In the Steps of Legionnaires

In the middle of the first century BC, England stood at the extreme outskirts of a vast Roman Empire that spanned much of the European continent.  Julius Caesar led expeditions to England in 54 BC, defeated the Celts and withdrew when they agreed to pay taxes to Rome.  A century later the Romans invaded again and stayed.  By 47AD they controlled the entire country and set about building an infrastructure of roads and cities. Over the next 350 years cities such as London, Cirencester, York, Bath and the venue for this training walk, Chester, flourished.  With the decline of the Roman Empire and civilization through much of the 5th century, the technology, art and culture of the Roman period was abandoned, England was invaded by the Saxons and Europe plunged into the Dark Ages.  Some of the structures built by the Romans have survived however and can still be seen today.

Chester was founded by the Romans in 79AD and was one of the largest forts in the country.  A wall 2miles in length was built around the city and is still intact to this day.  A training walk (ok amble) around the 2 miles loop had to be done.

One of the nice parts of the walk around the walls is that it gives you a glimpse into all periods of English history without ever leaving the top of the wall.  For example, the walls were incorporated into the outer defenses of Chester castle when it was built in 1070

The site of the old Saxon church became a monestary in 1093 and then in 1538 (during the dissolution of the monasteries) became a cathedral.  For those of you of American persuasion, that means the church was about 300 years old when Christopher Columbus left in search of Asia and bumped into something else.

In the 13th Century, the area enclosed by the walls was developed into a Medieval market town and much of the downtown still comprises the most wonderful collection of buildings from the era.

Anyway, what were we doing here.  Oh yes, training walk.  Well in total it was probably 5 miles so doesn't really count.  There are some walks though that hurt and are good for the legs (10 miles at 5AM this morning in the drizzle for example) and there are some that are good for the mind and soul.  Both need to be celebrated.  Back to the training....