Riding through 1,946 years.

Took a ride in time, following Hadrian's Wall, which for a time was the official most northerly point of the Roman Empire, took in a few Viking and early Christian haunts.
A Saint that stayed bendy even after a few hundred years of death and Medieval castles.

When looking at history and travel, sometimes it's easy to think it was only invented a few hundred years ago. The fact that sitting on a wind swept, wet dark, cold and overcast volcanic outcrop, high above the marshy lands that were the boundary with the barbarians, was the job of a Syrian archery battalion in AD 100, suddenly brings home how arrogant we can be to be dismissive of the achievements of our ancestors.

That buildings were constructed, which have lasted time, wars and weather for centuries, where as the modern structures we throw up have a fifty year life expectancy, makes you question our temporary, disposable attitude.

Anyway, some pictures...there will be an "educational" video to follow.







climb this basaltic outcrop, then the 6 metre high wall (approx 20ft) while Syrians, who are feeling bad tempered and cold, fire arrows at you, then spears, then swords and insults and kitchen sinks and refuse and muck and stones and anything they can lay their hands on.







One thing to remember about building a wall is, it will have two sides...one side to keep people out and the other side keeps people in. You are building not only a structure but also division, creating an us and them, mistrust, alienation and fear. Always been the same with walls, always will be.
Hadrian's version was as much about financials as it was safety.





Of course, when the Romans and their forces withdrew, they left behind a very prosperous country but without admin and a strong law. Others tried to move in, so defences were needed to keep them at bay.





Human nature being what it is, when not facing an enemy, often the powers that held this force, would use it to further their own causes, which sometimes resulted in the subjugation and exclusion of the populace from sharing in decision making and wealth. The few gained a lot, at the expense of the masses.

So there you have it. Fear and the manipulation of fear, enabling the few to prosper and create a clique of power, at the expense of the people they are supposed to be protecting. Still that's just history...isn't it.

Oh yes, the bendy bloke...St Cuthbert. Locked himself away, so that the view and other people wouldn't interfere with him performing his devotions (not sure what practical use that has). Anyway, he died and was venerated for what seems to be a purely selfish lifestyle. Still on Lindisfarne Island, the monks had amassed wealth by selling prayers to save the souls of those willing to pay. The Vikings came over and raided. St Cuthbert was exhumed and moved. His body was still flexible and hadn't decomposed, even though he'd been dead for 40 yrs. He was dug up several times there after, always bendy and fresh. So it seems that St Cuthbert's reward for his piousness was to be blessed with a flexible body...after death...so that's useful.

Took a leisurely 3 hours to meander across England from one side to the other, following the 80 mile long wall as closely as possible. Took 4 days of riding around, to see what I wanted to see though.

Thanks for posting this, Iamble.

I have been there, mentally, for the past 7 months as I read through the "Eagle" series of books written by Jack Whyte. The stories span the Arthurian era, including the period during which the Roman occupation ended.

Now I'll have to go and visit all those sites.

Things frequently seem so cut and dried in historical reports. That's very rarely the case as you soon discover following the Wall. We were taught that it was the end of the Roman Empire, but that was only the case for a 40 yearish period. Trajan had gone much further north and you see Roman settlements and forts on the "barbarian" side of the Wall. Plus these barbarians weren't all that barbarian. They were skilled farmers and crafts people. They were just different and had a different culture to the Romans, who happened to write the reports.

Anyway, Cumbria and Northumberland, full of history. I even tripped over history, it's everywhere.



See if you recognise this tree. It appeared in a Hollywood film about a famous Brit freedom fighter, only Kevin Costner murdered the accent.

These folk reckon there's at least another 200 years of excavation and research to do on this site.


Vindolanda, is the site of the most treasured British find in the British Museum, the earliest written records found in the country. The excavations in this picture are of the 7th layer of fort built by the Romans. Their structures used unseasoned timbers, so had to be demolished every 20 years or so. They'd cut the wood down to ground level, then use clay to set a new floor. This anaerobic layer effectively sealed the layer beneath and trapped everything for posterity.



As I mentioned previously, the forces here came from many locations, with the Roman Romans holding the senior positions. Even the local Brits joined the Roman army...minimum 25 years after which you were eligible for Roman citizenship.
This is a modern stone to commemorate all who served at Vindolanda and the Wall.

You're right about Costner murdering the accent. Sean Connery in "Robin and Marion" was the best.

I recall remains of Roman wall-building around Colchester as well. The builder in me made it a point to visit as many keeps, castles, abbeys and such around the UK as I could when stationed there twenty-odd years ago... Explored a bit of Sherwood forest too.

and I thought our pending ride over a 260 year old road was something! Thanks for your pictures and well written narration. I really enjoy stuff such as this! Thanks, Bob

Fantastic. Keep 'em coming!

