After a fantastic breakfast (see below) at the Guest House in Bowness, I headed off in a taxi to Carlisle and thence to Maryport, a seaside town with fish and chips and boats and everything (well maybe not everything but you know what I mean).
Above: “Eggs Hadrian” at Wallsend Guest House, Bowness on Solway
A climb up the town to Senhouse Roman museum was well worth it – stacks of Roman altars (the biggest collection of Roman altars in Britain!) and lots more of interest.
I had some chips for lunch down in the town, and then back up for the 2pm tour of the archaeological dig. It was really interesting to see an excavation in progress, and to speak to one of the leaders about what they were looking for and expecting. There was much relief as following a couple of days of not much, they’d finally started to ind something, and it looked like it might not have been a spectacular waste of time after all!
Then back to the train and to Carlisle. Only 45 minutes to look round Tullie House museum in Carlisle wasn’t enough, of course. It is a great museum full of stuff to spark interest and questions, both from Hadrian’s Wall and from wider spheres.
It was good to have a relatively easy day’s walking (it has come to something when I consider 8 miles in a day to be an easy day!)
Day 11 will be fun, I hope – Ravenglass, a steam railway and a walk up to Britain’s highest Roman fort at Hardknott.
I think there is an altar ‘ Fortunae reduci’ at Maryport. I hope you made an appropriate offering. Enjoy Hardknott!
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