Hadrian's Wall

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Today I saw Hadrian's Wall. It's not as impressive as walking along the Great Wall of China, but it was neat nonetheless. I took the AD122 bus out toward Carlisle and decided to get out at the Roman Army Museum. The museum was so-so, but the walk around the Walltown Crags was quite impressive. I climbed up a very large hill (crag) and walked alongside Hadrian's Wall for a while. The view from up there was quite impressive, and the fact that the Roman Army built a wall of stones that has survived so long (since about AD 122) is also impressive. The wall is built on the edge of the crag (think almost cliffside) and it must have been a real pain to haul those stones up that high. Although parts of the wall no longer exist, the wall did extend almost all the way across the country to keep the "barbarians" from attacking or entering the Roman Empire.

After the walk, I hopped back on the bus and went to Vindolanda. It's the site of a huge excavation of a Roman fort, also with a museum, and apparently there have been many writing tablets discovered there that have helped archeologists and sociologists learn more about the Roman empire and its role in England. Lots to see and lots to absorb. I probably would have absorbed more if my allergies hadn't been constantly bugging me today. 😞

Got back to Newcastle in time to take Anna and Alan out for a pub dinner. The food was good, and it's funny that we saw at least 6 Hen parties (think stagette) out this evening, wandering around in funny outfits. There were a couple of Stags too, with guys in costume or matching shirts. Very interesting attire -- I think I saw one guy dressed up as a Power Ranger, and I know I saw a woman dressed as a pirate....

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Alnwick to see the castle that was used as Hogwart's in the Harry Potter movies. I hope that it's as impressive as it claims to be! I may take a detour to the seaside too, and hopefully will get lots more interesting/cool photos.

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