Page 63 - RADC 2017

Approaching the toon!
an interesting history - it was completely buried by terraced houses in the 1880’s, but after these were demolished in the 1970’s, excavations revealed the extent of the Fort. It was extremely satisfying to look down and see the wall heading off from the corner of the fort, in the knowledge it went all the way to Bowness-on-Solway. We came, we saw, we conquered. Having walked its length,
we all have a new appreciation of what the Roman’s achieved.
We went back to Fenham Barracks, and treated ourselves to an all-you-can eat Chinese meal. We also had time to sample the local sights of Newcastle, whilst Robin managed to find two Turrets and one last Milecastle!
I have to pass on my many thanks to several key personalities. Firstly, the real Hero, and OC Morale, Maj Armer. He
completed the whole challenge in his Roman Costume, and kept smiling for the relentless requests for tourist pictures.
This was despite his feet being in absolute bits. Sgt Griffiths and LCpl Naulls secured transport, and WO2 (John) Humphreys and LCpl Aderi were kind enough to drive for
us. The expedition 2IC, WO2 Humphreys, was able to make sure we had food, as
well as keeping a grip on my “badmin”. All the MLT’s were superb (Apart from me!), whether it was Maj Dickson’s identification of all 160 Turrets, Maj Usmani’s appreciation for fine food, or Cpl Gurung’s amazing
route finding and immense fitness levels.
A massive thanks to Roz and Anne for the incredible cake stand, Dr John for the beer and watermelon, and finally, the Reserve units that all made sure we had somewhere dry to sleep.
Job done!
RADC BULLETIN 2017 61