Hadrian's Wall, Part Two

The night we stayed in Northumbria visiting Hadrian's Wall, we booked a room at a pub. I always imagined a room in a pub would be a very rustic affair, similar to Hobbits sleeping on fresh rushes scattered on the floor as rowdy crowd downstairs get louder and louder as the night wears on. Turns out this isn't the case in 2014... And you know, not in middle earth.

Our quaint little pub was in a tiny village called Talkin. We arrived around 5:00pm and had a pint (half pint for the half pint!) before the barkeep showed us to our room. The bar was pretty empty, but the barkeep suggested we put our name in for dinner, which we did. Our room was actually a purpose-built building behind the bar and probably only dated back to the '70s - quite modern for England! The room was very big, had a sofa, fireplace, and all the amenities you could ask for. When we returned to the bar for dinner, the place was PACKED! We were sure glad we put our name in for a table, as I think the whole village came out for Saturday dinner. And the food was delicious: haggis in Drambouie sauce (starter), lamb chump (chop/rump cut) in minted gravy for bill and a parsnip, carrot, and chestnut bake for me. To finish it all off we split a sticky toffee pudding and waddled back to our room behind the pub. 

Hadrian's Wall

After a full English breakfast and finding a treacherous bit of black ice in the car park the next morning, we were off to visit more of Hadrian's wall. We first stopped at a Roman Military Museum and learned all about the life and times of the Roman army. For some reason I never realized that it was composed of people from conquered lands all over the globe - if you joined the roman military you could retire after 25 years of service, become a Roman citizen, marry the local woman you've "united" with and your kids would be legitimized. Thus, the Romanization of Britain (and many other countries).

The last Roman fort we visited, Birdoswald, was very similar to Housteads - a small fort along the wall. The best thing about this fort is that the car park is very near Hadrian's Wall so we didn't have to hike over various hills to view and walk the wall. 

Ravine behind Birdoswald Fort

Behind the Birdoswald Fort is a huge ravine. The day was cold but clear, so we walked out and took a few shots of the ravine and river far below. 

Bill roaming the countryside

And there were sheep. Lots and lots of cute sheep. 

Baaaa!!!