The Roman Empire covered a fair chunk of the known world. Often hot, sunny places, well they did like a glass of wine and the occasional olive. But for some reason they headed over here as well, to the British Isles. A land not really known for its vineyards and Sun. But they persevered and probably started to invent things like scarfs, fleece tops, thermal underwear, woolly hats and Gortex jackets . At one stage our local city became the unofficial capital of the Empire as Constantine was proclaimed Emperor here. But as they edged further north the penny must have started to drop. What were we thinking of. Eventually they hit Northumberland and decided sod this for a lark. A giant wall was built across the country to mark the official northern boundary of the empire. The rest of Northern England and Scotland deemed too cold, too wet, with too many hooligans and way too many bagpipes to bother with.

Ok my O-Level History might be a tad rusty and unreliable these days….

A few days back we headed towards the edge of the old empire. To the nearly 2000 year old ruins of a huge Roman fort and town.

Then on to Hadrians Wall.

Once 6m tall and heavily defended. With the remoteness, the grim weather, you can see why it was the inspiration for The Wall in The Game of Thrones.