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In the morning I went to an excellent talk given by Juliet Barker, who wrote what is considered by many (me included) to be the definitive book about the Brontës. She called her talk The Missing Brontë and focused on telling the ‘true’ story about Branwell, dispelling many myths along the way. Absolutely fascinating. What a good speaker she is.

 
Then I caught up with Gordon, who had done his own thing – running I think. The plan had been, in view of the forecasted sunshine, to go to the coast, but somehow the plan was changed and we were heading to Langdale and Hardknott Pass, revelling in virtually empty roads. (Not many days when it is sunny and people-less round there) The place we were heading for was Hardknott Roman Fort (of course!), somewhere I have wanted to visit for a long time.
 
Now for those who do not know it, Hardknott Pass is very, very challenging. It carries a single track road right through the middle of the Lake District from Langdale to Eskdale. It is extremely steep and has some astonishing hairpin bends. It is possibly the steepest road in England (this is disputed, but there aren’t many contenders). Scary to say the least.
 
And at the top is Hardknott Roman Fort. From the little car park, it is a short climb up the moorland and there it is. There are the remains of much of the fort and it is easy to see the extent of these fortifications. Quite wonderful to walk amongst the stonework and marvel at its being built at such a height. It was used in the second and third centuries and stands on the Roman road that led from Ravenglass (the Roman port) to Penrith, where it met the North South road we were on yesterday. The site is as good as, if not better than, many of the ones on the Roman Wall and it certainly eclipses them in outlook and number of visitors (there was no one else up there!)
 
Spent a lot of time up there, but eventually took the slightly easier way down to Eskdale and then started off home via the West Coast. Meeting the Sellafield traffic and it still being sunny, we took a turn for St Bees and the sea. Sat in the sunshine with ice creams – the teashop having closed at 4pm!!!
 
And eventually we made it home in the last of the sunshine.
 
My picture shows a section of the internal buildings of the fort, the wall you can see indicating the extent of the whole place. You can also see the road snaking its way through the Pass. The extra picture is from one of the main gates and shows the outlook that will hardly have changed since a Roman soldier looked out whilst on sentry duty.
 

I didn’t manage the link challenge that Wendles56 set – sorry! Unless a very obvious one counts of course . . . I’ve decided it does.