Cheers

These folk reckon there's at least another 200 years of excavation and research to do on this site.

Click to expand...

By the time they're done, thay'll have to start all over again.
Oh well, it'll definitely be Miller Time, that's for sure!
Gilly

Great pix lamble. interesting trip. h

108625 said:

You're right about Costner murdering the accent. Sean Connery in "Robin and Marion" was the best.

I recall remains of Roman wall-building around Colchester as well. The builder in me made it a point to visit as many keeps, castles, abbeys and such around the UK as I could when stationed there twenty-odd years ago... Explored a bit of Sherwood forest too.

Click to expand...

The oldest remaining gate intact Balkerne Gate...that's in Colchester, I used to walk through it every working day from the car park, or "carus parkusium" as the Romans called it...probably not.
Plus the foundations of the castle there are Roman, part of a temple, where the Romans and Brits fled to escape Boudica, who torched the place killing about 2,000. By then Colchester, once the capital, had become more of a centre for R and R, so was poorly defended. One of the reasons the Romans liked the place was that the climate is drier than just about anywhere else in England, plus their passion forr oysters was met by some of the best oyster grounds anywhere in the world.


I lived in Colchester for several years.

The Batavians (Latin Batavi)[1] were a Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the ocean in front, and by the river Rhine in the rear and on either side" (Tacitus, Historiae iv). This led to the Latin name of Batavia for the area.[2] The same name is applied to several military units, originally raised among the Batavi. The tribal name, probably a derivation from batawjō ("good island", from Germanic bat- "good, excellent" and awjō "island, land near water"), refers to the region's fertility, today known as the fruitbasket of the Netherlands (the Betuwe).


Tungrorum:
The Tungri were a tribe inhabiting the western Ardennes in central Europe. The only concrete evidence for the presence of this unit in Britain is an undated altar to Hercules unearthed at Mumrills on the Antonine Wall, where they were probably the first garrison. The only other records of this regiments service in Britain are on military diplomata from Chester and York

Nerviorum: from the Bavay area of northern France.

The Vardulli [or Varduli] were a small tribe from north-east Spain, whose neighbours were the Vascones. Their territory was a narrow strip which stretched from the coast (between San Sebastian on East and Motrico on West) in land just about to the river Ebro between Logrono and Miranda de Ebro. Strabo only specifically mentions the Vascones as occupying the region now populated by the Basques, however Pomponius Mela and Claudius Ptolemy mention in addition, the Vardulli and a third tribe the Allotriges [or Autrigones]. It is probable that the Vardulli and Allotriges were either tribal subdivisions of the Vascones or separate tribes linked by at least a common language.
The early history of the unit is unclear, however it is likely that the cohort had been raised by the time of Claudius. It is first recorded in AD98, as part of the garrison of Britain. By this time the unit had already earnt the titles fida [loyal] and Civium Romanorum [Roman citizens]. It was an equitata cohort which meant that of the approximately 500 troops about 120 were cavalry the remainder being infantry.

Sometime between AD105 and AD122 the cohort was enlarged and become a milliary unit. The introduction of milliary units in the second century AD was an important development. These were approximately double the size of the standard quingenary [500 strong] cohorts. In the second century AD there were at least 7 of these units in Britain, one of which was coh I Fida Vardullorum. These units were not only larger than the standard cohorts and alae, but were more highly regarded than them, being commanded by the pick of equestrian officers. Milliary units were commanded by tribunes, rather than prefects who commanded quingenary units. From time to time it was necessary to split the milliary units in two, with the rump quingenary cohort and a vexillation of nearly quingenary strength. It was normal for the unit to drop the title milliaria at these times, retaking the title when the vexillation was restored to the unit.

Gilly said:

By the time they're done, thay'll have to start all over again.
Oh well, it'll definitely be Miller Time, that's for sure!
Gilly

Click to expand...

http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/


This is the link to what the British Museum consider to be the most valuable items in their collection. Why?
Well jewels and carvings are valuable, but due to the fact that these tablets are fragile slivers of wood with ink writing, there's very little chance of survival. That they record, first hand, the communications of folk, is like being able to listen in to a time gone long ago. "It is as near as one gets to travelling in time and meeting someone from that age".

When Romans were riding their early versions of Lambrettas, MVs, Ducatis and other Italian makes around the Empire they obviously needed road signs, as although motorbikes had been invented, GPS was still in its infancy.

This is what they had:





Obviously the top of this road sign is missing. It did say, "Beware, un-marked police chariots are operating. Anyone exceeding the speed limit of XXV in a built up area will be fined on the spot and sold into slavery, or forced to become a gladiator.

