When I met her she was not at all the strong-minded female I had expected to see, but a gentle-looking young thing, a school teacher from Newcastle, and it was sheer timidity that had made her hide behind a wall when she saw us coming. However, she was delighted to have some one to talk to when she saw I was not shocked at her bare feet! She told me she was walking from Hexham to Crosby-on-Eden, and hoped to sleep at Gilsland that night. As for the Wall, she knew very little about it, but she hoped to learn more on the way. At the top of Limestone Bank I found a pictureesque encampment by the side of the road. Four horses were tethered, cropping the grass, while {105} two mothers and a swarm of children out of the caravan carts were busily employed in lighting a fire in the shelter of a little copse. Two men were collecting fuel, and in one of them I recognized the young man of the light cart. The women greeted me cheerily. They were making for Appleby Fair, and reckoned on doing about 20 miles a day. A mile-castle is easily distinguished on the right of the road, just opposite where the plantation ends. A piece of its wall has been uncovered. The military way is specially worthy of notice here, coming up to the south gateway of the mile-castle, for it is the first time we have come across it, with its curved surface and stone kerbs. We shall very frequently meet with it, where the Wall runs over the heights. From this summit can be noticed for the first time the curious formation of the hills in these parts, sloping up gradually from the south, and ending precipitously on the north, for all the world like a breaking wave; following each other also just like a succession of waves. The Romans made good use of this formation, planting the Wall and their forts on the very highest ridges, wherever it was possible. The Wall-ditch and the Vallum-ditch demand all our attention just over the crest of Limestone Bank. They have been cut through the solid basalt rock, {106} and huge boulders lie about still, just as they lay when the Roman workmen left them. Peewits and curlews now began to be very plentiful on this open moorland, the former flying round and round me, with their plaintive cry, fearful lest I should track their nests. I noticed how difficult it is to see their crests when they are flying; they lay them back so close to their heads. I suppose they would otherwise retard their flight. Speaking of crests, reminds me of an old lady who takes in visitors along the line of the Wall, and who has been heard to say that she much prefers to have "crested people" to stay with her! The west wind was getting stronger and colder as I walked on. Great pillars of cloud stood up against the deep blue sky to the north-west; while on the south-west, over Tindale Fell, it was raining hard.