When we left Gatehouse, we decided to go a little past our route south to take in a bit of Hadrian’s Wall. We had not seen it before, and were eager to see one more masterpiece of Roman engineering. We got to the Roman fort just south of the great archeaological site Vindolanda. The museum there was very good, and we got an overview and history of the wall. Then we drove out to the Vindolanda site, which is amazing. It has been an active archeaological site since 1970, and it was actually started in the early 1800's. They have uncovered countless valuable clues to Roman life and the life of the military in Roman Britain. We wandered through bath houses and latrines, houses and grain storage facilities. We saw temples to Roman gods and Christian churches. You cannot go anywhere in Europe without bumping into Roman water and waste systems, and Vindolanda is no exception. Stone pipelines everywhere. It was a grey and rainy day, but the brilliant sun of the Roman Empire shone brightly.
We left Vindolanda and went briefly to Haltwhistle, the geographic center of Britain and a central place on the wall. After that we headed south on our original planned journey. We are now on our way to find some Winder relations. Another genealogy day coming up!
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