Carole and Jenny

We booked with a company called Macs Adventure, who booked all our hotels, B&Bs.  The transport of luggage has been excellent but this has been organised by another company called Walkers Baggage Transfer Co Ltd. (through Macs Adventure)  Our bags have always been there when we arrived.

We have been disatisfied with 2 of the places we were sent to but we will explain later!!

Star guide - we have given stars out of 6

Accommodation 1:  Hadrians Lodge Hotel Wallsend - no stars

It is close to the Hadrian’s Road Metro station and to the start of the wall.

This can only be described as a dive. Very cheap and nasty and not a great place to start the walk.  It has made no effort to be welcoming from the outside - flower borders have gone to seed and external decoration is long overdue.  It looks like a hotel that is being run  down.

They do not do evening meals Friday, Saturday or Sunday as they do not employ a chef!!!

You are either offered takeaway or have to go out.  It is situated in a very run  down part of East Newcastle called Wallsend and we felt very unsafe walking to the resaurant.  Breakfast was very uninspiring - continental breakfast with rubbery scrambled eggs thrown in.  We felt cheated with this booking.

Accommodation 2: Bistro en Glaze ****

This is off the trail as you should really look to stay in Heddon on the Wall at the end of the first day.  However this is a lovely Restaurant with a B&B run by a young couple.  We had a good sized room, beautifully decorated.  Only a shower, so no bath to soak in and it was not the best shower ever used.  Hot enough but not strong.  Restaurant is exceptional.  Quirkily decorated, very French with newspapers of all nationalities on the wall.  Carole had lamb tangine - slow cooked with lots of fruit and Jenny had succulent cod with peppers.

Breakfast was equally delicious - lots of choice and a beautiful fry up.  Really set us up for a days walk.

Accommodation 3 - Hadrian Hotel at Wall. ****

Really lovely setting in a beautiful village and a great room.  It is a hotel come pub and the food was very good, if a little traditional.  We were eating during the men’s final at Wimbledon and Jenny kept nipping into the other bar with flat screen TV to catch up on results.  All staff were really friendly and they had a steady stream of locals coming into eat as well as tourists.  Always a healthy sign.

Bath - hurray.  Bedroom very pretty with lots of room for Jenny’s huge suitcase - this is not a euphomism for any part of Jenny’s body!!!

Breakfast was okay.  We chose to have scrambled eggs but the full English looked great.

Accommodation 4 - Vallum Lodge Hotel at Once Brewed. *****

This B&B describes itself as “a little bit of luxury on the wall” and it really is.

The room was gorgeous and the bath such a welcome sight after  a long walk!!  There were real extras -thoughtfully done - Radox bubble bath, our suitcases had been carried to our rooms and there was a lounge set aside for guests which was extremey comfortable. This was great because you often feel couped up in the bedroom and this meant we could spread out and relax.

The breakfast was scrumptious with lots of choice in fruit, yoghurts and cereals.  The cooked breakfast was very well prepared.  They made sure that our soggy boots were on a boot rack close to a radiator so were nicely warmed when we put them on!

Accommodation 5 - Centurion Inn Walton ****

This is a pub with B&B added on.

The room was small but very clean and welcoming.

On the downside there was only a shower and as we had walked 18 miles that day we really need a good long soak in the bath.  The shower was also quite weak and was rather tepid.

As a result we both left feeling rather stiff the next day.

However this is an extremely welcoming pub, with great food.
Evening meals and breakfast were both very hearty and traditional.  They produce their own sausages, which were delicious.  The atmosphere in the pub is great.  We were able to get onto their wireless network in the bar.  We also had a great time chatting to other residents.  All great fun.

They have an open fire and they left our boots by the fire so they were very warm and dry when we put them on the next day

Accommodation 6 - Abberley House Carlisle - no points

An extremely unwelcome owner.  we arrived at 2pm having walked for around 12 miles and he sent us away until 4pm!!!

The room was very nice but there was no bath and as we had not been able to soak in a bath the night before we decided to move to the County Hotel.

Accommodation 7 - County Hotel  Carlisle  ***

A really lovely room and a bath!!!

Lots of hot water and bubble bath - hurray!!!

Breakfast was simple but cooked to a good standard.

It is a tired hotel, which needs a big injection of cash to turn it around.  However the staff are its saving grace.  All of them were very hospitable and were willing to help us out.  Much better than Abberley House!!!

Accommodation 8 - Wallsend house, The Old Rectory  Bowness on Solway  ******

The best until last.

This is a superb B&B - the best Jenny has ever been to.

Beautiful house which has been lovingly renovated.

Our room was very spacious and the beds comfortable.

Again some really lovely touches - Radox in the bath, suitcases in your room.

The landady welcoming us with “Congratulations, you have finished the walk!!”  The landlady had done the walk 5 years earlier and so really appreciated what we had achieved.

They let us use their wireless internet, they had gifts from local Cumbrian artists and craft people, which we could purchase.  They organised for a taxi to arrive very early the next day.

Very kind people, who made us feel very welcome.

We did not have breakfast as we left too early but we suspect that it was a superb standard.A really lovely room and a bath!!!

MACs Adventure

We didn’t feel that we got added value from going with this company.  Having done the walk we realise that we probably could have booked it all directly and would have got better value.  We would have also found accommodation that didn’t send us off track and also which didn’t make some of the walks very long. We would have evened it all out.

We suspect that the company has not reviewed a number of the accommodations recently as they shouldn’t have sent us to at least two of the properties.  This is just laziness on their part.

We would definitely recommend each accommodation has a bath ensuite or access to a bath as this made a real difference.