Hadrian's Wall

My mother was an avid reader, and an amateur student of history. As a result, many of the books I read in my early years were suggestions of hers. By the time I was 11 or 12, I had read so much about the Roman history of Britain, that I began "planning" the recent trip I took.

Hadrian's Wall was a definite goal, really the primary one. the previous day, I had explored the archeological fort site at Vindolanda, but still had not feasted my eyes upon the wall itself. Up early and right after breakfast in another youth hostel, following the brown road signs, tootling along narrow hilly tracks, and here it is!!! Stretching across what one interpretive sign I read called in some Roman general's words, "....the last outpost of the civilized world." (With apologies to all the fine folk who now live north of this wall, of course!)