Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Hadrian's Wall: Birdoswald

After camping at the holiday park at Strathclyde, we finally left Scotland the next day, humming "Scotland the Brave" triumphantly as we entered Cumbria. We loved Scotland, and it is certainly one of the places to which we shall return. Especially when they get the weather fixed.

Once in Cumbria, we turned east into Northumberland and another one of those sites one always hopes to see one day, Hadrian's Wall. We toured the remains of the fort at Birdoswald, then camped there for the evening.
“All quiet on the northern front,” observes Centurion Marcus, “no barbarian Scots 
nor Picts in sight. They must all be up in the Highlands, flinging or tossing their 
cabers or hunting haggis. Damn them. Perhaps I should transfer back to the eastern 
front. Dacean weather is sunny and warm, the Danube girls are fair, the Bulgar 
food is great. And Alaric the Goth's emissaries have made peaceful overtures to 
the Emperor, I hear.”







Model of the fort as it would have appeared in 3rd century AD











The granary








South entrance

The Wall, looking east toward the Caulfield Crags






















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