High Street – Roman Road

Looking at Roman High Street in the Lake District, UK

We were on the Coast to Coast track. As the wind rose the temperature dropped. We stopped and put on our wet weather gear and beanies. The wind relentlessly nipped at our ears. The gusting of the wind and the swirling of the clouds added to the beauty of this stark wilderness and I took photos to remind me that we had actually been here.

Continuing on around to the far side of The Knott we arrived at a saddle between two ridges. On the right was the magnificent fell, known as High Street. It was named after a Roman road, which followed the ridge. The Romans built their roads as straight as possible, following the most direct route over the fells, to avoid British ambushes.

As we stood on the saddle in the howling gale admiring High Street, Carol shouted: “What were the Romans doing up here when they could have been down in town enjoying lovely cream scones!”
“We should be down there too!” I yelled, shouting against the wind. A yellow tinge appeared, adding to the eeriness of the darkening sky.

A corpulence of clouds hovering over the next set of ridges began to weep vertical plumes of rain over the fells. Kidsty Pike next. Then down to Bampton Grange for the promised scones and tea.

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