I was thinking about the word negotiate last night as I drifted in and out of sleep. It’s a funny word. We say we negotiate with people and that means we engage in a process by which some agreement or consensus is reached. But we also talk about negotiating a path or a space, meaning we got through it, overcame the obstacles. A cynic might say all negotiation is an overcoming, and when we negotiate with people, it’s a battle of wills for who is overcoming whom. I prefer to think of it as a process of mutual compromise.

And so in the grip of intermittent insomnia, I looked up the etymology. From the Latin neg- (not) and otium (leisure time in which a person can enjoy eating, playing, resting, contemplation and academic endeavors.). So, not leisure, therefore of business.

You’re clever readers, so you’ll have seen where I am going with this. Today, my siblings and I began negotiating the Hadrian’s Wall Path, overcoming it, getting through. And that will involve a lot of personal negotiating. Who leads? Who is in charge of the map? How and when is it okay to call a halt? When can we walk in silence and when do we need to remark on the interesting things in the landscape? We are four strong personalities, and in certain circumstances, I might be identified as the quiet one. (Those who know me and are currently guffawing at the idea of me as quiet: Hush up.)

We left our hotel and caught the local metro to the Segedunum Museum, which marks the start of the trail and has a field where you can see the outlines of the buildings that were part of the Roman fort that stood here, somewhat typical of the forts along the wall.

Though the museum technically doesn’t open until 10am on Sunday, the front door was open, so we went in. Partly this was because we purchased “Hadrian’s Wall Passports,” which you can get stamped at seven points along the trail. It’s a bragging rights thing, but the money goes to a good cause, so why not. The museum employees very nicely stamped our passports and allowed us to use the toilets before we embarked on the real walk (we’d already walked about a mile from our hotel to the metro, but it didn’t feel like that distance counted until the end of the day, when we were tallying up miles and realized, oh right, add a mile).

The path really spends the first dozen miles on pavement of various kinds, working along the Tyne River to get out of the Newcastle metropolitan area. That sounds pretty boring, but the city is undergoing a huge waterfront revival, going from its old industrial and shipping past to cool townhouses along the river. And even the bridges show the forward thinking– the crazy “Blinking Eye” bridge is a pedestrian bridge with a walking surface that arcs out horizontally so you curve across the Tyne. This is useful because it is on a hinge, and can swing up to meet the support arch with the curved of the walking surface (think of a bear trap closing, or of a blinking eye) The Blinking Eye also mimics the shape of an old Edwardian bridge near it (you can see the Blinking Eye is the white one in the foreground, with the older bridge behind it in the first photo below)

We really got a sense of the urban renewal with the long riverfront path, which goes through old industrial areas but is incredibly well maintained. We even walked through a Sunday market on the path, with stalls selling the usual craft fair fare– leather goods, small pictures, jewelry, fried food.

This walk isn’t exactly what you might expect from a path defined by an ancient Roman ruin, but it made for a fun – and very flat, until the end – first day. We kept up a good 3 mile an hour pace, switching off who was leading, who was walking in pairs, sometimes spread out single file. Often chatting, catching up or talking about trails and walking and blisters and gear, or talking about what is going on with our family (it’s incredible how much I learn about the lives of my nieces and nephews from a little time walking on a trail with their parents).

Eventually the path left the river and the urban-to-suburban landscape for more rolling countryside. We passed by a funny little carnival, and were surprised to find that a lot of adults were arriving in costumes– Disney princesses and Tweety Bird and Sylvester and other animals. We had a laugh at the idea that we’d stumbled on a furry convention, but it wasn’t that– just a lot of adults, some with kids, in costumes.  It’s a cultural thing, I guess…? Then we got our first real hill to climb, the ascent of which was softened by the knowledge that the town of Heddon-on-the-Wall and a pub where we could get a cold soda, was at the top. After a very relaxing break,we saw the first real, preserved bit of Roman wall we’ve seen.

After a stop for a photo op (boy, I did not do a good job with the timer and the camera settings for that photo at the top of this post!), we journeyed on our last few miles to our bed and breakfast, the Iron Sign Farm. Those last few miles we were getting tired, and were a bit startled to suddenly encounter cattle on the trail.

We are definitely out of the city, though we’ve only come 15 (or 17, but who’s counting? WE ARE!!!) miles.

I also embraced the macro photo setting on my camera to do more close-up mature photography, with pretty good results, if I do say so myself.

So far, we’ve negotiated the sibling walking well, and we’ve negotiated the landscape very well indeed, going without any long stops. We may ease up on our pace, or at least take a few more real breaks, after this initial burst of energy on flat terrain trying to get out of the city.