Hadrians Wall - Friday 3 Jul

We left Edinburgh early this day to avoid expected traffic congestion because of a Regimental March down High Street. We were on our way nice;y whenour GPSA announced a recalculation because of traffic conditions. It then sent us around in a large triangle returning to where we started the deviation and was wanting to send us around again. It was most definitely time to simply follow the highway numbers.
Anyway we soon made it to Hadrians Wall ardea where we saw some great scenary and visited the remains of three Roman settlements. The first of these was Chesters Fort which was, originally at least, a cavalry fort built beside a roman bridge which was both a span across the Tyne River and part of Hadrians Wall. The are claims that the fort was built to protect the bridge but cavalry would not be used for such a purpose. The photo here is of the remains of the bath house next to the Tyne.
The next was the Housesteads Fort, an infantry fort, perched on top of a hill which, with towers, must have provided great 360 degree views of the locality. It was a big climb for each of us to get up there and, once we made it, the rain started. Still, we got to see everything and got back to the car getting just a little damp before the rain got to be too heavy. It too is built on Hadrians Wall. The photo here is of one of the granaries in the fort.
It was then onto Vindolanda. This settlement actually predated Hadrians Wall but came to form part of it. It is very large and includes a succession of forts including early wooden ones and civilian premises outside the forts. Much excavation has been done but there remains even more archaeological work to be undertaken. The photo here is of a roadway paved with very large flat stones.
We spent the night at a converted "gun lodge" and their were four other guests there all training their retriever dogs for competitions.