We Walk the Wall

27 June 2018

Running clear across Britain from east to west is an old Roman wall, known as Hadrian’s Wall. Built in the 2^nd Century AD (finished around 127), it marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in Britain. It apparently served to tame those unruly Scots and Picts, and may also have been used to control traffic and commerce to and from the Roman areas (making sure taxes were paid and duties collected). Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is the largest Roman artifact in Britain (and maybe in the world).

I first heard of Hadrian’s Wall in connection with (I have to admit it!) George RR Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice,” better known as Game of Thrones. It is likely the inspiration for The Wall, a massive ice fortification to keep the People of the North out of Westeros. (The more I travel and learn about history and geography, the more I admire Martin’s ability to crib from things that actually happened to create his stories!)

Hadrian’s Wall, the real one, runs some 75 miles through beautiful countryside. It is now accompanied by a hiking trail, the Hadrian’s Wall Path. When we were in the Lake District two years ago we visited several parts of the wall by car. This time around, I really wanted to get back and hike a bit more along it. So yesterday was our Hadrian’s Wall day.

View from the car park

Wall climbs up the hill. Those Romans!

We drove about an hour and a half north and east to a conveniently-located car park that gives easy access to the Path. We paid the fee (£2 per hour; it’s hard to find a place to park anywhere in England that’s free) and got started. It was satisfying to hike on the same trail we’d been on in 2016; even more satisfying to get past where we’d had to stop before. We made it to the place called Sycamore Gap, a low spot between two hills, where a magnificent tree (presumably a sycamore) is growing. This tree was awarded the English Tree of the Year award in 2016 (where but England would we find a Tree of the Year award?). It’s claimed to be the “most photographed tree in England.”

A romantic view of the tree (from Getty Images, I'm told)
https://metro.co.uk/2016/12/18/tree-of-the-year-winners-are-pretty-spectacular-6331190/

My own view of the tree in Sycamore Gap

Much as I would have liked to keep going along the trail, it wasn't long before we had to turn back. The day before (our first in the Lake District) we’d done some ambitious climbing just outside our door in Braithwaite, and my legs were feeling every one of the 1200 feet we’d climbed up (and down!). Plus, it was threatening rain. So, we headed back.

Along the way we continued to admire the wall itself. Almost 1900 years old, and much diminished (stones were taken for other projects over the centuries; and why not, since they were just sitting there for the taking and so much easier than cutting and hauling more stone?). Now barely head high, it was a good 10 feet in height and 8 to 10 feet wide when built; most likely there was a walkway along the top for sentries. Every mile or so along the wall were “mile castles,” towers for observation and signaling, and every five miles a garrison. (And how far was a “mile”? One thousand Roman Legion steps; mille in Latin, from which we get, yeah, mile.)

The wall: taller than Paula!

Mile Fort 39 -- or what's left of it

It’s difficult for me, from my soft 21^st Century perspective, to even conceive of how such a massive thing could have been built, and in just a couple of years. It was made from local limestone, and the stones were cut so uniformly and placed so well. Quite a piece of work! (I’m not sure I could even lift one of those stones!)

Lots of very even, carefully placed stones

We got back to the car just as the rain started (it seems it always happens like that), so we left feeling both gratified and a bit disappointed – there is, after all, so much more to see! We took refuge at a pub nearby, the Twice Brewed Inn, had some coffee and biscuits and thought about getting back up here sometime. There are groups that walk the whole length of the wall, from coast to coast, over a period of five or seven days. Paula spoke to the desk clerk at the Inn as a man brought in packs and bags from hikers who would be arriving later, to spend the night after a long day on the trail. And yes, there is a network of inns and hotels all along the wall, and companies that will move baggage between them, so hikers can focus on hiking. Our wheels started spinning… there’s so many possibilities!

 

A much-deserved rest at Twice Brewed

So, I guess this kind of overcast is pretty standard, then?

 “Once its construction was finished, it is thought to have been covered in plaster and then whitewashed: its shining surface reflected the sunlight and was visible for miles around.”

                        --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall

         "...reflected the sunlight and was visible for miles around." Gosh, that sounds like another wall I heard of!


up next: End of the week we leave for Newcastle for two days; then York for two days; then to London for the month of August. Awesome!