Mostly Hadrian's Wall
So, a few days after arriving back from France, we made a quick trip to Bristol to visit Louise's family there, followed by a passing glance at Cardiff in the south of Wales. The next day, she and I shot off to Newcastle, which is clear across the country, almost at the Scottish border. It was also the first time that I was released as driver-in-command upon the roads of Britain. Now, you make think that the roads get busy in Alberta at certain times of the day, and I certainly won't deny that. But, you have never driven in traffic until you've driven in British traffic at 80 miles an hour with what seem like peak-hour traffic volumes. It doesn't really matter what time of the day it is, there are always lots of cars getting people everywhere. Not only are there are lots of cars, they are all going very fast. Anyway, the reason for the cross-country voyage was because one of her good friends was getting married and the ceremony and ceilidh (something like a barn dance) was set in an old country house (above left) in the fields near a town called Matfen, ouside of Newcastle.
Because I was a bit of a latecomer, there wasn't enough room for me at the ceremony and dinner, so I went on a little tour while Louise was enjoying the wedding. It just so happens that the ruins of Hadrian's Wall (right) are in this part of England. Hadrian's Wall was built about 2000 years ago by the Romans and mark the furtherest north that their empire got. Emperor Hadrian came for a tour, so to speak, and found that the northern frontier of the (to-be) British Isles were inhabited by the rather fierce predecessors of modern-day Scots, the Picts. Hoping to keep them out of Roman Britain and to preserve whatever peace there was to be had in that part of the Empire, the Celts were assimilated, the Picts were excluded, and 80 (Roman) miles of wall were built from east coast to west coast. There were guard fortress-turrets (big enough for 12 soldiers) built at Roman-mile intervals, with two equally spaced smaller turrets between each mile turret. A ditch was dug on the north side of the wall so that attacking Picts would always be forced to fight upward. There was also a series of forts built later to house cavalry regiments and house the bulk of the 10000 soldiers garrisoning the wall. It just so happens that one of these forts was around the corner.
Chester's Roman Fort was built to house 8 regiments of calvary and the original Roman roads and aqueduct entrances and exits are preserved. There is also a spectacularly preserved bath house down near the river the ran north-south on the east side of the fort. Those of you with in-floor heating will be pleased to know that the commandant's house and the bath house both had it, 2000 years ago.The sophistication of the latrine is probably typically Roman. It was placed nearest the river, so that the flow of fresh water from the aqueducts passed all the way through the fort first, coming out in the bath house and passing through an extravagant latrine setup on it's final passage to the river.
After all this touring, and after getting soaked in the rain, I rejoined Louise at the wedding. The rest of the evening was danced away at a ceilidh, which is 100% pure fun (I suspect that you all will someday experience one, at which point it will be made clear).
We travelled home the following day and stopped in at the Angel of the North (left), a sculpture that towers over the motorway just south of Newcastle. This is a giant iron man meant to symbolise all sorts of idealism, in the way that most art does. Makes for a good stop (that's Louise in the green jacket at the foot of the angel).The next stop was Durham, which is home to a spectacular cathedral. Durham cathedral has been in continuous use for the last 900 years. The city itself is home to a fairly high calibre university which has taken over the castle next to the cathedral. How would you like to live in student residence, but not just any residence, a castle residence?
That's it for this trip. I'll do my best to organise another one soon! Ciao for niao...
posted by Kyle @ 05:34
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