I’ve always wanted to walk Hadrian’s Wall, on the border between England and Scotland. The idea of hiking along a 2000-year-old artifact for miles on end, and finishing the day at a pub just really appeals to me.

The Wall cut all the way across northern England. It still does, in fact, although in the coastal areas most of the features are gone or hidden — stones have been scavenged, the ditch and Vallum filled in and farmed. In these areas walking along the Wall is like walking along any other urban/suburban path.

With that in mind my husband and I decided to focus on the central part of Hadrian’s Wall, the part that goes up and over the northern end of the Pennine Mountains, where there is more of the Wall to see. Interspersed along the Wall are Milecastles and turrets, forts and civilian communities where you can see how people lived in the Roman Empire. Should be fun!