Housesteads ...

We'd followed the dark spine of the Wall downhill from Kennel Crags to Housesteads - 

We lay upon the grass, delving into our packed lunches - a moody crocodile of foreign students went by - cagouled dads ate ice creams - lean walkers slid free of their back packs - 

I remembered how I'd visited this place before, some years ago - I could picture my pale shape, sitting in a Mondeo in the car park - 

Standing by the praetorium, I wondered how many ghosts of our earlier selves we leave behind us - 

The sky filled with clouds - 

***

The grandest station in the whole line - in some stations the antiquary feeds upon shells, but here upon kernels 

William Hutton
The History of the Roman Wall
1802

July 9 2014

Housesteads