In Roman footsteps
Wish Hadrian a happy birthday with a walk along his wall…
ON THIS DAY in 76AD, Publius Aelius Hadrianus is born in a village near modern-day Seville. Within a year, he has fenced off part of his nursery with a line of chestnuts, and it gives him an idea. OK, that bit about the chestnuts is a lie, but something sets him on a highly constructive course: in 117AD he becomes Emperor of Rome, and in 122AD, the single most famous wall-builder of all time.
Concerned that his empire is overstretched, Hadrian decides to scale the whole thing back and focus on the areas he really wants. On the island of Britannia, that means a wall, running for 73 miles from the Solway Firth to the mouth of the Tyne. The wall serves as the Roman frontier for 300 years on and off, and goes through several revisions. And today, 1900 years later, big chunks of it still stand, and you can walk its length on the Hadrian’s Wall Path. The middle bit, between Greenhead and Chollerford, is the very best, for it’s here the barricade traces the natural fault of the Whin Sill, yielding views like this one. Walk it this year (details at nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrianswall), and marvel at what two legions and a bit of administrative bloody-mindedness can accomplish.
{ “Walk it this year, and marvel at what two legions and a bit of administrative bloody-mindedness can accomplish.”