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Northumberland


Many have said that Northumberland is beautiful and quietly exceeds one's expectations. Our three highlights were Hadrians Wall, the village of Lindisfarne on Holy Island and the town of Berwick Upon Tweed.

We weren't disappointed. 
Hadrian's Wall


From County Durham we drove to Hadrian's Wall. Construction of the wall began in 122AD after the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited his northern most boundaries to see how they could be better defended from the Celts. The wall traverses the country along one of the highest ridgelines at the easiest point to defend ie where the country is narrowest.


We had visited roman ruins in northern Bavaria near Wurzburg. These too delineate the reach of Empire, so our expectations were somewhat similar. The ruins in Germany have not been as well preserved as those at Hadrian's Wall.  There you can see outlines of buildings and walls, but in the UK the ruins are much more evident.  At Hadrian's Wall, the wall in places remains to be metres high and up to 3 metres thick. There are a number of forts along the wall where troops were housed. The wall is approx. 115km long and there were sentry posts every 800m.  


Lindisfarne


Lindisfarne is a village on Holy Island. Holy island is small island on the far north-east coast of England. It is a beautiful raw windswept and harsh environment that teems with marine and bird life.  

The sea around it has massive 5.3m tides resulting in a vast intertidal zone. Thick grass covers the highest metre of this zone, something we have never seen before. Access to the island is only at low tide via a cause way.




The island derives its name from the priory established there in the 7th Century by St Aidan. The priory was sacked by the Vikings in the 9th Century, then rebuilt in 1150 only to be destroyed again by Henry VIII during the reformation.




Around the time the priory was destroyed Henry VIII ordered the building of a fortification on the island to defend it from the Scots. This small fort on a rocky outcrop is now the islands other main attraction, Lindisfarne Castle.    

Berwick Upon Tweed

Back on the main land we headed to Berwick Upon Tweed, a pretty border town with a history of exporting grain. It has a number of bridges. The highest and longest is the 1850 built rail bridge (aka Cross Border Rail Bridge) which spans 660m across the Tweed River and valley.


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