I'm back from a highly enjoyable trip to northern England.
The weather was fairly atrocious which dampened the walking bits unfortunately, still got two solid days of walking in though (Chesters to near Roman Army Museum, roughly).
Chesters, Housesteads and Vindolanda are great sites, the museum at Vindolanda is outstanding. Not too impressed by the Great North museum, but that might be due to the seemingly endless amount of screaming children. Corbridge, Arbeia and Segedunum were complete washouts but interesting enough.
Interesting experience when spending some time with the wall, when you first encounter it it looks really impressive in its bulk and apparent indifference to the terrain. After a while, though, I thought it looked increasingly vulnerable and insignificant, a thin ribbon crossing a vast landscape. Still impressive in its length and construction, but not at all daunting or forbidding.
Non-Roman bonuses: the crypt under Hexham Abbey, Bede's church in Jarrow, the splendour of Durham cathedral, a melancholy day at Lindisfarne and seeing the Red Arrows do their magic over Whitby Abbey. Only to learn that one of them died yesterday.