The longest day. 22.79 miles taking 10 hrs 45 mins with the first ten miles leading up to and along Hadrians Wall. All I can say is what a silly place to put a wall. Why couldn't they build it somewhere level? The books describe the walk along the Wall as undulating. Don't believe a word of it. We had steep climbs and severe descents and we were up and down like a fiddlers elbow. So much so that the total ascent for the day was 4,608 feet, the second highest of the walk and higher even than when we went over Cross Fell. The latter part of the day was across the open Mooreland of the Northumberland National Park. This is inhospitable country. There were no sheep, cows, horses or birds, let alone any humans. One thing I have learnt on this walk is that no matter what other parts of my body are creaking and twanging, touch wood, my lungs are working fine.

Hope you all had a great Bank Holiday weekend.

15.7 miles today. The day started badly as one of the Team, Anne-Marie had to miss out on today's walk. After the exertions of the previous day, her knee was having no more and she was unable to put any weight on it. We all felt desperately upset for her and she was devastated, having achieved so much in walking 233 miles already. The day didn't get any better. The books say that the only purpose of this day is to get you to Byrness and they are not wrong. In persistent rain and wind we walked mile after mile of mind-numbingly tedious moreland, where the only things we saw were grass, heather bogs and swamps followed by more grass, heather, bogs and swamps. The desolation made this more like a Royal Marine Survival Course than a walking holiday.

We eventually arrived soaking wet and cold, minutes before I would have totally lost the will to live. It can only get better and there are two days left for it to do so.