Searching for Romans
Today we escaped rain filled Ambleside and decided to drive 70 miles to hunt for Romans!
The 70 miles took us up to an area called Hexham in Northumberland. It is pretty on the way to Newcastle. The drive took us around an hour and a half, but was worth it as we were met with some sunshine. Yipeeee!
Our proposed destination is a place called Vindolanda. This is a Roman frontier fort and settlement where archeologists have been excavating for the last 45 years.
As part of our visit we got to explore the excavated and preserved stone remains of the fort. We also got to visit a museum to see all the finds from the site.
The interesting thing is - that despite the size of the fort - they have still only found one gold coin! The below may look like gold - but unfortunately they are just very shiny!
It was fascinating to see all the everyday tools, jewels, glass, armour and pottery that has been used to identify what each area of the fort relates too. It was funny to see on the map that the ale house was still one of the biggest houses - some things never change!
We spent about an hour and half wandering round the fort before deciding to head off to Hadrians Wall.