Cumbria 4 - Carlisle - The Nook Farm Cafe and Shop/Campra / Reivers to the right of us Romans to the left of us. Stuck in the middle .....................

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1121 miles the signpost said it was to Rome . Reivers to the right of us and Romans to the left of us ..............stuck in the middle with you.................... , me , Sion and our Girl Gabby. How did we come to be in such an odd place . We had left Carlisle and had a night stop in mind . In the middle of nowhere . Well it was in the middle of fields , hills and in the hamlet of Alston . In a field , in a car park next to the Nook Farm Cafe and Shop. Beneath the ancient form of Epiacum , Never heard of Epiacum . Me neither until today . We were on an overnight stop for motorhomers recommended by CampRA, CampRA was something new .It did not exist a few months ago. It was formed by like minded motorhomers who were fed up of overpriced campsites run on almost military style precision . They wanted to start a movement which would encourage landowners to consider small aires with a small but reasonable cost for overnight stays . They produced letters to be sent to councils with car parking areas , to marinas , to shops and cafes and farms . They became a not for profit company and began to lobby the National Trusts and anyone who might just be interested in making some extra money and helping us out with continental style aires .

The result was something like The Nook Farm shop. Funded partially by European money they had invested in a cafe building and erected a marquee in the car park . The joined CampRA and lo and behold the campers came . Which just went to show that if you provide it , even if it is in the middle of bleak Cumbrian landscape the vans will come and spend money . We paid our £5 for a night stop and we were directed to a quiet corner of the hard standing on the car park . There was water but this was switched off . The lady inside kindly filled our bucket for us to give us enough water for our immediate needs. Whilst the cafe was open there were toilets and the gift shop and farm shop were full of items to buy. From bacon to stuffed animals , from sausages to cakes -there was so much choice . We sat inside and ordered a capuccino and a double espresso with a large scone cut in half . Smothered in raspberry jam and thick cream it was topped off with a raspberry . There was not much passing trade as the weather was bleak . A biker turned up for a hot drink and two walkers called in for refreshments .

After our coffees we headed up the hill in search of the marauding Reivers who acted like bandits and the Romans who lived in the unusual fort of Epiacum . The first fort here was probably built around AD 120 the same time as Hadrian built his wall . The fort had a function and that was to protect the Romans interest in lead and silver mining . The walk up to the top of the hill was steep. The roadway still used looked Roman and reminded me of Pompeii with its ruts . The fort had been long forgotten although it had been on the Maiden Way Roman Road . To the right was the Well House Bastle one of about five on the farmland . This fortified farmhouse was a defence against the Reiveers . Built in the 1600's it dated from a period of great insecurity in the region and conflict along the Scottish borders.

The fort to our right had been manned by the Nervians a group of auxilliary troops from the Lower Rhine region . They must have felt dejected up here in the cold and rain . Far away from home . It must have formed a punishment for them . We could see the grass roof of the cafe below us and the bleating of the sheep was the only noise . Leather slippers had been found here in the midden pits together with an altar dedicated to Hercules now housed in the Bedford Museum . Another altar dedicated to Apollo had been moved to the Great North Museum in Newcastle. We were told to pick nothing up . Not even from the molehills . The site was a scheduled monument and as such no metal detecting was allowed .

Leaving the fingerpost behind we headed for the area where somewhere deep underground were the foundations of the South West Tower , the bath house and the West Ramparts . Sadly nothing could be seen and everything would remain hidden until the archaelogists made a decision to dig . Who knows when that might happen.

We had a peaceful night . Probably more peaceful that the farmers would have had when the Rievers were marauding . More peaceful than when the Romans were living up the hill wishing their lives away thinking of Rome 1121 miles away.

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