My planned accommodation in Greenhead had been flooded and instead I stayed in nearby Gilsland. Unusually I was not the only guest. Bob, an autoharp player en route to a gathering of coreligionists in Dumfries, had been stranded with car trouble. We had dinner together in the village and he explained that he had taught chemistry for many years, then taken up drawing before arthritis set in so that the autoharp was his third career. When we returned to Bush Nook, I was amused to see that he tuned this ancient instrument with the assistance of an iPad. He played some Irish tunes including "Gentle Maiden" before we were interrupted by a summons to see Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, win the 200m sprint. Considering the length of the event and the price of tickets, it must also be the fastest way to spend money, outranking even the hourly cost of PwC partners. More events followed but after watching the women's taekwondo and boxing I was getting impatient for the bear baiting and cock fighting.
The walk from Greenhead to Once Brewed follows part of Hadrian's Wall, where the best remains and some restored sections are to be found. In many places, the wall surmounts lofty crags, enhancing the fortification value but increasing the effort required to construct it - and to walk it. The wall is an impressive edifice, but its ultimate failure and the fact that walls are still viewed as solutions in places as diverse as Berlin and Israel makes one wonder how much civilisation has progressed over the intervening 2000 years. Much of the wall has been scavenged over the centuries for buildings such as Thirlwall Castle, now in ruins and pictured below.
My second rest day was in Once Brewed. Although I didn't feel I needed it, the preceding two days having been relatively short, it provided an opportunity to visit Vindolanda, a Roman fort and village. Nine different settlements have been detected at the site, the earlier wooden ones which predate Hadrian's Wall having been built over by later stone structures. One of the consequences is that wooden writing tablets from the earlier periods have been well-preserved in the anaerobic environment created by the clay foundations of the later buildings. These tablets, considered the most valuable objects in the British Museum, give exquisite insights into the lives of the soldiers in the fort and the residents of the village which supported the garrison, ranging from birthday invitations to requests for more beer. Among the other artifacts displayed in the museum, I particularly liked the leather shoes, in many cases intricately patterned and reinforced with stone studs. All had completely flat soles which made me wonder when the idea of heels was invented. The excavations have been progressing for forty years and it is estimated that the site will continue to yield up its secrets for another two hundred years. So the relics of the past represent the employment of the future.
© David Thompson 2012
The walk from Greenhead to Once Brewed follows part of Hadrian's Wall, where the best remains and some restored sections are to be found. In many places, the wall surmounts lofty crags, enhancing the fortification value but increasing the effort required to construct it - and to walk it. The wall is an impressive edifice, but its ultimate failure and the fact that walls are still viewed as solutions in places as diverse as Berlin and Israel makes one wonder how much civilisation has progressed over the intervening 2000 years. Much of the wall has been scavenged over the centuries for buildings such as Thirlwall Castle, now in ruins and pictured below.
My second rest day was in Once Brewed. Although I didn't feel I needed it, the preceding two days having been relatively short, it provided an opportunity to visit Vindolanda, a Roman fort and village. Nine different settlements have been detected at the site, the earlier wooden ones which predate Hadrian's Wall having been built over by later stone structures. One of the consequences is that wooden writing tablets from the earlier periods have been well-preserved in the anaerobic environment created by the clay foundations of the later buildings. These tablets, considered the most valuable objects in the British Museum, give exquisite insights into the lives of the soldiers in the fort and the residents of the village which supported the garrison, ranging from birthday invitations to requests for more beer. Among the other artifacts displayed in the museum, I particularly liked the leather shoes, in many cases intricately patterned and reinforced with stone studs. All had completely flat soles which made me wonder when the idea of heels was invented. The excavations have been progressing for forty years and it is estimated that the site will continue to yield up its secrets for another two hundred years. So the relics of the past represent the employment of the future.
© David Thompson 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment