Tour Code

Arrive London

Depart London

RB

Your choice

Your choice

Price depends on number travelling and time of year.
Indicative price based on a minimum of six travelling is GB£

Student and College groups can save costs considerably by staying in Youth Hostels

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TENTATIVE ITINERARY

NIGHTSTOP

Day One

You arrive at London’s Heathrow airport to be met by your Back-Roads Touring Co. Guide. This afternoon (we’re assuming that everyone has arrived by mid-day) we’ll take advantage of the light Sunday London traffic and enjoy a brief overview of Roman Londinium. Our tour takes us into the heart of the financial district and into the ‘square mile’.

Day Two

Leaving London, we drive south-west. Our first stop will be at Reading Museum where we’ll see finds from nearby Silchester. Next to Silchester itself, the ancient capital of the Celtic Antrebates tribe. Here hexagonal walls enclose 107 acres, and excavations in the 1930 produced the most complete Roman town plan known in Britain.

Continuing south, we come to a pretty southern town built on the site of the first of the II Legion, Chichester. The main attraction here, however, is the palace of Fishbourne. This superb site, only found in 1960, has mosaics and a large formal garden, unique north of the Alps.

Day Three

Turning west, our first port of call is at Winchester. This was the ancient capital of the Saxons and the Roman point of interest here is largely the street layout. It’s a lovely city where you’ll also enjoy visiting the cathedral and mediaeval hall.

Then on to Sarum. The Romans placed a staging fort in this Iron Age hill fort. Its commanding position made it popular for reuse by the Norman’s and later mediaeval builders of Salisbury’s first cathedral. It’s an impressive site.

Our final visit on this well-filled day is Bath where we concentrate on the famed Roman pump room and bathhouse. This was a major ‘R and R’ point for the legions.

Day Four

In the Wales/England border counties of Gwent and Gloucester, we find a concentration of well preserved Roman sites including an amphitheatre at Caerleon (Isca) the legionary fortress of II Augusta, Caerwent, with its almost complete circuit of walls, Cirencester, the second largest town outside of London, and the superb villas at Chedworth and great Whitcombe in the region better known as the Cotswolds.

Day Five

Dominating eastern mid Wales are the mountains called the Brecon Beacons.  Here we’ll visit a well-reserved cavalry fort with remaining gates and standing walls of over 10’.

Next, to another fine remains, Wroxeter. It’s one of the few examples of a Roman town that have not been built over and it, too, has some excellent high standing walls. Displayed in nearby Shrewsbury Museum are finds from the site. What makes Wroxeter even more interesting are the continuing discoveries still being made in the region and one school of thought places Arthur’s Camelot here.

Day Six

Chester (Diva), home of originally of the Legio II Augusta then later the XX Valeria Victrix, boasts the remains of an amphitheatre, part of a quay (it sits on a navigable river) and magnificent Grosvenor Museum. There’s also part of a hypocaust lying beneath a modern-day shop that it is sometimes possible to visit.

We continue north some 25 miles or so, discovering in the middle of the extremely pretty county of Lancashire the little visited Ribchester. Though the site remains to be completely excavated, it has already produced some memorable finds including the famed Ribchester helmet, which we’ll see later on our tour in the British Museum.

Day Seven

We’ll visit first along the wall, walk one of the best preserved and most dramatic sections and tour several museums based actually at the wall to see some of the incredible finds that are still being turned up almost daily. If there is a dig current, we’ll take the advantage of visiting it.

We’ll be visiting the Northumbrian market town of Hexham where the mediaeval abbey houses some fascinating tombstones and one of the highlights of the tour, the new Roman museum at Segedunum, Wallsend, near Newcastle.

Day Eight

York was the legionary fortress of the IX and later VI. It was also the military capital of Britannia Inferior.

There is much to see amidst the remnants of later middle ages and mediaeval building work in this splendid city. We’ll find, for example, a remarkable expanse of painted plaster that has survived nearly 2000 years. In addition to this there are also long runs of city walls complete with towers, a bath house, and a museum that houses many city finds including tomb inscriptions, household implements, and a bust of Constantine the Great who was proclaimed Emperor here in 306 on the death of his father, Constantine the First.

York is a fantastic city with much to see in addition to the Roman artefacts and remains.

Day Nine

We travel south to London, first following Dere Street and then Ermine Street. Our route takes us through Leicester, a large town in the English midlands, now known for its shoe industry and football team but originally the capital of the Celtic Coritani tribe. The focus of our visit here will be some fine mosaics preserved in situ under the Old Central Station, and the Jewery Wall.

Our final stop before reaching Londinium is Verulamium, now known as St Albans and the third largest city in Roman Britain. The abbey here was built using Roman stone and tiles. The museum here is a model of its kind and a fitting visit for us. There’s also the only theatre in Britain that can be visited.

We follow the Fosse way into the capital.

Day Ten

Our day in London will be spent visiting those sites still able to be seen including the Walls and temple of Mithras. We’ll also visit both the British Museum and Museum of London to see important collections and special displays. A highlight of our tour, and an excellent climax, will be to visit one of the on-going digs in the city where we’ll hear from city archaeologists how the Roman city is being steadily uncovered, interpreted and preserved. New Roman remains and exciting finds are almost being discovered almost monthly (in 1999 a rich and undisturbed tomb to a Roman Princess was discovered) and perhaps we’ll be on-hand to witness a major find! It will provide a memorable last day.

Tonight we'll dine besides the River Thames, close by to the exact point where Julius Ceasar's legions crossed the river at the time of conquest.

© As we publish full tour descriptions, you may find others offering our unique itineraries.  But, just as you find when others sing the songs of Paul McCartney, they're often not quite as good as when sung by the original composer!