We are getting closer to Scotland, and you can sure tell it by the stronger British/Scottish accents. After leaving camp, we headed north and our first stop for the day is going to be “Hadrian’s Wall”… Built by the Romans and their slaves, at Emperor Hadrian’s order in AD 122. Hadrian’s Wall marked the northern boundary of their empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, and was their most impressive engineering achievement in Northern Europe. Hadrian’s Wall covers over 73 miles and still stands on average 6 feet of the original 10 feet in height. Also along with towers, complete settlements followed the wall. For the infantry men who were to man the wall, come summer to winter, it can get very cold here. Today, the first week of May, and the rains have continued and the winds are blowing cold. Just think of the wind and snow together…it must have been really tough. Just as we arrived, the rain let up to a light drizzle and the wind was mild. Once we parked “Bumble Bee”, we had a walk of just over a half a mile to the wall. This walk took us through gated fences that kept the sheep and their new (twins) baby lambs in the “bright green” grass pastures. Our trail was down a hill and then up the other side to the wall. This section that we stopped at, was once a complete settlement for the Roman military. The foundations of most of their buildings were still there, and of course the wall. It was really amazing, because once you were at the top and looking down into the hills and dale on the Scotland side, and then with your eyes, follow the walls east and west until they went out of site in the far off distance…it was really a physical and engineering feat. Well, we had better get on the road. We haven’t decided were we will settle for the night yet, but we want to follow the “coast road” as much as we can, and it is only 2 in the afternoon. We had to back track for about 30 miles to get back to the coast (North Sea), and then make a left turn and follow the water….sounds easy???…guess again !!! I really don’t remember anytime that we had more wrong turns, mis-directed by signs and maps, and road just ending than we had today. IT WAS HELL!! I won’t go into all the trials that we went through, but we finally said enough was enough and headed for “A-1”…the mail highway…the one that IS the most traveled…ANYTHING that will take us out of our misery. When we finally pulled into a campground in a driving rain and wind storm, we really weren’t good company for each other (or anyone else, I’m sure…). WE DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT !!!
3 May ’05, Tuesday.
We are getting closer to Scotland, and you can sure tell it by the stronger British/Scottish accents. After leaving camp, we headed north and our first stop for the day is going to be “Hadrian’s Wall”… Built by the Romans and their slaves, at Emperor Hadrian’s order in AD 122. Hadrian’s Wall marked the northern boundary of their empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, and was their most impressive engineering achievement in Northern Europe. Hadrian’s Wall covers over 73 miles and still stands on average 6 feet of the original 10 feet in height. Also along with towers, complete settlements followed the wall. For the infantry men who were to man the wall, come summer to winter, it can get very cold here. Today, the first week of May, and the rains have continued and the winds are blowing cold. Just think of the wind and snow together…it must have been really tough. Just as we arrived, the rain let up to a light drizzle and the wind was mild. Once we parked “Bumble Bee”, we had a walk of just over a half a mile to the wall. This walk took us through gated fences that kept the sheep and their new (twins) baby lambs in the “bright green” grass pastures. Our trail was down a hill and then up the other side to the wall. This section that we stopped at, was once a complete settlement for the Roman military. The foundations of most of their buildings were still there, and of course the wall. It was really amazing, because once you were at the top and looking down into the hills and dale on the Scotland side, and then with your eyes, follow the walls east and west until they went out of site in the far off distance…it was really a physical and engineering feat. Well, we had better get on the road. We haven’t decided were we will settle for the night yet, but we want to follow the “coast road” as much as we can, and it is only 2 in the afternoon. We had to back track for about 30 miles to get back to the coast (North Sea), and then make a left turn and follow the water….sounds easy???…guess again !!! I really don’t remember anytime that we had more wrong turns, mis-directed by signs and maps, and road just ending than we had today. IT WAS HELL!! I won’t go into all the trials that we went through, but we finally said enough was enough and headed for “A-1”…the mail highway…the one that IS the most traveled…ANYTHING that will take us out of our misery. When we finally pulled into a campground in a driving rain and wind storm, we really weren’t good company for each other (or anyone else, I’m sure…). WE DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT !!!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
*Locations*
All
*Archives*
November 2016
|