Day 0: To Wallsend

After a 6.5-hour direct flight from Atlanta to Manchester, a 3-hour train from Manchester airport to Newcastle Centre, a few minutes to figure out the Newcastle metro while dog-tired, and a 10-minute ride on that metro to one stop past my starting point, I have arrived at my hotel for the night, aptly named Hadrian Lodge. I was impressed with the cleanliness and quietness of the place, in spite of the industrial-ness of the neighborhood. All those cranes in the background? Newcastle is a major port and shipyard.