A border fence from ancient times: Hadrian's Wall in England
BRAMPTON, England (AP) — "Looks like we brought the weather with us from California," the elderly tourist says, pulling on a hat and strolling past me. He disappears up a grass slope, beneath a brilliant, blue sky, his wife beside him.
It's the first of several American accents I hear that morning. Perhaps they've come to see what a real border fence looks like.
Because that's precisely what's drawn them, and me, to this remote and spectacular part of northern England: an imposing, defensive barrier meant to keep the bad guys out and the good guys safe.
At least, that's how the ancient Romans would have seen it.
Hadrian's Wall — named after the emperor who commissioned it — was begun in the second century, in the year 122.