Vindolanda is the place where the Romans on the northern frontier start to sound like people. The fort stood on the Stanegate road, just south of the wall, and for several centuries it was rebuilt again and again, each new fort laid on top of the last. The damp, airless soil preserved wood and leather, and in 1973 archaeologists found thin wooden writing tablets covered in ink, letters written by soldiers, officers and their families in about AD 100. They are the oldest handwritten documents found in Britain.
The tablets are wonderfully ordinary. One is an invitation to a birthday party, sent by a woman named Claudia Severa to her friend Sulpicia Lepidina, the wife of the fort's commander, and it contains a line in the sender's own handwriting, the earliest known writing by a woman in Latin. Another is a note from a soldier thanking someone for a parcel of socks and underpants, which is the kind of detail that makes the past seem close. Alongside the tablets, the diggers have recovered shoes, combs, textiles and weapons, many on display in the site museum.
The fort is still being excavated each summer, so you may see archaeologists at work, kneeling in trenches among the stone foundations of barracks, granaries and a commander's house. A reconstructed section of wall and a turret help you picture the scene, and the setting, on a high ridge above the valley with the Northumberland moors in view, is superb. The nearby Housesteads fort, one of the best-preserved on the wall, makes a good companion visit.
The road past Vindolanda, along the Stanegate and the valley of the South Tyne, is pleasant riding, with quiet lanes, farm gates and good views, and the Military Road to the north is a fine challenge. Weather can change quickly, with wind and rain on the ridge, so pack waterproofs. Summer weekends can be busy with visitors, so arrive early. The museum has fixed opening hours and seasons, so check before you go.
Haltwhistle, about six kilometres away, and Hexham have fuel stations, shops and cafés, and there is a tearoom at the site. Try a plate of local lamb or a Northumbrian pasty, and give yourself a couple of hours, since the site rewards slow looking.