Following on the Saturday S and I driving around the coast and the Scottish border, it was off to see the Roman ruins of the area, tracking through a lot of back country to get to various view points. The best site was the view point of Hadrian's Wall from Housestead's fort. We once again had incredible weather.
After a short hike and wander around the fort, we made it up to the view point to see Hadrian's wall stretching out in both directions. I can understand why the Roman's thought it necessary to build the "Great Wall" of the UK...keep those crazy Scots away! Not a shabby location.
And now the wall stretching in the other direction. We actually walked on the wall itself, which had some snow and ice on it. The best treacherous walk I can say I've done.
View of the walk up to the fort and the wall view point. Just gorgeous (and cold).
Then it was off to the ruins at Vindolanda to see the Roman fort and the excavations going on at the site. The museum was great; showed a lot of the artifacts they have found there, including shoes! Tons of Roman shoes...I'm not sure how they stayed warm in those sandals. A beautiful little creek ran near the museum.
After the great weather we had at Housesteads, we watched the fog roll in quickly to Vindolanda. It made for a spooky scene with the snow and fog mixing.
After that, it wouldn't be a trip to Newcastle without a footie match (my second Newcastle match). This time versus Stoke City and a 1-1 draw (in the last part of the game, Stoke neutralised it). Little did we know at the time it was probably close to the beginning of the downward spiral for the Magpies!
Crowd was a little more into it than the game versus Crystal Palace, but not much more. Mid table and just after losing the manager didn't help....but I can now say I've seen a very exciting Newcastle match...more on that to come.
We flew back that night on BA and for once, I didn't have to go through passport control. Even showed my Texas DL to get on the flight!
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