"Do not drive your chariot while using a mobile phone, as they haven't been invented yet and you will just look weird".

Not that this has any relevance to anything, but Emperor Hadrian was a Spaniard. Born within the Empire made him a Roman Citizen and therefore entitled to rise to the highest office. However, some questioned his suitability, as he wasn't a "true Roman" in their eyes and he had to survive an assassination attempt in his early years as Emperor.

He was however a very successful Emperor.

This is history though. Purely history, from which we will all have no doubt learned much.

Great history really adds to the meaning of the ride report, and the great pics are just wonderful. Nice post, Lamble, and thanks for sharing.

Religion.

When the Romans left in 410AD, the Germanic tribes decided to move in. The Danish Angles came over but were a bit obtuse, however by degrees they mixed with the Saxons from Northern Germany and became Anglo-Saxons. There were 7 Anglo Saxon kingdoms, with north of the Humber river-North Humbria, becoming the dominant kingdom. They weren't big on Christianity at this time. King Ida established the Northumbrian capital an Bamburgh in 547AD. It's the possible site of Sir Lancelot's Joyous Garde for all you budding Arthurians.


The original castle is somewhere under this lot...castles didn't look like this in the 6th century.

In 635 AD King Oswald, Ossie to his mates, defeated the pagan Mercians, who had driven his Dad and brothers from the throne and as a thank you, invited Irish Monks over to set up a monastery on the island of Lindisfarne, just up the road from Bamburgh.

St Aidan came first, but quickly decided that the dark force with the pagans was strong, so left with a couple of Jedi (Geordie...see it's similar enough to almost be feasible) Knights. The monastery next had a young monk turn up. Cuthbert. He seems to have ridden into town, said, "There's gonna be some serious preachin' in these 'ere parts", in probably Latin or whatever language was being spoken at the time, but certainly not English as we know it, and not the dominant French that arrived with the Normans in 1066, then locked himself away.

Still it didn't take much to impress the locals as the TV signal in that area was particularly weak and you could only get Fox News channels, a nutty monk being a much better option, so they bought favours in the after-life, from the monks in the present, who became quite wealthy thank you. St Cuthbert died and went bendy, as mentioned before.

Now the Vikings came over on a weekend jolly, liked what they saw, so took most of it home as souvenirs and just for a laugh, like lads do, killed a few monks. This happened a few times, until the monks sort of caught on that, although God was on their side, when needed, he or she, was somewhere else, or on vacation, or didn't fancy his/her chances against the Norse Gods, or just didn't exist and was a man made fabrication to help answer questions that weren't answerable at the time.
So, in the end they took their money making machine elsewhere, leaving the island and taking flexible Cuthbert with them for company.



One thing that was good about all this was that the monastery had become recognised as a seat of learning and the Lindisfarne Gospels were written here. A highly illustrated manuscript of gospels...and that's the gospel truth.

When the Normans arrived, Northumberland was the main source of resistance and as a consequence was severely punished by William the Conqueror (Who would have been known as, 'William the great Norman girl's blouse', if he had lost, so obviously he was motivated).

When the Scots saw that Northumberland was no longer a power, they came from under their rocks and decided to see what they could scavenge, never one's to miss a chance.
Anyway, within a century the Anglo Normans decided that the Scots deserved a kicking, so duly delivered a swift boot up the kilt and the Scots went back.

Okay so far?



Next a string of forts were built along the Tyne valley, but things still swung back and forth as circumstances changed.

I think that's about a thousand years covered so far, give or take a month here or there.

Okay, are you sitting comfortably, let's look at the Edwards.

But first, remember that string of castles I mentioned...there was Prudhoe, Langley, Featherstone and a new castle was built at...that's right Newcastle...must be more than just a coincidence there don't you think?

Anyway, Edward I, took the land back from the Scots as far as Berwick (funny story about Berwick to follow)

Edward II lost most of it...got murdered.
Edward III (not much imagination in the naming department at that time) installed the Percy family as defenders of the area.
The Percys territory took in the wall and for most of the 400 years they couldn't decide which side of that wall to be on, usually picking the losing side. Three times the male line was either exiled or executed into extinction, only artful marriage by the female line kept the family fortunes up. Alnwick (pronounced-Annick) Castle (the largest of the border fortresses and a private palace from 18th century until present) is where they live to this day.


Okay this isn't Alnwick, but you'd not know that unless I told you. Bit bigger than this and more inland.
The castles were almost constantly under siege for 1,000 years but appear to be in good condition considering. Anyway, Henry VIII and revenge for Bannockburn at the hands of Robert the Bruce came in 1513 at Flodden and should have been an end to it, however the Reformation came along and so religious war broke out and the lords stuck on the borders, sort of decided that lawlessness was an option to follow, while the Monarchs knocked chunks out of each other as a distraction.

