At The King's Arms, walkers robed for a while in history ...

The landlord of The King's Arms was lean and spare - he sported a Zapata moustache - he  smiled wryly at his walkers, handing them pints of Pennine Pale - 

The pub sign depicted, as it had to, King Edward I - the grizzled Plantaganet was wearing chain mail - his crown was pale gold - 

I was wearing my Edge of Empire tee shirt - in the left hand pocket of my brown corduroy jacket was my note book, a hive of words - 

We saw the London Finns again - they planned to take six days to complete the trail - they were eating sea trout - 

Alyson told a story about a friend of hers who'd taken a Finnish woman out for a drink - 

He had a beer - he asked her what she wanted - she said a bottle of Martini - 

I imagined glassy sirens drinking Findlandia vodka in an ice hotel - 

The landlord handed me the black book from behind the bar - 

Most of them complain about sunburn or aching legs he said - 

But I found the thoughts of the walkers recorded here to be full of joy and wonderment - they had completed their journey - they had been robed for a while in history - 

Penny and I read the words of Debbie from Minnesota - 

Debbie's mother had been a GI bride - she'd hoped to scatter her mother's ashes upon some numinous crag - 

I lost mum she wrote somewhere behind a bush in Newcastle - if anyone finds my mum, pour her into the Tyne - 

I stayed in the pub for a while after my three companions had left - 

A wave of woozy joy flowed over me - I got lost on my back to The Old Rectory - 

These moments, I thought, will stay with me, prized jewels in my memory hoard -

22.45

July 15 2014

The King's Arms

Bowness on Solway 

Note

The second largest fort on the Wall, Maia, was in Bowness on Solway.