Travelling the UK - Hadrian's wall and nearby

Entering England from Scotland you have to travel across Northumberland to reach Hadrian's wall. It does not mark the England Scotland border as some people think!

One the other side of the road is this of course

Some interesting people are travelling our road

And soon we meet some more interesting people at Hadrian's wall

Lots of visitors are showing an interest in this Roman Centurion

And we look around a very interesting display and see a short film. Then we hike the ramparts, well for a short distance anyway ...

This is HOUSESTEADS which is one of the best preserved forts , they were having an open day, there are not usually Centurions on duty!

Here is a little piece about the wall with facts taken from the official Hadrian's wall website

It became a World Heritage site in 1987, Hadrian’s Wall and is the best preserved frontier of the Roman Empire. Together with the Antonine Wall and the Upper German Raetian Limes, it forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’

Commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to secure the north west frontier of the Empire it stretches for about 80 miles across the north of England from Maryport on the Cumrian coast to South Shields on the river Tyne. It was inspected by Hadrian in AD 122 and took 15000 men about 6 years to build. There were 80 milecastles and 17 larger forts along its length. Built of stone and sometimes turf it was up to 6 metres high and up to three metres deep in places. A ditch further protected the south side on stretches where there is no river.

Hadrian's wall was an active military line for about 300 years and after Rome gave up Britain the stones were used to build homes which is why there is not very much wall left today.

There is a load of info on the official site, here is a link if you want to know more

http://hadrianswallcountry.co.uk/

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The surrounding countryside is stunning