We’re in northern England tracing the ruins of the Roman Empire’s Hadrian’s Wall, the largest Roman infrastructure built in Britain and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the rain. We’re soaked, knee-deep in sheep shit, and there’s mud in our fingernails. But we’re happy.
“We’re in deep shit now,” he said before a site docent ushered us off the active archeological site. Turns out we weren’t supposed to walk through the unlocked wooden gate. Maybe the soggy, shit-filled field was the reason they kept visitors out.
We met in person in class two years ago. Last year, he moved to Scotland, so I decided to visit him as part of my 2023 U.K. trip to mark two years of friendship. Even though we only have eight mutual friends on Facebook, we’ve ended up on a trip that brought us from Edinburgh to the frontier of Ancient Rome in Hexam and the medical castle in Carlisle.
“Two years ago, I didn’t think we’d be in England chasing stone forts around,” he said. And I’d agree.
We didn’t even plan on having this trip until a week ahead. We just didn’t need to plan. Our sense of adventure told us we needed to go do something cool even without a solid plan in the miserable weather. What did we end up eating? Some Cornish pasties from a museum cafe and a wrap from McDonald’s.
