Beyond the Itinerary are stories from the places we’re going — and the things that stay with us. Sole Sister travel adventures take care of the itinerary. The things that happen beyond it are up to all of us.
What is it about walking somewhere that makes us experience a place differently?
There are some places you can visit, and others that seem to make more sense when you walk through them.
Hadrian’s Wall is definitely one of the latter.
Stretching across the north of England, the wall has been part of this landscape for nearly 1,900 years. Construction began in AD 122, during the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian, and for centuries it marked the northwestern frontier of the Roman Empire.
Today, what remains winds through some of the most beautiful countryside in England: rolling farmland, open moor, rugged crags, small villages and those enormous northern skies that somehow make you feel very small.
Of course, you can drive through this part of England, stopping at the Roman forts and historic sites along the way. But having walked it myself this past May, I can tell you that seeing Hadrian’s Wall on foot is an entirely different experience.
Walking Through History
One of the things I loved most about walking the wall was thinking about all the people who had been there before us.
Hadrian’s Wall wasn't just a long stone barrier. There were forts, milecastles, watchtowers and settlements along the route, with thousands of people living and working in and around them.
And they weren't all from Britain or Rome. People arrived at this remote edge of the empire from remarkably far away, bringing their own languages, religions, traditions and food with them.
They worked, married, raised families, traded, wrote letters and, I imagine, complained fairly regularly about the northern English weather.
The more you learn about them, the less distant Roman Britain begins to feel.
A Birthday Invitation Almost 2,000 Years Old
One of my favourite stories from the area comes from Vindolanda, a Roman fort and settlement just south of Hadrian’s Wall.
Archaeologists there discovered hundreds of incredibly thin wooden writing tablets that had somehow survived in the soil for almost two millennia. There are military documents and supply lists among them, but there are also personal letters that give us little glimpses into everyday life.
One of those letters was written around AD 100.
A woman named Claudia Severa was writing to her friend Sulpicia Lepidina to invite her to her birthday celebration.
I love this.
Of all the things we could discover from Roman Britain, here are two women making plans to get together for a birthday.
We tend to learn history through emperors, battles, invasions and dates. Yet most people's lives have always been lived between those big historical events—in friendships, families, meals, celebrations and the communities they create around themselves.
Standing in that landscape almost 2,000 years later with a group of women who had also come together through friendship made that little birthday invitation feel surprisingly familiar.
Why Walking Changes a Trip
Walking also makes you slow down in a way that most travel doesn't.
You notice things.
A hill isn't scenery anymore when you're the one who has to climb it. Rain isn't something happening on the other side of a window. And the sight of a village pub at the end of a long walking day can inspire a frankly ridiculous amount of enthusiasm.
You also talk.
There is something about walking beside another person for hours that makes conversation unfold differently. On our Hadrian’s Wall trip, we talked about families, relationships, retirement, travel, things happening at home and things we hoped might happen next.
Other times we didn't talk at all.
Someone would simply stop and turn around, and before long we were all looking out across the same extraordinary landscape.
Those quiet moments became some of my favourites.
Sixteen Sole Sisters and One Very Long Wall
This past May, sixteen Sole Sisters set out from Carlisle to walk Hadrian's Wall Path across northern England toward Hexham.
There were long days, tired feet, Roman ruins, pub stops, shared meals, spectacular views and, naturally, a little English weather along the way.
There was Evensong at Hexham Abbey, which became one of those unexpected travel experiences that stays with you.
There was a stop at the wonderfully named Twice Brewed pub.
There was plenty of laughter.
And there was the satisfaction of eventually reaching the end and knowing that all sixteen of us had made it.
But when I think back on that trip now, the kilometres aren't really what I remember.
I remember the women.
I remember the conversations. The encouragement. The laughter when things didn't quite go according to plan. The way a group of women who hadn't necessarily known each other particularly well at the beginning gradually became a little community of its own.
And that is difficult to put into an itinerary.
Beyond the Itinerary
That experience is actually part of the reason we wanted to start this new Rambler Café series.
When you're deciding whether to take a trip, you naturally look at the itinerary. Where are we going? How far are we walking? Where are we staying? What will we see?
All important questions.
But they don't tell you what a trip will feel like.
They can't tell you which view will stop you in your tracks, which historical story you'll still be thinking about when you get home, who you'll end up sitting beside at dinner, or what you'll talk about while walking together for three hours.
Those are the things that happen beyond the itinerary.
And on Hadrian's Wall, there are almost 2,000 years of stories waiting along the way.
I keep coming back to Claudia Severa and that birthday invitation.
Two women arranging to spend time together at the very edge of the Roman Empire.
Almost two thousand years later, sixteen of us arrived in that same part of the world for very different reasons, but we also came to walk, talk, eat, laugh, and spend time together.
Maybe that's one of the loveliest things about travelling somewhere with so much history.
You realize that while the world changes enormously, people really don't change all that much.
Come Ramble With Us
Sole Sister Ramblers will be returning to Hadrian's Wall.
If you've thought about walking Hadrian's Wall but weren't sure you wanted to tackle something like this on your own, come and do it with us.
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