Author: Zainab Houghton – ARC Trustee
When my friend and follow ARC member Niall, put the idea of walking Hadrian’s Wall with Anti Racist Cumbria to me over 18 months ago, the actual concept of walking up to 30 miles a day, didn’t actually sink in. I was more focused on how amazing it would be to walk across Cumbria and Northumberland with the message of anti-racism being at the forefront, and at the forefront it was.
Who Walked The Wall?
Myself, Niall, Sukanya, Rob, Jo, Freya and Rob (yes two Robs) yomped, stomped, and at times practically crawled to complete the full walk – the final day more than 36 miles! Karen completed two full days (as she sadly needed to attend a funeral on Sat) and along the route more walkers joined whether for full days, or a few miles and we thank Patrin, Stephen & 6yo Anik, our CEO Janett and – Andy (Karen’s hub) aka the emotional support vehicle for getting their boots dirty and hiking with the team. It made a huge difference to morale! Though perhaps not Janett’s as you can see here.
I can’t forget our support team who collected and dropped off bags, brought supplies, gave lifts and generally helped things run smoothly – cheers to Liv, Penny, Rob and Willow (age 9!), Soph, Kelle (absolute backstage engine) and Andy (again). It really was a team effort but there is a very special thanks to Niall McNulty who led the walk and organised the trip!
And we were off…
When we set off early Friday morning, we were equally nervous and excited. We had no idea what the next few days would hold. We didn’t have any concrete plans, but we knew that what we wanted to do was highlight as many of the Black and Brown influences that contributed back then, to the structure of the wall, and now, with visiting businesses and specific spots along the way. We always knew that there was a hidden history of the contributions that Black and Brown people had and continue to make, what really struck me was how little people knew about it, including me. Listening to stories from my fellow walkers, who had all learned bits and pieces about the history, was like food for the soul.
Walking into Burgh-By-Sands and visiting the spot where the FIRST recorded Africans in the UK had settled was overwhelming. You could feel the strong history around us and along the journey, the way the natural beauty of the landscape combined with the past was breathtaking.
One of the biggest highlights for me was walking through the battlefield at Blea Tarn. It looked exactly like that. I could picture the field filled with soldiers, as the land undulated. We were walking through a massive piece of history.
On the Saturday we visited the site of China’s first conceptual artist Li Yuan- Chia, which sadly does not appear in the guidebooks as it is an important piece of local and international cultural heritage. After we crossed the border into Northumberland, the beauty and enormity of what we were doing dawned on me. Whoever says that this is a fairly flat walk is delusional, the amount of ascending descending that we did on Saturday really took a toll on our bodies and by the time we reached the bunkhouse on Saturday night, we were all feeling slightly broken. The thought of getting up and doing another 36 miles the next day did not seem possible. The mood had taken a dive. We were all tired. I went to bed thinking, are we going to finish this as a team? I wasn’t sure, as we had already had a few tears, however the incredible resilience of this team is awe inspiring. We had Freya, a 17 year old student from Dallam, who, the night before was really struggling, wake up, stick on her sun glasses, lace up her trainers and get ready to go, and we knew then, that we are all finishing this.
The third day started off a bit wobbly, but we persevered. There wasn’t as much history along this part, and it was truthfully a little less exciting, however plenty of cake and food stops powered us along. By mile 20 we were all really feeling the fatigue and by the time we reached Tyneside, I think we were all really struggling.
We had slowed down to a mile and hour pace, and we had another 5 miles to go.
I didn’t know how we were going to finish, we were completely broken, physically and mentally, but then something snapped, and we knew that we had to pick up the pace and solider on, and we did just that. I still don’t know how we managed those last few miles. I remember Niall saying to me at one point, we had just been through probably one of the roughest parts of Newcastle and passed a notoriously racist pub, while adorning our Anti Racist Cumbria t-shirts and our walking sticks. We looked invincible and even if the thought had crossed anyone’s mind, they definitely were not messing with us! We marched through Newcastle, determined to finish this, even though the temptation to get into the support car was so strong, we made it to that finish line.
I don’t think any of us knew how to process what we just accomplished at that point, so we all had a hug, some had a glass of fizz, and we all went our separate ways. We could barely stand! I’m not entirely sure I still am able to comprehend what we did.
Even though we didn’t find many Black and Brown businesses along the way, the power that walking through little villages, towns, pubs and coffee shops all owned and frequented by a mainly white majority, with our message splayed across our T-shirts brought up many conversations about racism and the importance of being an anti-racist and being an ally. People were curious, and incredibly warm, friendly, and open to a conversation. We left our stickers with them, and hopefully lots of questions and conversations that they will have now or in the future, and that is what was important here, we stirred up conversations and whether it takes a day, month or year, people will remember us walking through with big smiles (despite the physical pain inside) on our face, looking like we belonged on this walking trail that many people do all through the year. That was another thing that I did notice, we may have passed maybe only one or two other people who weren’t White along the wall. It meant a lot to see them, but we need to address the barriers and embed anti-racism across the sector because the outdoors and nature belong to everyone. It’s our home, it’s our history too. For too long it hasn’t felt that way and that needs to change.
There are so many stories and adventures that we had a long the way, and there was even talk of a book being written about this. From moments of complete fear when confronted by consecutive fields of cows and their calves (granted they were only being curious, but man oh man are those beasts intimidating!), the never ending ladder stiles that we had to climb over, the constant ask of how many more miles to go and the endless talk of blisters, plasters and painkillers!
Learning of the Syrian, Romanian and Africans who were part of the Roman Army that all had a hand in placing rocks, together building a wall that intended to keep people apart by the Roman Emperor was almost conflicting as 1900 years later (it’s taken a while) that wall of division is today bringing people together. Walls and borders are not the answer and we need to look at this in our current lives. There were moments on the walk where we were broken physically and emotionally, but then we would think about all the refugees and people seeking asylum that take on these mammoth journeys, without any of the gear we had, without those blister plasters or a warm meal and a bed at the end of the evening. Thinking of their treacherous paths put the fear of a field of cows into perspective. What these people go through is a million times worse. It also highlighted the socio-economic disadvantage that so many communities are faced with. We went through areas of such poverty that people wouldn’t believe that we were in the UK. We are so sheltered from so many of these issues, so it is so important for us to educate ourselves and work with our communities and other communities to make the UK a place we can all be proud of. There is always something you can do, whether it’s writing to your councillors, using your vote, lobbying, donating, volunteering your time or even something a small as having a conversation.
We all, at some point in the three days had the opportunity to talk with each other, whether it was one to one or a few of us , depending on where and who we were with at the time. We talked about everything and anything from race, religion, politics and all our combined experiences of racism and issues surrounding racism, we learnt from and about each other, but the greatest thing I have learnt is that our bodies, physically and mentally are one of the strongest things on this planet. The human body is phenomenal, amazing, so strong and incredibly capable whatever colour skin it’s in. We do not give our mind and bodies enough credit. I am so grateful for every inch of myself, especially my legs and feet. How they carried me to the end I will never know!
I am so grateful to the amazing people that undertook this adventure with me, this experience, I don’t think anyone could ever fully understand unless you were there with us and saw us at our strongest and weakest points.
THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING PART OF THIS JOURNEY WITH ME.
