Josh and the Big Wall

Josh and I have a tradition in which we head off into the countryside to an undisclosed location (for Josh) on the Saturday closest to the 20th of October (that would be his birthday). In New York, this meant long train rides to good hiking spots or borrowed cars and kayaks. Here, it meant a visit to a very helpful Jennie at the Durham Tourist Information Center. Along with sending me off with another dozen or so fancy brochures (tourism must generate a lot of income around here), she helped me decide on a visit to Hadrian's Wall. It somehow seemed appropriate that we would visit the Wall for JoshWall's birthday. Plus, in NYC we never got to visit any 2nd century ruins!

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Hadrian's Wall is an 8 foot wide, second century Roman wall that lies in ruins not too far from Durham. Its construction was spearheaded by, you guessed it, Emperor Hadrian in AD 122. During his reign, Hadrian decided to consolidate his massive empire and fortify the edges a bit. So, choosing the narrowest part of England, he ordered the construction of this 73.5 mile wall to help keep out those barbaric Scots of the North. Milecastles (the brochure calls them "fortlets") and other major fortifications lie in ruins along the length of the wall, as well. Of course, "England" and "Scotland" didn't exactly exist just yet and there's a lot more interesting historical information, but you can read more about that at Wikipedia; no need for me to get into too much detail.

We took a train North about 15 minutes to Newcastle, the closest "big" city to Durham. From there, we caught the handy Hadrian's Wall bus which runs during tourist season (i.e. until next week). Not only did we get a nice ride directly along the ancient wall's route, but we also got a friendly, in-bus tour guide. What service.
We went about an hour out to the central and most scenic part of the wall. Starting at Steel Rigg, we walked back East a few hours to Housesteads Fort. The views were fantastic, and we couldn't have asked for a better day. Who says England isn't sunny?
The wall goes through some beautiful countryside, and we had a chance to befriend some shy English sheep and cows. Lunch was our long-time staple... peanut butter and jelly! We also visited one apparently famous spot along the wall. That first photo of Josh shows Sycamore Gap which makes an appearance in the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Eventually, we caught the bus back to the lovely city of Hexham, where we wandered through the abbey and bought an excessive amount of fudge (it never hurts to mention it's your husband's birthday). But before we could head back to Newcastle, we had one last stop. A photo and a pint in the village of... WALL!