LAURA RHODES – Blue Badge Guide
I qualified as a Blue Badge guide for North East England in 2009 and because of my interest in walking, Hadrian’s Wall has become one of my favourite tours.
Many of my clients are interested in day walks highlighting the main features and history of Hadrian’s Wall, once the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. I do a lot of work with coach companies too- there are plenty of ways to find out about Hadrian’s Wall without having to find your hiking boots!
Hadrian’s Wall Path became a National Trail in in 2003 – my husband walked with a friend the following year and I completed the central section a couple of years later. I’ve cycled from coast to coast on Hadrian’s Cycleway too.
As the majority of my work was cancelled through the summer last year, I made plans with my own family to complete an end to end walk on the National Trail , but the logistics proved difficult so we had a couple of days exploring the heart of Hadrian’s Wall- a great adventure for my very reluctant children.
So, towards of the end of the summer when I was approached by a friend who works for Hadrian’s Wall Partnership to ask if I’d like to be involved in a filming project, I jumped at the chance.
I was then contacted by the film company who discussed their requirements; they wanted a short tour of one of the forts or a section of Hadrian’s Wall for a walking program for the summer with Robson Green as the presenter.
Robson is a born and bred Northerner, and although he earlier moved away from the area he has now come back to live close to Hexham -we filmed at Chesters fort so Robson was only a couple of miles away from home!
Robson’s plan was to walk the length of the wall during the summer highlighting outdoor activities so although Chesters has a wonderful museum we were not able to film in there as it was not open at that time- also an encouragement to the viewers to stay outdoors rather than use the indoor spaces.
Filming took place in August during the period between lockdowns, so we were still very much under social distancing rules which made the visit quite interesting as we were not allowed to be within 2 metres of one other.
Finding a good place to attach the hidden microphone and battery pack was a challenge as I had to follow instructions to do that myself- my waterproof jacked made quite a rustle.
We were caught in a downpour in the middle of the morning, and the camera crew had to pause to enclose all the equipment in waterproof covers- Robson and I just put our hoods up.
Robson is quite a quirky character and we had a bit of fun on the tour. I had been briefed to keep it light, but Robson has a keen intertest in Roman history and is a patron of another local site, Vindolanda so he asked lots of questions.
We spent a whole morning at Chesters Roman Fort, with a full tour explaining the propose of a cavalry fort on Hadrian’s wall, and showing the archaeological highlights. The main intertest was on how the soldiers shared their accommodation with their valuable horses, and kept themselves clean- Chesters has the best preserved Roman military bath house in Britain.
My five minutes of fame shown right at the beginning of episode 2
When the work was over I was amazed how many people recognised Robson and ask for photographs to be taken with him and their children -there was even one family wanted Robson’s photograph with their dog.
The programme ‘ Walking Coast To Coast’ was shown on Channel 5 in January and is available to watch on Channel 5 Catch Up
The Hadrian’s Wall trail is a really popular route in the summer and I’m hoping this show will lead to renewed intertest for visitors this year.
Although most of my clients are not keen to walk the full length of the wall, as a North East England Blue Badge guide I can arrange short walks and bespoke visits depending on the needs and abilities of the group.
For many people it really is the ‘ Walk of a lifetime’
Laura Rhodes
Blue Badge Tourist Guide North East England and Yorkshire
https://tourguidelaura.co.uk/
07758 077818