Hadrian’s Wall is one of England’s most thought-provoking sights. “In about AD 122, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, the Romans built this great stone wall. Its actual purpose is still debated. While Rome ruled Britain for 400 years, it never quite ruled its people. The wall may have been used for any number of reasons: to define the northern edge of the empire, to protect Roman Britain from invading Scottish clans (or at least cut down on pesky border raids), to monitor the movement of people, or to simply give an otherwise bored army something to do. (Emperors understood that nothing is more dangerous than a bored army.) Stretching 73 miles coast to coast across the narrowest stretch of northern England, it was built and defended by nearly 20,000 troops. Not just a wall, this was a military complex that included forts, ditches, settlements, and a road on the south side. At every mile of the wall, a castle guards a gate, and two turrets stand between each castle. The mile castles are numbered. (Eighty of them cover the 73 miles, because a Roman mile was slightly shorter than our mile.)”

A rural highway parallels the wall for much of its length through the countryside of Northumberland. We followed this path, enjoying the beautiful scenery. We even did a double-take at the sight of a Roman soldier walking alongside the road, laughing at ourselves when we realized it was likely a local person on their way to work at one of the Roman tourist sites, such as Vindolanda. 

We stopped off at the well-preserved Housesteads Roman Fort east of Haltwhistle. Excavations there have revealed granaries, a commandant’s house, military headquarters, a hospital, baths, latrines and barracks. It also houses a tiny museum with a model replica of what the fort would have looked like during its Roman occupation. Built right up against the best-preserved segment of Hadrian’s Wall, Housesteads is an amazing sight, and coupled with its powerful scenery, a must-see for visitors to Britain, particularly if you have any interest in history. Despite the tiring uphill walk from the parking lot, my husband and I were in particularly high-spirits at this sight, taking pictures of each other on Hadrian’s Wall posing like Roman legionaries (though, I look more like Peter Pan). Sheep from the fields stretching the area wander the site, grazing on the grass. And in case you’re wondering, they do respond to the chant, “Bah, ram, ewe,” from the movie Babe, however, in my case, the sheep stopped to stare at me and then ran away, adding a goofy, little jump to his retreat.  

Upon leaving Housesteads, we continued west for a short distance to the Sycamore Gap. The symmetrical tree standing in a little roller-coaster gap of the wall is often called the “Robin Hood Tree,” due to its appearance in the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991.