If you are a Forster, a Charlton, an Elliot an Armstrong, then you descend from these bandit families.
1603 English and Scots crowns unite under James I (V in Scotland, just to be awkward). The bandit families couldn't skip across the border for escape, were rounded up and sent to Ulster (If only we'd known).

Still determined to have a fight, the troubles continued as new excuses were found for slaughter and mayhem.

On a lighter note, there's more than historical human history in the area, there's an abundance of natural history too.

So some cheerful pictures just to help mop away some of the gore and bloodshed:



















Any ornithologists amongst you should recognise the shags and the kittiwakes.
Kittiwakes don't have nests, just ledges and to stop their eggs from rolling off, the eggs have developed a unique shape, with the middle being larger than either end, so if knocked it will spin on its central axis but not roll. I'd just missed 30,000 breeding pairs of puffins. There were none there on the Farne Islands at all. They burrow like rabbits. Gannets aplenty, diving.

Anyway, Berwick.
Berwick changed hands between the English and the Scots so frequently, that when war was declared against Russia (the Crimea War) the declaration was written as England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Berwick upon Tweed.
When peace was agreed the documentation forgot to include Berwick, which was officially at war with Russia until the 1990s, when the Mayor of Berwick decided that the Russians had suffered enough from the imminent threat of invasion from Berwick and declared peace. The Kremlin's response is not noted, but I bet they slept better that night.

Let me run this train of thought passed you.

Lindisfarne, it's a small tidal island, sometimes cut off, sometimes not.



So I ride over at low tide. I can see how, if it weren't for all us tourists, this would be a pleasant and quiet place.
You may be drawn into contemplation by the solitude, by the rhythmic lapping of the waves and the wind drawn laments from the birds.



You could easily get into asking yourself deep questions about your life, what purpose you have in the world and all those sort of things. Granted you can do that sitting in an office at work, "what the hell am I doing stuck here doing this for?" and at some point you probably have.
However, does this make a place inherently religious?

I was talking to a guy on the beach about three cups of tea (it was 4pm and I'm trying to maintain my promise to raise the subject, even if I no longer make tea for a stranger at the same time). He said, "Isn't it a spiritual place?"



Now, I know I'd ridden there to see this spiritual place, precisely because of its historical association with spiritual matters, but, was the place spiritual of itself, or had association with spirituality been added by man. I mean men decided to build a monastery there, then change the name to Holy Island, otherwise it would have stayed as Lindisfarne, the island that sometimes gets cut off, has a few herring boats and some grazing.



So, if Lindisfarne wasn't holy or spiritual before these associations and is in fact just an outcrop of land, can anywhere be said to be more holy or religious than anywhere else. Jerusalem for instance, Mecca, Stonehenge, the Ganges, all of these places are said to have religious "qualities", just because people say they have. They'll even fight for years, with thousands killed, to defend or gain a bit of land that someone, at some point in time, decided, probably quite arbitrarily, or because of the view, or strategic location, highest, lowest, nearest clean water, was a holy place.



Do we still do this?
Do we take modern places, let's say the Space Needle in Seattle and turn it into a shrine to be worshipped at, because of its location and view?
Well, in a way I think we do.
We set out to visit it as if on a pilgrimage. We capture its image. We even buy the holy relics from the shop, that we take away as souvenirs to remind us of our visit and to show to others.."You should go too"...isn't that just, "Join with us and share our experience?"

So what's the difference between the Space Needle and Holy Island?
Why the need to create a religiousness around one but not the other?
We are equally pilgrims to both locations aren't we?
I can think meaningful thoughts about humanity, civilisation and all, while looking over the view from the Needle, just as easily as if I am in a darkened chapel surrounded by guys in robes chanting and waving scented smoke...that's just window dressing, or marketing, or the floor show that's put on to impress the visitors, in the absence of a touch activated panorama viewer with pop ups and audio in tongues of many nations. If I came to today from the past, I'd certainly be inclined to worship a machine that did all that.


Isn't it just our imaginations folks?
Is it worth dying for?
Is it worth establishing us and them and all the hatred and vitriol that goes with that?
For what? So we can say our hocus pocus is more valid than your mumbo jumbo, with no real proof that either has any credibility in reality?

Just thoughts that I noted, when riding along on my bike, in solitude and contemplating life from within the confines of the church that is...my helmet.

Funny how history goes round and round.

This very evening I've been burning witches, monks, vicars and devils.
Ponder on that for a moment..................









It's not a ritual, or a hobby.......











my friend owns a costume shop and some of her outfits got damaged by water, so we dried them out and now they are toast.

Very rewarding in a macabre sort of way.