they have not re-opened which in the context of the access they could provide to a World Heritage Monument is ridiculous.
The scene was set then for some special provision of public transport labelled the Hadrian's Wall Bus to enable visitors to reach the central wall area and move around it. The first focus was on a route from Haltwhistle to Hexham using the military road to access principal sites and connecting to the railway stations in the two towns. The service started in 1974 and for a good number of years was a stable operation using two operators. The local National Bus Company subsidiary called United ran the main route no 690 whilst a local coach operator called Rochester and Marshall worked a shuttle service between Vindolanda and Housesteads. The shuttle vehicles had a tape recorded commentary even then. The drive behind these initiatives was an innovative Tynedale District Council planning officer Douglas Mennear. Prior to 1974 United had operated over many years a summer only Newcastle to Carlisle service via the B3618 as the 36 or X36. In a 1968 "Carlisle" timetable, this had been presented as an express service between the two cities with three return journeys a day over Friday-Monday in the summer. The timetable had hardly a word to say about the Roman Wall.
Since 1974 some form of Hadrian's Wall Bus has been a constant feature. Despite the temptation this is not the place in terms of space, nor do I have the time to research a detailed history of the Hadrian's Wall Bus. A small booklet could be filled, for a fascinating assortment of operators and vehicles have been involved. Rochester and Marshall were taken over by United's successor called Northumbria in 1994, in which year R&M's long lived association with the Hadrian's Wall Bus ceased.. Since then the operators have included Waugh's of Greenhead, the famous independent Wright's of Nenthead, White Star Motors, Stagecoach Cumberland and Stagecoach Busways.
Our focus needs to be on the last two. Stagecoach Cumberland became involved in 1995 when it was decided to provide a through service 682 from Carlisle to Housesteads calling at the main sites east of Brampton. On the central section of Wall, this 'west' service interfaced with the older 'east' 890 service. Stagecoach Cumberland continue in 2002 to be one of the two operators of what in 2001 was renumbered the AD122 service. For a couple of years now the company has had two Dennis Darts painted in Hadrian's Chariot/Hadrian's Wall Bus livery, a rather attractive purple and beige. Their workings now run all the way from Carlisle to Hexham with 4/5 journeys a day in the three month season.
This shaggy dog story will get on a bus! The last piece of the jigsaw that completes the 2002 AD122 service is the superimposition of a further return working but this time from Wallsend to Bowness and operated by Stagecoach Busways with a brand new Hadrian's Wall Bus liveried Optare Solo vehicle. This design is itself an innovative 25 seat minibus with a low floor, able to carry a wheelchair and four bikes. So AD122 in 2002 is a jointly operated service of two operators working out of Carlisle and Newcastle, quite a contrast from when the service originated in Hexham.
Our focus is going to be on a journey on that new Optare Solo along the new route from Wallsend. Quite a preamble is still needed before we get aboard! For the bus enthusiast, the fact that Stagecoach Busways works the service from their Byker depot will set the heart pounding. Byker depot once hosted Newcastle Corporation's trams. Newcastle Corporation ceased to run buses at the start of 1970. There followed 16 years of the PTE before 1986's transmogrification into the commercial Busways operation which soon was bought by Stagecoach. In a very real sense this new service from Wallsend represents a new and far flung outpost of Newcastle Corporation Transport, not the furthest flung because the PTE worked a coach service to London. The new service involves three hand picked drivers from Byker depot. The one for my journey had worked for the concern since its PTE days in 1980. Driving an Optare Solo to Bowness on Solway and back for the day is a great and pleasant contrast to a day driving a decker around Tyneside.
A contrast yes, but not a doddle. The driver has a long day of constant concentration along some very difficult roads. The service leaves Wallsend Metro bus station (a short distance from the new attraction of the old Roman fort called Segedunum) at 9am and does not return until 6.26pm with just less than an hour stopped at Bowness on Solway. I was to reflect that some timetabled breaks en route would be desirable but this is not really practical. The idea is to appeal to visitors/locals wanting a day out from Tyneside into the Countryside. Their interest does not have to be Roman as all sorts of walking opportunities are available. A lot of the route is in the Northumberland National Park. This does mean that an earlier departure or later return is not really desirable.
An element of me wished to do the entire route. I was to learn from the driver that a few hardy souls have done so already. However Wallsend (or even Newcastle) to Bowness patronage is not the core appeal of the route; that said there will be some folk walking or cycling the entire wall who will have cause for the full transit. Their number will probably increase a bit with the opening of the Hadrian's Wall National Trail. Even so surely many such folk needing to reach or leave Bowness will only use the bus between there and Carlisle where other quicker options will be available.
