At the end of October we combined work, travel and family with a quick little jaunt down to Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England.

In particular we visited Housesteads Roman Fort, the new visitor experience for which should be keeping me occupied for the forseable future. We met my cousin Celia escaping from her purgatory in Leeds for the day, and despite the less than appealing weather managed to get up the hill to the fort itself.

The fort was a little underwhelming (definitely in need of its new facilities), apart from the uk’s best preserved roman loos (top) but we had a great lunch from a local pub, with an amazing selection of pies on the menu, and the whin sill scenery (above) was stunning if a little less dramatic than the Scottish highlands.