Sunday morning brought a bit of sun, so we thought it would be the perfect time to explore the elusive Hadrian’s Wall (Vallum Aelium to my Latin comprehending friends. (Yes, I know more than 1 person who can read Latin. Seriously.) The proprietress of our lovely B&B (Brookside Villas – definitely check them out if you are ever looking for a place to stay in Hadrian’s Wall area) sent up up the road to Birdoswald Roman Fort for a good view of the wall. The fort was closed for the winter, but the view was amazing-well worth the trip.
Buddy!
It’s not a day with the Lesters if we I don’t take a ridiculous picture
Mumsy didn’t appreciate my crazy picture and made me act normal. BORING!
Ridiculous pictures must run in the family. Gaga eye!
After my Mom and I thoroughly annoyed Kevin with the sheer number of photos we took, we headed off to Steel Rigg, an excellent base for hiking along some of the most impressive sections of the wall.
Hadrian’s Wall started its lifeas an earth wall and spanned the 80 Roman miles from Solway Firth to the River Tyne. In 122 AD, the Emperor Hadrian commissioned the building of a stone wall with milecastles at every Roman mile and turrets interspersed. (FYI- A Roman mile is 1620 yards, compared to the current 1760 yards per mile. There is some debate that it is due to the shorter stature and smaller feet of the Roman soldier since they measured distances in paces.) Designed to keep those pesky Scottish barbarians out and the locals from stealing their sheep, it had a ditch at the front and at the back. The ditch at the front served to increase the difficulty of scaling the wall while the ditch set a distance from the backside of the wall served to keep the livestock close to the wall and make it difficult for the citizens to sneak in a steal a sheep or two.
When the next Emperor Antonius came into power after Hadrian’s demise, he was not content to let Hadrian have all the glory and fame, building his own wall further into Scotland called the Antoine Wall. However, the Scottish were much more successful in destroying the wall and very little remains today. Even in death, Hadrian managed to outshine Antonious.
Now that everyone is asleep from my history lesson, here are a few of the better pictures:
One of the milecastles
Turret
Tsk tsk Kevin, standing on the wall when it clearly tells you not to. At least I have my wicked sweet Whalers hat to distract from the fact that you are BREAKING THE RULES!
Aww nuts! Mom caught me being nice to Kevin…
About half way through the walk, we reached the famous Sycamore Gap. Famous for what you ask? It’s famous for being used for filming of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with the terrible Kevin Costner. Not only is Kevin Costner a terrible actor, but the geography of the director is seriously off. First, he lands at the White Cliffs of Dover, then two seconds later he’s at Hadrian’s Wall in order to head to Nottingham? Did they even look at a map before they filmed this movie?
Nevertheless, it was neat to see where they filmed the movie. I have only seen it once or twice back in the day so I probably wouldn’t have picked it out on my own, but those people who may be a bit more into this movie than me (I save my allegiance for the fantastic Disney version) probably will have recognized it right off the bat.
Sadly, none of us climbed the tree. If only we had Mini Deal with us. She would have been up that tree like a monkey. After we viewed the tree, we tried to decide if we would turn back or keep going on the loop. Since I come from a long line of non-decision makers, this was a bit difficult.
This is what Kevin looks like when his wife and mother-in-law won’t make a decision.
Since we all decided that we could walk forever, we decided to continue on and complete the loop. Shortly after passing Sycamore gap, we headed down and then across a farm, which afforded a great view of the wall from the perspective of potential invaders. You can really see how imposing it would have been.
This sheep is named Cailin
Yes I would have climbed the tree like a monkey, just like I hike up Table Mountain like a billy goat. And you are soo going to regret tagging all sheep as me.
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