I realised that living in Prudhoe would present me with an unpleasantly long day out when the time to be added in getting to and from Wallsend was considered. The bus takes roughly 55 minutes between Wallsend (leave 9am) and Harlow on the Hill, a hamlet on the B6318/Hadrian's Wall, a few miles west of Heddon and directly north of my home, in line of sight from many houses in Prudhoe. If I was to travel the new Hadrian's Wall Bus it would be a return journey from Harlow on the Hill to Bowness on Solway and that is what was done on the 27th August 2002.
Harlow on the Hill has a garage and a phone box beside which I parked the car. I would be missing out on the urban journey which relates the Wall to the industrial north whether that be the shipbuilders of Wallsend, the railway age of John Dobson's Newcastle Central Railway Station, or the rows of terraces and Tyneside flats that the bus passes . The route leaves Newcastle along the trunk road A69 or the Westgate which becomes the West Road. Actual Roman Wall is thin on the ground until Heddon (there are bits for the eagle eyed). The traveller however will not be concerned, it is the alignment that has the magic. Past Benwell High Reservoir and the first expansive view west is revealed. These glorious views west into the heart of the Pennines become more impressive around Throckley and Heddon. One matter of heritage will not be too obvious. The railway, the river valley, Newcastle's classical architecture are abundantly obvious. Not now so evident is the idea that between Wallsend and Heddon, the Wall crossed one of the most prosperous coalfields of Britain. The Wall has been tunnelled under, early waggonways criss cross it about Throckley, some with George Stephenson associations. A fascinating guide published by the erstwhile Metropolitan County called "The Wylam and Walbottle Waggonways" shows this intersection of history.
At Heddon there is a sudden mood change. Red brick succumbs to stone. Ahead is a seriously empty (of humans) agricultural landscape that is in the business of gradually becoming upland Britain. The Military Road now actually becomes the B6318 and stretches out like the quiet Roman road it is not. Past sleepy Rudchester, one of the unexplored forts of the Wall, sometimes touted as worth an "Entry Point " tourist development for visitors from the Newcastle area. Perhaps it should be for as this journey progresses, I often was reminded that links and connections to the Wall and its surrounding history still go unnoticed.
Thus far the bus had been driving though some typical east coast morning haar but as the driver responded to my outstretched hand at Harlow on the Hill, the mist was breaking and further west there would be plenty of sunshine. The driver was welcoming and I joined a Spanish family of four who were to constitute his sole patronage both out and in between Harlow on the Hill and the city. Harlow on the Hill is on a hillcrest and the road descends - not too steeply - to the Whittle Dene. More layered and unlinked history. Upon boarding the bus, a video monitor was playing a doubtless excellent English Heritage video about the Roman Wall. I had two criticisms. At anything much above 35-40MPH, the road noise drowned it out. The second thought was to ask the question: should this video be about the Wall or about the Journey? Most visitors will be clutching their guidebooks. Most visitor centres have their videos. What was unique about the bus journey was what was missing. A commentary about the bus journey itself, one that integrated the Roman heritage with all the other layers of heritage that the bus passed through and which without much effort can propel this journey into being one of the great Journeys of Britain. The technology is well tried. Douglas Mennear was using it on the Hadrian's Wall services at their outset, nowadays Guide Friday Tours have mastered the art of providing commentary in the right place at the right time without distracting the driver.
This point was given immediate effect as we passed the Whittle Dene reservoirs. Here Hadrian's Wall, the Jacobite Military Road, our bus, intersect one of the region's great yet little known industrial monuments. Opened progressively from 1846 by The Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company, more John Dobson architecture is visible from the vehicle. Fishermen are welcome here but few others despite the great change in public access to the water supply system that is evident elsewhere in Britain and the north-east. It is a virtual secret that an unusual canal system with its own tunnels and aqueducts runs north from here for many miles to the reservoirs by the Roman Dere Street at Colt Crag before ultimately continuing to near the border at Catcleugh. Here is a ready made linear walking route to link the northern section of Pennine Way and the new Hadrian's Wall trail. If the bus survives and prospers along this eastern section of route, Whittle Dene needs to become a serious stopping off point.
