Part of the Roman Empire’s success was its ability to scale up its trademark structures anywhere in the world. Long before Henry Ford’s assembly line, the Romans created standardized construction designs and practices. With little variation, they replicated everything — roads, toilets, forts, saunas, plumbing, and, yes, even walls.
The vast majority of the trek is through rural England. Much of it traverses working farms and pastures with livestock. So how is it that random people can just walk across someone’s land?
It is you and the crag. You and the wind. You and the tiny Alpine flower that’s found a sheltered crack to grow in. No guidebook can prepare you for that. This is a series of lessons I learned walking across a small island.
I’m walking across England this month! 84 miles along Hadrian’s Wall, plus some wandering around. Aside from a long transAtlantic flight, I don’t think I’ll be doing too much reading in June, but here are some new and forthcoming books to check out.