On Sunday last Carolyn, James, Kelsey and myself drove out to Vindolanda, the Roman fort ruins that are in a state of ongoing excavation. The fort was occupied for 400 years and the excavation has revealed so much about the daily life of the Roman soldiers and their families, especially after a pile of partially burned wooden tablets was uncovered. These small tablets contain notes, letters and shopping lists – everyday communications. It was a glorious sunny day, but quite cold. We meandered through the ruins, then through the excellent museum and finally settled in the cafe before heading out for the hike.

From Vindolanda we hiked up to Hadrian’s wall that was built and defended by the soldiers from the fort. The wall is an impressive 80 miles in length and quite well preserved in this location. I found myself thinking a lot about the 2000 year old landscape and the life of the soldiers. The soldiers were identified by names such as the ‘Fourth cohort of Gauls’ or the ‘Second Cohort of Nervians’ indicating the way that Rome recruited nationals of the different countries under Roman rule. It was all fascinating. If you are at all interested in learning more, check out these websites: http://www.vindolanda.com/ and http://www.vindolanda.com/roman-army-museum.

We walked beside Hadrian’s Wall, stopped for a picnic lunch, and when it was time to head back before the sun went down, diverted onto the Pennine Way which was rather boggy and waterlogged in places. The pictures give some idea of the landscape and the wall. The lone tree is in Sycamore Pass. When the tree dies a new one is planted.

A group of us from the NGC have decided to get into shape by hiking this spring. Next weekend may be a bit too snowy, but you never know – its only Wednesday!