2018 Scotland - We'll take the high road, to Hadrian's Wall

Despite a few scheduling glitches and medical snafus that threatened to cancel the trip for me until the last minute, my college roommate, Lydia, and I managed to rendezvous in the Glasgow airport this morning pretty much on schedule. My flight had been delayed (mechanical problems necessitated a chance of plane and gate) last night from Philadelphia, while she caught an early morning puddle jumper from Heathrow, as she's been in London for the past 3 days with her husband. We're here for a 10 day road trip to hit bucket list items, explore, hike and enjoy the countryside and each other's company.

An auspicious double rainbow heralded my arrival in Glasgow.

After picking up our car, we found our way to Glasgow and headed south towards Carlisle, England. This is the opposite direction from where we plan to spend most of our trip, but today's goal was one of my bucket list items, Hadrian's Wall. 

Once we peeled off from the A74, the main north-south artery between Glasgow and Carlisle, we were in picturesque moors dotted with sheep and delineated by ancient stone walls. We stopped to walk across the 17th century Abbey Mill bridge near the 12th century Lanercost priory. 



Public trails, some well-used and others barely discernable (except for signposts) crossed the fields.


Lydia tried out one of the many options to scale a stone border wall. 

On our way to the Birdoswald Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall, we caught our first glimpse of the Wall  at Banks East and stopped to take in the views and inspect the watch tower foundation.

We made it to the Birdoswald car park just in time to step into a sideways blowing squall complete with hail, thunder and lightening. The visitor's center at this World Heritage site was compact, interesting and a great hands-on place to bring children. 

The Roman emperor Hadrian started construction on the wall in 122 AD, defining the northern boundary of the Roman Empire. It runs 117 km (73 miles) across Great Britain, and is now the border between Scotland and England. From Birdoswald east, the wall was constructed of stone. Heading west, it was primarily made of turf. Reaching up to 4.5 meters (16 ft) high, the wall included 16 large forts, milecastles each mile and two turrets or watchtowers spaced between each milecastle. The wall was further protected on the Roman side by a road, then a drop ditch called a vallum which was flanked by parallel mounds of earth. Like the old wagon tracks worn across the American prairie by pioneers in the 1800s, the ancient scars are still faintly visible in the landscape.

Towns grew up around the forts and lasted long beyond the Roman settlement of Britannia.

The Birdoswald Fort has one of the longest stretches of remaining wall, now only waist high.

We drove about 40 minutes south to the little village of Alston where we are staying in a c. 1610 hotel over a bustling little pub. Next door is a late-1700s church with oversized tombstones. Alston was a lead mining community of perhaps 10,000 until the mines closed. Today it is sustained largely by walkers and cyclists who visit the area to enjoy its scenery, moors and solitude.