My next journey was east, to Northumbria and "Hadrian's Wall Country". A stayed in Haltwhistle, the geographic center of Great Britain (equidistant from the South Coast and the North Orkney Islands) and took the aptly named AD122 bus to the forts of Emperor Hadrian's great defensive line. Originally designed as a barrier to defend against the raiding Picts of the north, the huge wall stretches across the entirety of England, from Newcastle on the North Sea to Carlisle in Cumbria. The best-preserved Roman Fort in England, Housesteads, was my first stop, and after visiting it I took the opportunity to walk the wall for about 6 of its 80 miles.