In fact no passengers joined our bus before Hexham where one boarded. It was an exclusive party of five that drove along past Wallhouses and Halton Chesters where more outstanding views become apparent. Just after which the key intersection with the A68 nee Dere Street is made and the bus turned down the great Stagshaw Bank past the site of the historic Stagshaw Fair.
Around Corbridge, the Tyne Valley is at its most benign. The hills are large, crowned with woodland, but this is not wild country. It is almost lush. The big houses of Stagshaw and Beaufront are evident. Beaufront, the name, tells its own tale and after the bus has negotiated the market square of Corbridge for its own dose of Saxon history at the church and Northumbrian landlords at the cross, it is off through the lanes to Hexham. This is to enable Corstopitum to have its own stop but there is the bonus of the gateway and drive to Dobson's commission for William Cuthbert of Beaufront completed in 1841. The Tyne Valley in those years, with the railway line being built, must have been an absolute hive of stonemasonry on a scale only matched by the advent of the Wall itself. I am driven by the various interpretations of "Stoneworks" that this drive can offer. Upon the base of the Wall (though Stan Beckensall would not wish me to forget even earlier cup and rings markings: there are some near the Wall on standing stones at Ingoe and Matfen), there is the work of Saxon churchbuilder, medieval and reiver castlebuilder, the work of the lead miner much of whose incredibly rich stonework is only just south of the Wall and then the 19th century architects and railway builders. Stoneworks is the phrase that integrates the layers of heritage along the AD122 bus route.
We entered Hexham a bit late. Elements of the journey are quite tightly timed although it appears that along the central section of Wall between Chollerford and Once Brewed there is recovery time. That time was needed in both directions on our day. The route is timetabled through Newcastle's morning and evening rush hours and in both Hexham and Carlisle performs generous circuits of the town centres to pick up potential passengers. There must be some question whether this is entirely needed. In particular the routing to call at Tullie House Carlisle on the return commits the vehicle to an almost certain and generous exposure to gridlock. Even small Hexham is getting notorious for bad traffic and the route negotiates the scenic Market Place at the price of headlong traffic confrontations. Hexham is simply awash with history and in a few brief moments the bus has driven past most of it including the oldest intact and operational railway station in the north-east, an erstwhile Saxon cathedral and the massive remnants of medieval administration which remain in local government hands (but for how much longer?). Being stuck in a traffic jam can extend one views of all this.
Beyond Hexham (10.25) lies just over 100 minutes of driving in the "backwoods" of reiver and Wall territory between there and Brampton (12.07). As we left, we were jostling with the stock lorries bound for the market. Foot and mouth (originated at Heddon) has added an extra and sad layer to the tale of this journey. It has already been interpreted within The Writing on the Wall project. Congratulations to the Hadrian's Wall Tourism Partnership for promoting that. The excellent quarterly magazine "News from Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site" from English Heritage's Hadrian's Wall Coordination Unit does tackle the layered heritage interests of the Hadrian's Wall area and in April 2001 it printed Katrina Porteous' ballard of contemporary agricultural life around the Wall: "This Far and No Further".
The route crosses the Tyne going in and out of Hexham using the 1793 Mylne bridge. Whilst the railway traveller sees much of the river and crosses it frequently east of Haltwhistle, the AD122 route encounters the river only here and at the Chollerford crossing of the North Tyne. The Tyne splits just west of Hexham and the bus route follows the North Tyne valley through Acomb and Wall to Chollerford. Acomb is really an outlying coal mining community and the eagle eyed will realise that the route passes the mine site. There are yet other coal mines along the AD122 route. One of the last in Northumberland was working beneath the route prior to its closure in 2002 (Blenkinsopp and Wrytree drifts west of Haltwhistle).
Wall really does mark the arrival of serious Wall country. Since a section of the B6318 has been omitted with our detour through Corbridge and Hexham, the great descent of Brunton Bank is not on the agenda. But views of Chesters (fort, Norman Shaw mansion and stables) are. A taste of luxury in the George Inn by the river bridge is afforded (here W. H. Auden made his last visit to this favourite land of his in 1972, being driven out from Newcastle along the B6318). The switchback nature of the central section of the drive now is apparent. The route is up Walwick Bank past Walwick Grange. This is a tough climb and very atmospheric when a 50 year old bus is doing the climbing as happened in a special version of the Hadrian's Wall Bus for the Hadrian's Wall Spring Festival of 2002. By the time Limestone Corner is reached, the real moorland is apparent. The views on a clear day head north to the bulk of the Cheviot and the plateau tops of the Simonsides.
