As soon as the potential scale of the epidemic was realised the government imposed what seemed to be draconian measures in an effort to bring it under control. Once a case was identified not only was the infected animal slaughtered but the whole herd/flock was killed with it. In addition in a controversial policy known as “contiguous culling” all livestock within a 3 kilometre radius of the infected farm was to be slaughtered too. The official view was that the risk of spreading the disease was not worth taking. (Imagine a policy of contiguous culling applied to the coronavirus outbreak!) The animals were killed on the site and then disposed of either by cremation or buried in quicklime. One of the worst affected areas was the north west of England and I well remember seeing distance columns of smoke rising from the funeral pyres of sheep and cattle. By the end of the outbreak it is estimated that 6 million animals were killed in a epizootic of over 2,000 cases.

Now we’re in a situation where everyone apart from NHS personnel and key workers is in an open prison – or perhaps more accurately “under house arrest”. What we have been asked to do to prevent the spread of coronavirus is against our nature – to maintain our social distance even from our families, not to gather in groups, not to socialise. Yet nearly everyone understands the reasons for these unprecedented measures – to save lives. If there are too many cases our hospitals will not be able to cope and many people will die as a consequence. Not being able to take exercise far from home is small beer against a person’s life. The main thing to remember is that the countryside will still be there when the coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

One place I am resolved to re-visit when I can will be Hadrian’s Wall. In 2004 not long after the Hadrian’s Wall Long Distance Path was opened I walked the length of the wall from Wallsend near Newcastle to Bowness on Solway to the west of Carlisle. One of my overnights was in a farmhouse B&B at Walton in East Cumbria. At breakfast I commented on how clean the farmyard was and how quiet and then the penny dropped…my hosts had lost their herd three years previously during the foot and mouth crisis.

Distance: 3 miles

 

Grade: Moderate - a few ups and downs.

 

Directions. Hadrian's Wall was built on the orders of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD122 to mark the limits of his empire and as a defensive measure against the less biddable tribes to the north. It was 73 miles long and took 6 years to build. The intervening years have taken their toll on the wall with little to be seen for long stretches on either end - but the bit in the middle from (near) Chollerford to Greenhead has become iconically famous and the section from Steel Rigg to Housesteads is the best bit of all - in my opinion.