Researching EAGLE AND THE FLAME

Thought I would do something a bit different with the launch of Eagle and the Flame coming up, and do a blog post about the research that went into the book. Now obviously, I did a lot of reading on the period and other mundane things I won't bore you with here. But the most exciting thing I did was walk Hadrian's Wall! So, let me talk you through it.

I talked my friend Wayne into accompanying me on a five day trek from Newcastle to Carlisle. There was one carrot I had to dangle: Wayne and I have an old school friend called Harry who left sunny Kent many years ago to go and be a cow farmer in Cumbria. It's not often we get to meet up with him, so I thought if I suggested our five days of hell would end with him swimming in beer in Carlisle with our old mate he would agree. And he did!

So, on a bank holiday Sunday in May, Wayne and I got the train from London to Newcastle, disembarking to find the weather glorious and Newcastle FC were playing at home against Arsenal. They won 2-0, so we therefore spent a very enjoyable afternoon touring Newcastle's pubs full of happy Geordie's sinking enough beer to make us forget we had a very early start the next morning.

Long story short - we staggered out of a nightclub at 3am and then had to set our alarms for 7am on the Monday morning. Wasn't the most auspicious start!

Here I am shortly after we set off on the Monday morning! You can practically smell the stale alcohol pouring out of me! We walked 22 miles on the first day, not seeing any of the Wall itself, but getting out of Newcastle and into the country. It rained ALL DAY. Like non-stop. I've never known anything like it. I had bought some walking shoes for the trip and they did me proud. Wayne, however, had not, and was wearing shoes he used to walk his dogs! Needless to say, his feet were soaked and blistered when we reached our B&B in the evening!

Here's a video I took at the end of day one, as we reached Heddon on the Wall (which is VERY pretty) Note it's still raining!! The walk was stunning though, crop fields blossoming in the spring. Despite the rain and our hangovers, we had a great time!

After some more beer (got to stay hydrated) we slept like the dead. Day two started with our first sighting of the Wall!

This was very exciting for me! It meant we could put down the maps and pretty much just follow it for the rest of the day. To make matters even better, the sun came out! Our coats stored away in our bags, we followed the wall for just over 20 miles in good spirits. Below are some of the best pictures I took on the day.

moo!

Vindobala appears in Eagle and the Flame! Sadly nothing left to see other than this sign

How's that for a view!

Cows and views are all well and good, but the best thing about the day was visiting Chesters Fort! Known to the Romans as Deva, there are some really well-preserved ruins there, and I spent a couple of hours getting a real feel for the place. Pics below.

Chesters also has a great museum which is well worth a visit. Unfortunately I was pressed for time by the time when I got there and didn't get any pictures! So that was day two. We ended it in a little village called Simonburn in the middle of nowhere, sleeping in a little B&B.

Day three was another twenty odd miles, and this was where we got a real treat! Some of the best preserved parts of the Wall are quite central, and we got to walk the lot. Sadly, we skipped hopping south to see Vindolanda due to time, though I had been there a couple of years before. Here's a video of me standing on the Wall on the third day.

Love the way the land just drops away. A Roman soldier really would have thought they were at the edge of the world

And here's some snaps I took along the way.

The Wall!

That was a long way up

Privileged I got to see Sycamore Gap before some idiot cut it down. Even had lunch under it (It rained like hell just after we sat down to eat!)

My friend Harry told me you know you're in the north when you see Gorse bushes. I hadn't known that, and made sure it went in a book!

A temple of Mithras! Not much there to see, but amazing to go and stand within the walls

Turret towers are present all the way along the Wall

This was the best day in terms of the views and the quality of the ruins we passed. It was also the toughest in terms of walking. At points we were so high up you could see the weather changing and the rain coming for you! Lots of ups and downs, tough on the knees and ankles! But very much worth it.

There was also a stark change in the country as we walked west. The crop fields gave way to grazing land. You could see how thin the soil was and how unsuited it would be to growing food.

That night we stayed in another B&B, and prepared ourselves for what was our last big day of walking. The Wall faded away as we walked, and the weather took another turn for the worse. We were rained on for most of the day, and were quite happy to reach our beds come the end of it!

After this there isn't really much to show you. We walked another day into Carlisle, though it was only 12 miles or so and felt a breeze compared to what we had already done! There were no more sightings of the Wall, and there are none west of Carlisle either. But it was on the last stretch I really put some thought into what I had learned.

Firstly, Roman soldiers really were Gods among men. Twenty plus miles they could walk a day, carrying 30kg of kit on their backs. At day's end they would build a marching camp, set up their tents and get as much rest as they could. Oh, and every now and again, they had to fight a battle!

Secondly, it is no surprise to me the Romans built the Wall. Although they built another further north and held it for a short amount of time, seeing the empty country fall away to the north as we walked confirmed to me they did the right thing. There is just too much open country, valleys, hills, for even the Romans to efficiently police.

Thirdly, the ever changing weather in northern Britain must have driven the Romans mad! People came from Africa, Italy, Greece, Turkey, all to serve on the Wall. I imagine they missed the sun! Winter's must have been bleak.

Here, then, is where I got the idea to have my main character in Eagle and the Flame to be a scout. Sixtus Victorinus is a tribune of the miles areani, a scouting unit that kept an eye on the Caledonians north of the Wall. There was so much scope for me to work with. The book opens with Victorinus and his men trying and failing to track an army of Caledonians moving south. This came from me staring out into the immense landscapes, wondering how easy it would have been for the tribes north of the Wall to sneak into the empire for raids. It must have been near on impossible to stop.

I won't spoil the rest of the story here, but needless to say, the stunning scenery of northern England more than plays its part.

So here then is my little adventure across Britain. Worth every minute, and an experience I will definitely repeat at some point in the future!

Eagle and the Flame is out July 30th, and you can order yourself a copy right here!

Oh, and if you were wondering what happened when we got to Carlisle - we did this!

Wayne and Harry throwing some axe!