THE KING'S WELL Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size:
 (small)
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A moderate walk with one or two steepish ascents depending on chosen route.
There is free parking at N54 59.348 W002 30.591 just before Walltown Farm. From here you can take the low path through the farm until you come to Walltown Nick where the north ditch reappears to strengthen the gap.
King Arthur’s Well in Walltown Nick is a spring surrounded by masonry sited close to the wall near a ladder stile in the middle of the gap. According to tradition this is where the monk Paulinus baptised King Edwin marking his conversion to Christianity in AD627 consistent with the 5/6th century legend of King Arthur???
Follow the flagged path from here up a short steepish climb to Turret 44b - the most dramatically sited of them all - the cache is hidden nearby and you do not have to leave the path to locate it. Chives growing in the crevices of the whinstone rock hereabouts is said to have been planted by the Romans.
Much more rewarding walk directly up the bank from the parking place to Turret 45a (possibly the site of a signal station for the nearby Magna Roman fort prior to the Wall being built) and walk along the top, this will include an additional steepish climb and descent, but fantastic views make the extra effort worthwhile.
The Wall has mesmerised romantics from many a century, so it is little wonder that King Arthur has found his place in this setting and local folklore certainly endorses the belief that he was here. Should you progress eastwards from Turret 44b along to Mucklebank Crag you can almost sense the Roman patrol keeping their ghostly watch.
Mucklebank Crag is a superb viewpoint (appropriately the name means the big slope) and is the highest peak in the ridge of the Nine Nicks of Thirlwall. From here you can see over Talkin Fell to Skiddaw and Little Man to the south-west, Cross Fell at the head of the South Tyne Valley, Gillalees Beacon to the north-west and the great dark horizon of the Border Forests across the northern arc of the view. We had intended to place a cache here also but we forgot to bring a hole to hide it in
! – we tried so hard, alas without success.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre n fyno bs ebpx gb gur yrsg bs gur fgrrcre cngu nobir gur gheerg.
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