Hadrian's Wall

I made it to the north of England and Hadrian’s Wall, taking photographs through the dirty windows of the buses and trains of the landscape.















I spent one night on the west end at Carlisle in a fabulous B&B. The price was right (£27.50/night with breakfast) and the owners very accommodating and nice. Although the room wasn't much bigger than a walk-in closet, the bed was comfortable and the food great. For my evening meal, I found a fabulous restaurant called Casa Romana, with amazing food that was not only delicious, but well presented.

The next night I stayed at a hostel halfway down the length of the wall at a place called Once Brewed (not far from the Vindalnda site). At £18.00/night (breakfast extra) it was a great deal and I managed to get my laundry done as well. I was sharing a room with five other women, all of us in bunk beds (the room held space for eight).

The name of the place is a play on words from the neighbouring pub, which is called Twice Brewed. Apparently, many years ago the beer being served in the pub was so weak the local clientele told the publican that it needed to be brewed a second time, hence the name derived as Twice Brewed. Then many years later, a tee-totalling woman decide to start a youth hostel nearby and was known to have said that once brewed tea was all she needed, and hence the name Once Brewed was born. The two establishments are about 200 yards apart.

I caught a great bus (AD122) that travels several times a day from one end to the other of Hadrian's Wall. You can get off and explore one of the sites, then get back on and continue to the next site. The road criss-crosses the wall and sometimes you are right up beside it and at other times, it is quite a distance off. There is so much to see at each spot, however, that seeing everyone would take several days. Some people walk the entire wall, though I believe this takes about six days.

I’ve also come across people who are walking the Penine Way (289 miles)….the backbone of England. It takes about 20 days…not my cup of tea! The Brits are great walkers everywhere and there are walking trails, footpaths, etc. so you can hardly avoid walking. I’ve done quite a few miles in just the short time I’ve been here, but nothing like these excursions.

At the Roman Vindalanda, there are amazing remains of buildings, and a couple of reconstructed towers so that people can see what they might have looked like and how tall the wall probably was. There were also serious ditches dug on the exterior or the wall was built on high cliffs, so it wasn't that easy to cross, as I'd first suspected.

Hadrian’s Wall was quite magnificent, or at least it was in its day. There’s not much left in terms of the original height. The wall itself still mostly runs for 73 miles or so across the countryside, but over the centuries, people took the uppermost stones and built homes. (In one stretch on the west end they used turf for building material, because there were no rocks.)

Hadrian’s Wall was built over a seven year period shortly after 122 AD, when the Romans came to Britain. Named after Emperor Hadrian, it is Britain’s greatest Roman monument. In some places, where there are forts, 80 milecastles (one for every roman mile), turrets, housing quarters and baths, and temples spread out across the length of the wall. Built over a six year or so period after Emperor Hadrian came to England in 122AD, it was intended to keep the ‘barbarians’ separate from the Romans, but it also acted as a way to tax and control people going back and forth across the border through gateways/or passageways.

The Brits have done a fascinating job of reconstructing bits of it along with the forts, etc. juxtaposed to archeological digs on the same sites. In some places they have guides dressed in Roman attire explaining the lifestyle and architecture. The Romans were amazing builders and the wall is almost perfectly aligned across the landscape. It takes about six days to walk the entire wall, and maybe people are doing this….not me though…seeing a few sections of wall was plenty for me, as the days were incredibly windy while I was there.

I was very impressed by the structures, the magnitude and fine construction. Those Roman legions were amazing, considering they weren’t used to building with rocks, but rather with wood. I had the feeling that the men building the walls had a great deal of pride in what they were doing.

There was a rather settlement at Vindalanda, and in later years, crofters moved into the area. A great museum open the property shows one of the croft buildings, and recreates what life might have been like, though taking photos through the glass didn't work that well.

Although I know the wild Picts and Scots 2000 years ago were conducting lots of thieving and murderous raids along the borders, there was also a peacefulness to visiting the sites, to seeing the landscape for miles beyond in either direction.

Here are a couple of Web sites that tell more about Hadrian’s Wall:
http://www.hadrians-wall.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian