Vindolanda

Vindolanda is a privately owned Roman site on Hadrian's Wall. Excavations have been ongoing for many years and lots of finds and discoveries have been made. It's quite an extensive site and includes a reconstruction of a Gatehouse which gives you an appreciation of the actual size.
It also has a small museum and a nice cafe. Well worth a visit.

https://www.vindolanda.com

/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda

https://hadrianswallcountry.co.uk/visit/roman-vindolanda

Northumberland

Last week, we had a lovely quiet 7 days in Northumberland.

We stayed in the little town of Haltwhistle which claims to be the geographical centre of the UK. Strikes me that would be a good place to locate the UK Government. Being as it is at present in London, the further north you go from Birmingham, the more remote do people feel from Parliament and Legislation. London is a different Country as far as the rest of the UK feels.

I digress.

Haltwhistle is very close to Hadrian's Wall. The Wall is just about a mile from the town.

As you probably know, the Romans invaded Britain and conquered and settled in England and Wales. Scotland was never part of the Empire, though there was a Roman presence in Scotland and forts do exist. And there is a Wall. The Antonine Wall. Unlike Hadrian's Wall, it was an earthen wall with a ditch in front of it.

Hadrian built the wall to keep the Barbarians from the North out of the Empire. The Picts were  a fierce race. And Scotland was also lacking in natural resources. So it probably did not make economic sense to try and occupy and control this wild land and its wild people.

Hadrian's Wall runs from Carlisle to Newcastle. There were mile forts along the wall, with larger Forts every 10 miles or so, and a road that ran behind the forts making movement of goods and people simple and rapid.

And even almost 2000 years after its construction, the Wall still exists. Its quite something to see it stretch across the landscape, climbing hills and dropping into valleys. It is no longer the height it once was. Much of the wall was quarried after the Romans left, and farming has rubbed out some stretches. But it was an amazing feat of engineering and still draws thousands of visitors every year, and hikers who walk the length of the Wall.

https://hadrianswallcountry.co.uk/

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall/

Blogging

Have not added to this for a while so time to restart.
 a few photos to begin with.

Arrochar February 2018

We took advantage of a special offer at the Claymore Hotel in Arrochar last week.
We had 5 lovely days away, and visited Dunoon, Rothesay, Inverary and Oban. The weather was quite magnificent for most of the days, and gave lots of opportunities for good photographs.
Here are some general shots taken over the 5 days.