Vindolanda Roman forts

Our Great British Adventure

April 26, 2018

This is the area where the Roman emperor Hadrian built a wall across England. While lots of it were scavenged by locals to build houses and fences, sections of it still survive, including one quite close to our inn. We headed off to Vindolanda where there is still active archaeological digging occurring on the ruins of a Roman fort. Apparently volunteer positions open in November and get snapped up fast. You have to be keen - there was a subzero wind and sucking mud the day we visited. They make lots of interesting discoveries though, which is an incentive.

The Roman museum was on our way back so we stopped in for a look. They had a strain gauge to test your draw strength against a Syrian archer and Anthony and I tied (somehow!) at 220 yards. Apparently those years of doing archery at Uni are still in my brain somewhere. They also had working models of a couple of types of ballistas that had been reconstructed through reverse engineering the non-wood parts found at Vindolanda.

As the evening progressed it became clear I was coming down with Anthony's cold:(