Hadrian’s Wall is a stone wall built by the Roman army in 122 AD while Hadrian was ruling the empire.  It spans the entire width of Northern England, an impressive seventy-three miles, and marks the northern boundary of the Roman Empire on the Island.  Hadrian’s Wall today is only a fraction of the size it was originally because stones were taken from it over the years to build local roads and farmhouses long before it became protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  

I had not heard of Hadrian’s Wall until we started planning our trip.  My history education growing up was lacking in significant ways and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning alongside my children while homeschooling them.  Even though I knew the Roman Empire spread into England, I did not have an appreciation or understanding of how much Roman life and culture there was in England in the first few centuries after Christ came to the world.  

Because it stretches the whole width of northern England, there are lots of places where one can see its remains.  On Saturday, August 19th Scott, Abe, Arlie and I took a train to Haltwhistle from Carlisle.  Once in Haltwhistle, we chose to walk to the wall rather than take a bus.  It was a beautiful day and we didn’t need to hurry, so we thought, why not?  We stopped in town to grab some food for a picnic and browse at a second-hand store.  At the later stop, Scott decided to verify his directions with a store clerk, who was very friendly, but gave directions that as my dad would say were “as clear as mud.” Keep in mind, we were in northern England where peoples’ accents are thick and sound close to what I previously thought of as Scottish.  We did not get most of what she said, but we did understand there was a beautiful stream, to “stay beside the ‘berm’” and “keep going up and up and you’ll get there.”

Here lies the beginning of our “Good Story.”  My friend Kim, who is gentler and wiser than I, shared something with me a few years ago that has helped me tremendously.  She said that when she was growing up and something was difficult, unpleasant or turning out differently than they expected her late mother, who was a journalist, would say, “this is going to be a good story.”  Kim said this outlook helped her see whatever was going on differently – instead of judging it as bad or terrible that something was hard or going wrong, she would see it as something to work through and then be able to tell a good story about it afterwards.  I loved that outlook and have tried to apply it since.  

We set off through town towards the natural area to find the path that goes “beside the ‘berm’” – which we know to be a bank of land on a hillside.  We did not know that in England, they call large streams “burns.”  We soon found the natural area, crossed the lovely stream and headed on a path that went uphill, just like she told us, all the while looking for the “berm.”  We followed the path up to a fork, forked right because it was going up and took it until we reached a fence by a horse pasture.  We went into the horse pasture, observing the horse on the other side of the field and kept “going up.”  

We followed that path all the way to another fence and climbed over so we could “keep going up.”  At this point, the path becomes soupy and hard to follow.  I said to Scott, “This can’t be right” and suggested going back into the horse pasture, which we did and followed along a rock wall that formed it’s northern border.  Our thought was, let’s get back to that lovely stream – we were starting to assume we’d misunderstood its role in the directions.  We soon came to a place where the wall we were following intersected with another rock wall and decided we should climb over the it to head down to the stream.  For some reason, it never occurred to us to go back the way we came and follow the other fork and to see if it took us beside the stream.  I think this is why my dad often says, “they don’t know the meaning of the words ‘back up’” 

Anyhow, when we got over the wall, we found ourselves at the top of a cliff and in a forest thick with undergrowth.  We could see people walking on a nice, smooth and wide path about thirty to forty feet below and decided that’s where we needed to be.    The only way down seemed to be to climb carefully down so we began what ended up being a perilous and difficult journey down to the path.  Scott and I each found different ways down using rocks and holding on to tree branches and turned to help Abe and Arlie.  Abe was skeptical and careful; Arlie was TERRIFIED.  Remembering Kim’s outlook, I assured her that we were going to get through this and it was going to be a good story to tell.  That climb really stretched and challenged her; she had to trust Scott to help her and got down safely.  The rest of our journey seemed like a piece of cake after that.   

You may find it ironic that from the nice, smooth and wide path below we saw that had we gone a little ways in either direction in the woods above, we would have come across paths that led down to the path.  Of course, we could not see any of that from where we were because of the trees and plant growth around us.  Once we were down on the path by the lovely, large stream (otherwise known as a ‘burn’), we had a nice and easy mile and a half or so walk up to the wall at a place called Mile Castle where we were delighted to find a lovely pub and inn with a tasty sounding menu, clean loos and cold cider.   We rested, enjoyed the view and decided to reward our hard work by ordering lunch instead of eating our picnic (well, except the chocolate cake:).

Hadrian’s Wall was just what you think a ruined wall would be.  We walked over to the national park, looked around a bit and took pictures.  It was VERY WINDY up at the wall and brought back memories of our trip to the Great Wall of China.  Scott and I also have a great story from that day.  The return walk was uneventful, but lovely.  The English countryside really is beautiful and I think is best appreciated from a path, although the views from trains and buses are lovely too.

If you find yourself having a day that’s not going as planned or is full of unfortunate events, may Kim’s family motto help you reframe your mindset and remind you that a life that goes just as you expect is actually quite dull and therefore not very adventurous or fun.