England - Hadrian’s Wall

Said goodbye to Scotland and headed back to England. We want to be within 3 hours of Gatwick tonight. Our flight is the next day at 4:20, so three hours should put us close enough to get to the airport without having to get up early. Birmingham fits the bill, so we have time for a little sightseeing today.

Roman Emporer Hadrian had built a wall across the north part of England from shore to shore to keep invaders from the north out. It is mostly ruins now, but we wanted to see it. WE did not have a lot of time, so we exited off at Brampton.

Banks East Turret was an observation tower along the wall. We stopped here and had a light lunch sitting on the wall. The area is surrounded by farm country, but there is a hiking trail that follows the entire length of the wall. There were quite a few hikers that walked past us as we lunched.

We drove further down to Birdoswald Roman Fort (also ruins). But this fort part of the English Heritage Foundation. There was an entrance fee to see the ruins. We went in an walked around the ruins and learned about all the different parts of the fort. It was very interesting.

On our way out, we got stuck by a traffic jam of cows on the road.

We found a Courtyard Marriott near Birmingham and stayed there for the night. It was a nice room and we were able to pack our bags for the flight the next day.