Today witnessed the passing of almost 2000 years as we visited two world famous sites, Hadrian's Wall and Vindolanda. We arrived in a dramatic blizzard at our first stop, and set of across the most beautiful section of the Wall. Following some tricky climbs and many hilarious slips from Carys Kennedy, the gang managed to march across milecastles and forts and discover about the life of a frontier Roman in 122AD.

Once warm the Ridley warriors then visited the Roman Empire Museum and watched a 3-D spectacular highlighting the importance of Hadrian's endeavour. The film also emphasised the size of Vindolanda and how the working fort would have looked some 1700 years ago. This knowledge aided them for the final learning activity of the day, a first hand visit to the live excavation of Vindolanda. The children walked through a latrine, witnessed the bath house and had a drink in the tavern. After witnessing the film the pupils really appreciated the scale of the fort, and enjoyed examining the tablets that are proudly on display.

It is important to mention that two people had birthday's today, Tom Pinder and Doug Oakes. As a celebration treat the guys went bowling in Hexham and Ben Rivers scored a superb 118. This score was only second to Mr. Morris who demonstrated great skill and determination in posting a dominant 130. At the other end was Mr. Barnes who struggled without the barriers to score a feeble 59, with a non scoring run a seven!
Once again a great day, lets get those walking boots ready for the Lake District tomorrow.
Mr J.