Walking Hadrian's Wall - Day Seven - Chester's Fort & Around Chollerford

 Today I'd planned to have a slightly easier day, and make sure I spent a bit of time resting my tired body. I knew I was a bit unfit & somewhat overweight, but I didn't think I'd be struggling this much!

The rain was back as well, I'd watched it trickle down the windows in the breakfast room. Luckily I had my waterproof jacket. I don't know what I would have done without it on this trip! Here you can see the haze of drizzle that was wafting over the hills. The sheep weren't bothered though! Nothing ever seems to bother sheep, they just chill in the fields all day. Imagine what it would be like to have a life without stress, only green grass and the occasional walker in your field. Anyway, I was headed for Chester's fort, another one of the large forts along Hadrian's Wall built to keep the Picts out of this side of the wall.

Chester's fort is fantastic, it's been excavated and well displayed, and is incredibly interesting. And on a rainy day, you can even see the Roman drainage system still in operation!

A view of the remains of the barracks & stables. The light grey stone and the lush green grass contrast beautifully don't they? The fort was built not long after Hadrian's wall, and is one of the finest calvary fort remains we have here in the UK.

Here's where it gets' really interesting. Head down towards the baths, you will be in for a treat!

The baths are extraordinary, and really help you get a feel for them. Here is what we would consider the locker room. You would fold up your toga, take off your sandals and store them in the little niches in the wall. They might get nicked of course, but you would save yourself the quid for the locker!

Here is the Caldarium, one of the hottest rooms in the baths, akin to a sauna. You would sit and let the sweat clean the dirt from your body, before going and rubbing your skin with oils to help clean the skin and leave it smelling nicer. A plunge in the cold pool at the end would help finish the process, and you would come out much cleaner than before you went in.

The side of the baths, with the drainage channel running alongside the wall. There's no comparables in modern life to the Roman Baths. There were similar to gyms & swimming pools, but they were also places to socialise, do business deals, and perhaps most interestingly, they were a place to do politics. There were also places to buy food, read scrolls & books, and even to gaze at the art and sculpture on display. People would spend all day there, and with people going frequently, you can safely assume the Romans were a very clean people.

Larger hypocaust under one of the buildings. In the cold climate of Northern England, this would have been a godsend.

I was having a wonderful time until this very moment, where I found myself injured by a 2,000 year old Roman penis. Just how I hear you ask? Well surprisingly, very easily.

I was happily wandering along this Roman pavement, enjoying the fact that I was literally following in the footsteps of our ancestors. I wasn't fully paying attention (partially my fault, I was looking at the ruins to the side) when I stood on something uneven, my foot went one way, my leg went the other, and I ended up in a heap on the floor on my bottom. 

Perhaps even more embarrassingly, an old couple (who had to be in their late 60's if not older) nearby rushed to my aid, and between the three of us managed to get me to my feet. My ankle was throbbing, and initially I thought I might have broken it, but after a few minutes it seemed to calm down. It left me the question, who on earth carves a Roman penis on a slippery pavement? Why? I know it's a sign of fertility & power, which both of mine were damaged when I hit the floor with a very loud "OOOFFFFTTTT". I'm surprised no one came over and accused me of damaging the pavement. I do admire the Romans, but sometimes they confuse me greatly. 

I managed to hobble over to the little museum, which is full of beautiful sculpture unearthed from the excavations at the site. As you can read from the note below the carving, all manner of people from across the empire and beyond can be found along Hadrian's wall, and it's a proof that multiculturalism and immigration have occurred for thousands of year. I bet people would be more accepting of immigration today if we thought they might keep the Scots away! 

The museum has this feel of a personal collection rather than a museum, but to be fair that's kind of true in a way. John Clayton, whom a lot of us owe for the protection of the remains of the wall, spent many years, excavating and cataloguing artefacts from the area, and collated it into this museum here. While his standard of archeology isn't a patch on todays, he helped start the revolution of studying the wall, and did as much as he could to protect it for future generations to visit and learn about.

This particular one, depicting nymphs drew my eye. It's so simple yet so beautiful. I think that's the things with the Romans, everything was built to impress, and everything was made with a purpose. 

Visiting Chesters Fort is a must do on the walk, and you will not be dissapointed. Just watch out for the slippery dick on the floor! There's a nice little tea room selling hot drinks and some tasty snacks, which was very much appreciated. Entry is £12 for an adult (discounted for booking in advance via @english-heritage.org.uk) unless of course you're an EH member, which you can enter for free.

I then headed across the river to the remains of Chesters Bridge, crossing the just as lovely Chollerford Bridge (mind the traffic though!). However Chesters Bridge is one of the most impressive single non fort or wall thing you will see. You cross the road, follow a fenced off path between two fields before arriving at the site.

There are large remains of the bridge, which would have carried the wall across the river on it's large spans. Here's the remains of one of the turrets.

Somebody had helpfully cleared away the leaves to expose this Roman fertility symbol. I wasn't getting too close, I didn't want another injury!

This is just the base of the bridge pillars, you can imagine how impressively big this would have been.

This really gives you an idea of the size of the bridge, and apparently it was one of the largest constructed in Britain at the time. The river has shifted through time, and washed the other remains of the bridge away.

But here you can see some of the stone blocks from the bridge, laid out here between the trees. It was interesting to see how much stone would have been used, although the way it was laid out made me think of the Holocaust Museum in Berlin. The blocks all laid out, little pathways between. 

Another segment of wall, with the remains of a turret at the end.

This was the walk back to the main road between the fields, you can just about see the Chollerford bridge in the distance, with the friendly sheep. Several of whom came up to the fence and wanted to know what you were here for.

Back across the bridge, and there is this most gorgeous still surface of the water, before it drops over the edge of the water. It is so beautiful here, really peaceful, charming and with a aura that makes you want to just stop and stare at the world around you. Which I did, until my stomach started rumbling!

Just opposite the hotel was the Riverside Kitchen, which I actually ended up running to because the heavy rain began again! I treated myself to a chicken sandwich, which came with a loaded plate full of crisps, salad and coleslaw. Was very tasty & reasonable too, and just what I needed. I sat and enjoyed my tea until the rain cleared, where I then went back to the hotel to lay down and put my foot up, which felt like it was starting to swell. I needed to be well rested, I'd only walked 5.8 miles today, but tomorrow was going to be the big one. I needed to get to Wylam for the next place to stay. Let's hope my ankle recovers enough to do so!