Our first good look at the wall.
No sooner did we walk into Old Repeater Station after that adventurous taxi ride than did Les shoo us off, "I suppose you want to go look at the wall."
He gave us directions, which involved a traipsing across the property of these folks to get to the public access trail that cut through their property...
The trail ran along the back of the house. We couldn't help but feel that we were trespassing.
This small patch of woods even had a name: Sewingshields Woods (everything in the United Kingdom has a name). I should follow this tradition of naming and name the string of trees we have along the back of our property.
There were no fences or other obstructions to keep people away. Just a tacit understanding to respect the remains.
Sewingshields milecastle, a typical outpost along the wall that would have housed a small group of Roman soldiers.
The land falls away on the other side of the wall. You can see why the Romans chose to build the wall on this particular spot at the edge of the empire. It was a great natural defense against those crazy barbarian Scotsmen. (I'm married to one, by the way).
Sewingshields Turret, which was once a small tower that soldiers could use for surveying the land at a distance around them.
There were sheep everywhere, rubbing their behinds against the 2000 year old remains. What is it like to have a farm with such tangible history wrapped up in the land?
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