Hadrian's Wall, Part VIII (South of the Wall)

Hadrian's Wall wasn't just maintained by the forts on the wall. There were a large number of forts to the south keeping it supplied and ferrying troops where needed. The majority of these are not usually seen on a Wall trip since they are located several miles away from the path and need a full day trip to reach them. Some are ones I haven't been to but intend to before my time here is up. I could have listed most of these as separate trips and I visited several at the same time I walked the wall, but it made more sense to split the wall into wall forts, supply forts, and forts north of the wall. Some of these are linked to days on the wall since they are so close and the journey was the same. For example, we stayed the night in Corbridge yet it is listed separately here. So you can follow the links to see what else is around in that area and what we did for the rest of the day.

Monkwearmouth/Jarrow

Despite being grouped together the twin monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow are actually about seven miles apart. Their connection was a very real one though since they were both founded by the same man and were both home to that most famous of Saxon scholars: Bede. Bede was that rarest of people in the Dark Ages, a well-educated polymath. He not only wrote the sole contemporary history (as opposed to chronicle) of Anglo-Saxon times, he also wrote tracts on astronomy and mathematics as well as chronology. His use of Anno Domini (AD) was so successful that it overrode all other dating systems to become the one used until this day. I will say more about Bede later since there is a museum dedicated to him in Jarrow. In fact, the metro station closest to Jarrow Abbey is called Bede. Despite being grouped together there are three separate places here: Wearmouth Abbey, Jarrow Abbey, and the museum known as Bede's World which features a reconstructed Saxon village.

Philippi

Philippi is famous not as a town but as the site of the final battle between Octavian and Anthony on one side, and Brutus and Cassius on the other. It was here that the fate of the Republic was decided. This was a major battle with around 100,000 men on either side. The battle was actually two battles fought on the same plain several days apart. On the first day Marc Antony took Cassius' camp while Brutus took Octavian's, but due to the confusion of battle Cassius thought that all was lost and killed himself leaving Brutus to lead the troops in the next confrontation. He wasn't up to it. Apparently the Liberators were in front of the town while the Caesarean forces formed up further out. It would be really difficult to overstate the importance of these battles. Because of this the Republican cause died for good. Cicero was already murdered, Cato had killed himself a few years before, and now Cassius and Brutus joined him. The only major figure left for the Republicans to form up with was Sextus Pompeius. At this point Antony and Octavian were the unquestioned masters of Rome.

Brutus: Why comest thou?
Ghost: To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.

 

At Philippi our luck ran out. These guys intended to honor the strike and they were manning the place to make sure that nobody snuck in anyway. But although we may not have gotten to go into the site we could still see most of it from the roads.Still unfortunate given that its two hours east of Thessaloniki.

Florence

COMING SOON

Ravenna

COMING SOON

Ravenna was where we started having problems. To be honest, at this point most of these problems were my fault. The early morning trains (6 or sooner) are the cheapest ones and so I had us getting them every time we changed cities. You do that and you need a rest afterwards or you're good for nothing at all. Even with a full night's sleep it's hard to pull off. Even if we had to pay more it might have been worth getting later trains. Given the state of the train services it might have been better if we'd spent more time in fewer spots. Believe me, you'll be hearing more about the train system later. MUCH more. Anyway, we got to the train station in Pisa by about five. It was just down the street from our hotel. The ticket booths weren't open so we had to use the automated ones which was where we hit our first problem. There is an app for the iPhone that is essential for anyone brave or foolish enough to risk the Italian rail services. It's called iTreni and is the only time that prices, stops and times show up in the same place. It told us to get the 5:39 to Florence and then transfer to a train going to Ravenna. The ticket booth did not list this as an option. So the first ticket we brought had us making three stops at three different stations before we reached Ravenna. I should of held firm on Florence because we couldn't find a train going to the first station listed so we bought new tickets to Florence and hoped that the app was right about the transfer. Once on the train we relaxed until a ticket collector came by and told us that we needed to stamp our tickets before we left the station. The charge for not doing so was €40. Each. Anyone who's ever taken a train in Italy and knows what to expect may want to skip the next paragraph because it is essentially a giant rant about the Italian rail system.