Between here and Greenhead is what the Wall has come to be in the popular mind and not without cause. The landscape in a combination of limestone uplands and basalt crags is outstanding. Some morning mist remained and at times the bus was driving above scudding cloud.With the Hadrian's Wall Trail not yet totally up and running, groups of walkers making their way along the Military Road reminded one of its urgent need. We dropped one passenger at Housesteads (where tales or Roman and reiver conjoin), made our way via Once Brewed's visitor centre and hostel to Vindolanda. Here the journey cried out for commentary for on the length of narrow road past the Landmark's Trust heather thatched cottage (another tale there) the bus was actually using the Roman Stanegate, the Roman cross country road that predated the Wall itself (below).
At Vindolanda, so much could be said. Of all the Roman locations, this is the one that in the last 30 years has been an archaeological treasure trove owing to the activities of the Birley family in a 20th (and now 21st) century parallel to the patronage of John Clayton at Chesters (history and its interpretation is all about people and their drive to persuade others to take seriously what they never thought they needed to be interested in).
But my purpose is not to repeat Roman interpretation but to enjoy the AD122 experience and so we continued. Our Spanish party got off at the Milecastle Inn and that stop instantly created the view of bus and Roman Wall on crag backdrop that my camera desired. I knew that hereabouts the Haltwhistle Burn was full of fascination in a tale of 19/20th century industrialisation that once took a narrow gauge steam railway under the Military Road and to the Wall itself at Cawfield Quarry. The trackbed is now an important walking route connecting town and Wall. The bus route descends the east bank of the Haltwhistle Burn down a truly precipitious route back into the Tyne Valley to serve the station and town of Haltwhistle complete with its Centre of Britain controversy.
The exit from Haltwhistle past East Street and Dale View is beside typical coal mining terraces and reflects the tension that Haltwhistle, the bulk of which is a coal mining community in its traditions, faces in having to adapt to largely living off natural beauty and heritage. But Haltwhistle is fortunate, it mostly seems smart and reasonably well cared for. A Community Partnership has done much good and it does not remind me of the Ayrshire Coalfield where similar communities many miles from other centres have been in catastrophic decline.
It's uphill once again out of Haltwhistle in order to get to Carvoran and the Roman Army Museum where two more passengers got on who went as far as Birdoswald (I am trying to accurately narrate the number of users on this outward run). We had gained one other passenger at Haltwhistle railway station who it turned out was there to simply enjoy the run to Bowness on Solway and back. From Carvoran it's down Greenhead bank and the abandonment of the Military Road alignment that the A69 now occupies, in favour of a twisting narrow route through lanes around Long Byre and Gilsland. At Greenhead, my eye caught what is claimed to be the oldest locomotive shed still standing in Britain, which anchors the conviction that Roman Wall, Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and bus route are all of a piece and should come across thus. Greenhead affords views and access to Thirlwall Castle. The newly conserved and opened Castle links Roman stone and reiver history. The neighbouring farmhouse does not yet feature in the story I think (certainly not in Pevsner). I guess it is part of the Blenkinsopp estate and have a theory that its style may unpack into explaining the archictectural history of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway stations, one of which with similar features remains (and can be seen from the bus) at Greenhead. This is a significant matter, those stations are highly regarded and already extensively written about but a mystery concerning their architect is not yet totally resolved.
Long Byre is another coal mining community and the bus diverts into its small heart. Gilsland is a contrast to that. The Roman heritage is the major backdrop with superb sections of Wall but there is a geological tale for here we have crossed the Watershed of Britain and negotiate the twisting and steeply descending Irthing Valley. "A nest of Freebooters" is the title of an East Cumbria Countryside Project walk around the community whilst two hotel buildings evident to the north take the traveler into early tourist interests at Gilsland Spa. One remains an important hotel owned by a Co-Op Society. The road continues to be dreadful in terms of layout and width, a complete contrast to the B6318's determination not to be swayed by the environment. It remains thus to Brampton with only some respite west of Birdoswald where the wall and (narrow) road share an alignment past the well preserved Banks turrets. The Banks are the Irthing Banks above whose sandstone cliffs we run with excellent views to the main Pennine massif to the south.
