The following afternoon I left Carlisle to spend a day or two with friends in Northumberland, picking up my suit-case in Newcastle. When I went up to dress for dinner that evening, I found to my horror that the maid had unpacked my _tramp's_ luggage, and distributed it about the room, while the suit-case was still locked and the key in my pocket! And there were my poor, pathetic little bedroom-slippers, which I had had no chance of discarding {225} since I wore through their soles on the crags; there they were, spread out in such incongruous surroundings! I sat down, and laughed and laughed and laughed. I could do nothing else. And then I gathered everything together and restored it to the haversack, strapping it up firmly, and consigning it to oblivion until such time as I could sort it out properly, ready for my next tramp. {226} CHAPTER XX VINDOLANDA, CORSTOPITUM, BEWCASTLE There are a few places not within the line of a direct walk along the Wall from sea to sea which yet form part of our subject, because they have close associations with the Wall. The most important of these is actually one of the forts _per lineam Valli_, though it lies a mile to the south of the Wall. This is called Vindolana on the _Notitia_ list, but a recently discovered altar shows the correct spelling of the name to have been VINDOLANDA. VINDOLANDA. The fort of Vindolanda is at Chesterholm, about a mile south from Hotbank on the Wall. To reach it, we can take a turning on the south side of Wade's Road, near Bradley Hall, keeping to the left, or we can cut across the fields from Highshield farm-house. The green platform of the fort stands out very conspicuously, and will be easily recognized by any one who is getting to know what to look for. It rises up immediately to the west of the little hamlet {227} of Chesterholm, half buried in its nest of trees; and the heathery hill of Barcombe shelters both from the east winds. If we approach the fort by the road, it brings us past a Roman milestone, the only one still standing in its original position on the Stanegate, which runs east and west here. The milestone stands about 5 feet above the ground and is about 6 feet in circumference. Vindolanda is supposed to be one of Agricola's forts on the Stanegate.