Saturday 9 May. Corbridge

My main task for the day was pretty straightforward - find a laundromat and do a load of washing. The one very close by was a commercial laundry but would do it for £25. I felt I could do better elsewhere! Couldn’t find any in Corbridge but Google offered one in Hexham, only a couple of miles away. When I got there it was closed so Google offered me another one in Hexham and tried to take me the wrong way down a one way street. This has happened a couple of times and I suspect there are lots of changes in these narrow streets. I eventually found the address but had to ask in a petrol station where it was. Turned out to be down a driveway, next to a car wash and not in a building.

I loaded my washing, paid by card and pressed start, then sat in the car and read my book for half an hour. When it was finished I moved it into the dryer and repeated the procedure. 15 minutes later it was almost dry so back I went and hung it on hangers in my room to finish off.

Today has been miserably cold. My weather app said 8 degrees but feels like 1. I’d have said even less when I was standing listening to a volunteer guide tell us all about Corbridge Roman Town. This town predates Hadrian and his wall. The Romans came here looking for lead and found it. It was a fort for a while and then after the wall was built became a town where the soldiers from the wall used to have a bit of R & R.

The ruins that we saw were huge granaries right beside the Roman road, where grain could be easily unloaded. The big open area was a forum with shops around the edges. You can see where the walls of the shops were. Another interesting spot was a deep chamber with stairs leading down. This was a vault where people could pay to keep their valuables safe.

The biggest find here was a wooden box with spare parts for soldiers uniforms. People knew from carvings and murals what Roman soldiers’ uniforms looked like but they didn’t know exactly how they were made. The contents of the box had rusted and virtually mummified the pieces within and from this archaeologists could work out all the parts of the uniforms.

I was still freezing cold when I got back into the car and headed for the nearest cafe and a bowl of pumpkin soup.