Hadrians' Wall - First Impressions

Here are the first pics of what my father jokingly called 'lots of photos of stones and sheep'. *grin* There were indeed some sheep grazing among the ruins in several places.

View towards the remains of Vercovicium (Housesteads)
I didn't play with the colours, the grass is so green. And the weather wasn't so bad most of the time; the afternoon I visited Housesteads was the only one with rain. I often got some real sunshine.

Cilurnum (Chesters), bath house at the river Tyne
On a sunless day with low clouds the wall could look quite threatening, though. Imagine those walls at their original height of about 4 metres and imagine you're some tribal warrior with no armour and only a spear.

The Wall near Birdoswald, seen from the northern side
Sometimes the air was a bit hazy despite the sun. I soon realised that was the pefect weather to get a sunburn. In Britain.

Afternoon at Corstopitum (Corbridge), Tyne Valley
A few features have been reconstructed, like the gates in Vindolanda. Vindolanda is not part of the actual wall, but of the earlier Stanegate forts and there was some discussion about the reconstructions.

The reconstructed Wall at Vindolanda - both a stone and an earth and timber part.
Personally, I think it's interesting to see such reconstructed places if it's done well. In Vindolanda, the reconstructed features fit into the entire site, and it's cool to see diggings going on only a few metres from the 'new' wall. It gives you a feeling of history being alive.

Me standing around near the south gate at Cilurnum (Chesters)
A little tidbit of interest: Cilurnum plays a role in Gillian Bradshaw's Island of Ghosts, a novel about the Sarmatian cataphracti auxiliaries in Britain. Cilurnum has never been proven as one of the places where the Sarmatians were stationed, but we can't blame Ms. Bradshaw for this - when she wrote her novel, not much was known about the Sarmatians in Britain at all, and newer discoveries (Sarmatians in Ribchester). The book is an entertaining read, minor problems nonewithstanding.