........by R. Holyoak, and what a day we have all had. The idea by Richard to skip Skiddaw and venture to the Vindolanda Roman fort was very much worth it.
After about 2 mile walk to the fort with a short cut across a footpath that was supposidly there we were all taken back by how good it was presented......and that was just the reception.
Walking through to the fort we were left speechless at the magnitude of the fort and what had been excavated over the last 40 years. It was only a few hundred yards before we got to the archaeologists excavating new ground and we stood in awe of new discoveries being made and what these discoveries could lead to. They say that to expose everything they need to carry on digging for at least the next 200 years which gives you an idea of the scale it once was.
We carried on down to where they had made a replica of what Hadrians wall would have looked like with a turret. We climbed up to the top and you could get an idea of what the centurians would have experienced.
We sauntered down to the museum and cafe leaving Richard exploring the fort......he was like a kid in a sweet shop with unlimited funds!
The setting of the musuem/cafe was surrounded by exquisite scenery and with sun shining through made it a fantastic area to sit and have a can of pop before going to the museum to gorp at some more Roman History.
There was so much to see it probably took an hour to get round the whole museum inc a video on tablets that were still preserved and handwriting visible all in latin.....it sent shivers down your spine.
We saw a picture of Emperor Claudius who funnily enough looked remerkably a lot like Paul.
After the museum we sat and had some lunch with the main debate being about a small piece of material and whether it was green or blue! This provoked Richard to go onto the details of colour blindness and what fraction of segments etc etc etc.......... At this point Russ asked round for a gun.
We then cracked on to the fort with Richard our tour guide and history teacher for the day and seriously you could have spent hours there as the fort was full of interesting carvings and engineering that was beyond belief. It is again hard to put into words everything we came across and is definitely a place to visit because you certainly get value for your £6.25 entrance fee.
The day finished off with a double scoop of northumberland ice cream before we set off back to prepare for tomorrows walk.
If i've missed anything out I do apologise but i'm sure Russ will fill in the blanks :-)
Happy reading and enjoy some of the pics from today
It sounds as if a thoroughly good time was had by all:)
ReplyDeletexxxxxx H
Can another member of the Saga Six perhaps clarify that Andrew wasn't drunk when he wrote this blog? My suspicion comes from him saying that a) Holyoak was the tour guide and b) He could have stayed there all day!!!! :-D You must have had a laugh though :-)
ReplyDeleteKnow what the best bit was? I said something along the same lines as Russ' comment about the gun before I read it :-D Aw sorry Holyoak, you do make me smile! Perhaps a career change is on the cards...?
Love Becky xxxxxx
Would love to see a picture of the Emperor (Claudius not Paul) for comparison, although I can imagine it as he played a very convincing Roman in JCS.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had such an interesting day. Richard will be talking about it in his sleep no doubt!!
Have a great day tomorrow.
Kate
xxxxxx