Trip report: Walking with Hadrian

You may have noticed that this space was quiet for the last few weeks.  My husband and I were on vacation (that included some business) in England. We had a wonderful trip but rather than bore you with snapshots, here are the ten things I found most interesting: 10. We’re outdoor, active types even though we spend most of our time in front of computers. Our trip began with a 70 or so mile walk from Newcastle to Carlisle (at the top of England, 3 hours from London by train) along Hadrian’s Wall. The Wall was ordered in AD 122 by Emperor Hadrian of Rome to defend the northern border of his empire from the marauding Celts to the North — and to change the Roman mentality from expansion for the sake of expansion to maintaining what it had. 9.  The walk was organized for us by a tour company that moved our luggage each day so that all we carried was food and warm clothes. Brilliant. We stayed in B&Bs, inns and over pubs in remote and lovely places. 8.  We had excellent food, middling food and dull food – but nothing as awful as all of you who knew about the trip warned about.  Food mattered a lot, since we were walking as many as 15 miles on some days. Several discoveries: sticky toffee pudding with vanilla custard sauce is amazing and English cider is surprisingly alcoholic. We will be making both this fall because they are addictive. 7.  Hadrian’s Wall is an engineering feat. Originally conceived as 5 meters wide with massive ditches on either side, a milecastle every (yup) mile, (but Roman, so about 1600 yards) and with two turrets between milecastles, the Romans ran out of stone during construction and settled for a 3 meter wide wall in places. The wall was built by three different Roman legions, each of which included all of the trades necessary for the construction project.  Each section between milecastles was supervised by one centurion; his section somehow perfectly met up with the next — way before CAD and modern surveying techniques. Maybe they used string … 6. Many men signed their sections with marks still visible 2000 years layer. What can we leave behind in this digital age that will last as long? 5.  Much of the Wall has disappeared, as people over two millennia used its stones for their houses, barns, churches, roads and field walls.  It amazed us, but locals and historians take it in stride that a barn wall may include a Roman inscription.  One of our hosts said that his (new) house was built of stone that likely came from the Wall.  After all, how could we today undo everything that these stones have been used for since AD 122? 4.  Our walk wound through fields, forests and villages across often damp, cold, windy country. Imagine the poor Syrian auxiliaries brought to patrol the wall — they must have been counting the days ’til their 25 year hitch was up. We walked in late September, with Goretex clothing, waterproof boots, hats and gloves. They had wool and leather … 3.  They also wrote wonderful letters. Several forts along the wall have been excavated; my favorite is Vindolanda, a supply depot where archaeologists discovered personal letters and the paperwork bureaucrats have always generated for their enterprises. One soldier asked his mother for socks; another scolded his brother for never writing. One overseer complained about how many soldiers were ill.  They were a lot like us. 2.  We spent the rest of our time in London. It is one of the world’s great cities and we took full advantage: saw a West End show; heard Vivaldi in the church, St Martin of the Field; and attended a Shakespeare performance at the Globe theater. So much to see and do; but the one place I will always go back to is Churchill’s War Cabinet — a small, claustrophobic warren of offices under giant government  buildings. Several of the men and women who worked in the War Cabinet contributed video recollections that made the time and place come alive. 1.  Since we stay in hotels far too often, we rented a flat for our time in London. About equidistant from the British Library and British Museum and surrounded by the University of London, it was a fun neighborhood with great restaurants and pubs. Definitely the way to go. When can I go back?? PLM coverage resumes as soon as I dig out from under the mountain of stuff waiting here. Comments, questions? Fire away!