Then it is down to sandstone Lanercost Priory (1160) and Bridge and tales of the Naworth Estate, one that is both alive and flourishing and rooted in the lore of the Marches. Between here and Brampton the road has all the feel of a medieval holloway. This turned out to be unfortunate on the way back. Unknown to us (but par for the course on the terror road that is the A69) a cattle truck had overturned at Low Row. Leaving Brampton, the lane to Lanercost seemed suspiciously full of cars. Suspicion turned to alarm when in the narrowest part of the lane a full size Route 685 Northumbria coach was met. That just should not happen and sorting the resulting log jam out (gridlock in deepest rural Cumbria) took so much time that in a shaggy dog tale that will only be elaborated on in a pub, by the time I was returned to Harlow Hill, it was to discover that unaccountably my car had vanished! That was a tale of the unexpected that did in due course have a rational explanation.
Without much in the way of comfort or refreshment stops, the tummy was rumbling in Brampton. There were also repeated tales of how Bowness on Solway's one food outlet, the pub, tends to be shut for the duration of the AD122 vehicle's visit. Fortunately, an outstanding butcher is accessible in Brampton whose pasties and pies were stocked up upon. The character of the journey changes beyond here. The section to Carlisle is pleasant but relatively nondescript. A local passenger even got on at Crosby just for the journey into town. Carlisle is a town well aware of all layers of its history and the bus passed the site of Roman Stanwix, the great Railway Station, a wonderful Victorian market and the Castle with contemporary and highly thought of Tullie House Museum opposite. Not unreasonably Carlisle's view to the east is balanced with interests in the Scottish border to the north and the Lakeland mountains to the south. I am not sure many of its visitors will wish to ride the AD122 east all the way to Wallsend and those that do should perhaps submit an essay explaining why.
The journey like a film still has forty minutes to run. There are only distant views of hills and mountains now. There is, at the right time of year, large amounts of mud and cow's muck for, once three lines of pylons are passed which abruptly delineate the city's western edge, the road is in a land of verdant pasture and small densely built stone villages. There were even Belted Galloways at Chapel House Farm. This is the final leg to Bowness and if the Roman heritage was one layer of routeway, an accompanying railway trackbed built upon a former canal (and very evident from the bus) is another. This was the location for the preserved (go to York Railway Museum) Port Carlisle Dandy, a horse worked train that lasted into the 1920s. The bus route drives the length of the one street village that is Port Carlisle (spot the old canal lock if you know what to look for). Actual Roman remains are very vestigial west of Carlisle but the OS map will remind you that it is all around.
The outstanding element to the last leg of this journey is that it is tidal. Both Wall and road traverse the salt flats of the Solway estuary. Signs advise drivers that when the water has reached them, there is two feet of water ahead. Negotiating the tide in the low floor Optare Solo was an excitement we missed, but even so the approach to the quietude that is Bowness across these marshes, with a backdrop that includes the hills striding up the Nith valley beyond Robert Burn's Dumfries, and in the nearer foreground across the estuary the factory plants that made "The Devil's Porridge" during World War One, is full of engagement for the eye and the mind.
The Solway Firth is a treacherous expanse of sand flats. This was evident as we arrived at 1.17pm and they rapidly covered during our stay. Before our eyes one of the local haaf netters appeared to ply his trade. Some ancient traditional livelihoods continue. Bowness is a stone village, full of nooks and crannies. It is flower adorned and having transited the village, the Optare Solo ended up parked in a small layby beside the estuary. It was a good place to rest for an hour and the pure bus enthusiast in me was rewarded. I had got on my legs and walked the foreshore, enjoying the peace, then found my way through a snicket back to the village street and discovered the bin men holding things up. Just then, along came the Stagecoach in Cumberland 12.45pm 93 service bus from Carlisle. It was no less a vehicle than PCK 335, a full sized real Leyland/Duple coach (classic BRITISH combination) from the old days of the Ribble Motor Service (below). Its driver seemed of the same vintage too although he took my (successful) attempts to outpace him down the village street in good vein. I can never resist a "beautiful bus and attractive backcloth image" and the appearance of this working provided the icing on a cake of a day full of such pleasure (within months this vehicle was withdrawn).
As we leave the bus, it is tempting to think that this account is comprehensive. It most certainly is not. It is very selective along the themes that interest your author. Little has been said about the natural history of the Wall and plenty of the tales of the people associated with the Wall have been ignored. There is far too much for one journey along the AD122 to be sufficient. If you have the time and leisure, undertake it in a series of repeat doses, that will please its operators and sponsors for sure. Don't do as I tend to, which is to ride more than I walk!
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