In the footsteps of the Legions...

The Romans called the city of Chester Deva. Back in their day it was an outpost in the wild north of the country, sandwiched between the marauding Northern tribes and the Welsh in the south. The fortifications around the city, including the walls are largely intact. It gives you a strange frisson to walk those walls.
Speaking of walls I've also walked a little of Hadrians Wall in Northumberland (north east England) It's pretty muc in ruins now but you can only marvel at the achievement. Every stone, every baulk of timber, every bucket of mortar was hauled up steep hills by what must have been very pissed off Gaulish and Syrian auxilliaries. How those guys coped with the bleak climate of Northumberland makes me smile. What a posting!