Italy has the worst public transport 'system' that I have ever seen. It is a mass of incomprehensible gibberish so bad that even the Italians can't understand it. The stamped tickets was only the first of many problems we had with Italian trains. Charging €40 for a mistake that everyone is bound to make at least once is obscene. Worst of all is that there is no warning about it in advance. Admittedly, I don't speak Italian but there were no big signs over the machine or stamper or even on the ticket. Nothing to make it obvious that there was something that needed to be done before the ticket could be used. The yellow boxes where you stamp them are small and actually hidden away. I had wondered if we needed to validate tickets but there was nowhere obvious to do so so I assumed that the tickets themselves were enough. But no, the yellow boxes are hidden away out of plain sight where no one will find them unless they know what they're looking for. The French have a similar system but unlike the Italians you cannot get through to your train unless you've stamped your ticket. Their machines are impossible to miss. There is also a very small number of machines at each station which means that when one is broken (and they often are) you have to go to the opposite side of the station to validate them. Evil. It doesn't get better from there. The costs for different locations depends entirely on the company that runs the train. There is no centralized system. This would not normally be a problem except that when you buy the ticket there is no company listed on it. You can use it on any train going that way. Unless you know which train is cheapest, something impossible to find without iTreni or a very good grasp of Italian, you will be charged the additional amount when they check your ticket. The costs also vary depending on the time. Again, there's no way to know how much unless you're psychic or have access to an internet connection. The train companies are not always listed, the platforms vary, and the stations are mazes. To buy a ticket you wait in one of two lines, the purpose of which is not clear to me. They seem to be divided up by the company running them but it is rarely clear from that exactly which one you want. Even finding the ticket booths can sometimes be a problem. There is no one there who can help you. The Italians get by this by sleeping at the train station until their trains arrive! We saw a large number of people waiting on top of blankets and cushions. All told the Italian system reamed us for about €150 each in fines and missed tickets alone, and we did everything right and arrived to every train station at least an hour early. Avoid using public transport in Italy if at all possible!

Pisa

This trip was to be the final and biggest of all the ones  made this year. I spent all semester planning for and organizing and preparing for it. I was going to go to the three main counties for Roman enthusiasts and see the sites with friends whom I made while in England. It did not go as well as would be liked although I was able to salvage a lot of good memories out of it.

The trip started off well. We arrived in Pisa at around 9 PM. We found our hostel easily and it was right next to the train station which was good since we had a 5:39 train to the next stage in our journey. Since we got there at night we decided that we should take a quick look at the tower and then go to bed. Probably the best plan we could make. To get to the tower we had to cross over to the north side of the river.

St. Michael's Mount

COMING SOON

St. Michael's Mount is a little castle set on an island that is only accessible from a small road when the tide is out. It is very similar to Mont Saint-Michel which I kept confusing it with the whole trip, except that Saint Michael's Mount is much smaller and doesn't have a big town on it. The main town is that of Marazion located on the other side of the bridge. St. Michael's Mount is also closed on Saturday which is what screwed our schedule up. We had originally planned to go to Saint Michael's Mount on Saturday and Tintagel on Sunday but with the positions reversed we had to change our plans. If you're going to Saint Michael's Mount it is important to check the tides. If the tide is in there is no way of accessing the island unless you want to hire a boat.

Chichester

We were only at Chichester for a very short time on the way to the train station. From what little I had time to see it seemed like a very nice city. The cathedral was grand and right near the main market square. The wall surrounding the cathedral and gardens is the old Roman wall. There was a turret somewhere as well but I couldn't find it. The wall is very similar to that at Portchester being built primarily out of flint.

Hastings

COMING SOON

Bath

COMING SOON

Lacock

COMING SOON

Winchester

COMING SOON

Avignon

COMING SOON

Edinburgh

COMING SOON

Stirling

COMING SOON

Loch Achray

This was a nice little church on the Loch.We couldn't get in but it was a wonderful location. Loch Achray was a nice loch about half an hour from Stirling in an area known as the Trossachs. We went there hunting down Monty Python filming locations. There's one in an abandoned Victorian quarry about three miles from this spot.

Ely

COMING SOON

Cambridge

COMING SOON

Nazareth

COMING SOON
After all the wonderful places I have been Nazareth was a huge disappointment. There is really nothing there worth seeing. I'd have been better off going to Tiberias and seeing the Sea of Galilee.

Jerusalem

COMING SOON

Jerusalem is amazing. Full stop. I think that it is the single most amazing place that I have ever been. It certainly gives Petra a run for its money. While Petra is all about the glory of the desert and the abandoned monuments, Jerusalem is very much a living city. There is nowhere I've been that can compare to it. And I got to spend most of a week there. Yes!