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Hadrian's Wall on England-Scotland Borders Awaits Hiking Lovers

In this July 3, 2018 photo, a stretch of Hadrian's Wall cuts through the northern English countryside, near Birdoswald Fort, Cumbria. (AP Photo/Jerry Harmer)
In this July 3, 2018 photo, a stretch of Hadrian's Wall cuts through the northern English countryside, near Birdoswald Fort, Cumbria. (AP Photo/Jerry Harmer)
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Hadrian's Wall on England-Scotland Borders Awaits Hiking Lovers

In this July 3, 2018 photo, a stretch of Hadrian's Wall cuts through the northern English countryside, near Birdoswald Fort, Cumbria. (AP Photo/Jerry Harmer)
In this July 3, 2018 photo, a stretch of Hadrian's Wall cuts through the northern English countryside, near Birdoswald Fort, Cumbria. (AP Photo/Jerry Harmer)

The Hadrian's Wall is one of many remains of fortifications built by the Roman Empire after invading Britain in the second century A.D.

The wall's original structure stretched over 73 mile (117 kilometers) within the English countryside, near the borders between modern Scotland and England. It extends in the west and the east, from Wallsend and Newcastle to the River Tame in the East.

The Roman soldiers constructed it in six years starting from the eastern side. The wall is enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered a popular tourist landmark. It was originally built upon the orders of Emperor Hadrian in 122 A.D. to support thousands of troops deployed to watch the borders with Scotland.

Hiking lovers can walk this path in both directions, and those who have time can start their hike from Carlisle in Solway Firth, a water outlet that separates Scotland and England.

Experts suggest the best hiking route is the one extending from Carlisle or Haltwhistle to Corbridge. Hikers who take it would need three to five days to reach Newcastle, according to the German News Agency.

On the path's sides, hikers would see green pastures, rocky hills, and some grey rural houses that appear on their way. They would also enjoy a soothing scene of cattle pasturing under the trees. Haltwhistle, which marks the middle of the itinerary, is a 700-year-old town that still features ancient rural houses known as "Bastle" that are open to the public. These houses were constructed by locals in the 16th and 17th centuries amid constant threats by the soldiers dominating England and Scotland.

It is thought that the Hadrian's Wall was the inspiration behind the famous ice wall separating the seven fictional kingdoms from the wild lands beyond in George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones.

The great appeal to walk along the Hadrian's Wall is partly attributed to the banners spread along the road, in addition to the scenery that accompanies the hikers during their trip, and not to the wall itself. The itinerary extends between the hills and valleys, and passes by fields full of cattle, animals, and flowers.

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Young Mammoth Remains Found Nearly Intact in Siberian Permafrost

Researchers stand behind glass fencing as they show the carcass of a baby mammoth, which is estimated to be over 50,000 years old and was found in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagaika crater in the Verkhoyansky district of Yakutia - Reuters
Researchers stand behind glass fencing as they show the carcass of a baby mammoth, which is estimated to be over 50,000 years old and was found in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagaika crater in the Verkhoyansky district of Yakutia - Reuters
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Young Mammoth Remains Found Nearly Intact in Siberian Permafrost

Researchers stand behind glass fencing as they show the carcass of a baby mammoth, which is estimated to be over 50,000 years old and was found in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagaika crater in the Verkhoyansky district of Yakutia - Reuters
Researchers stand behind glass fencing as they show the carcass of a baby mammoth, which is estimated to be over 50,000 years old and was found in the Siberian permafrost in the Batagaika crater in the Verkhoyansky district of Yakutia - Reuters

Researchers in Siberia are conducting tests on a juvenile mammoth whose remarkably well-preserved remains were discovered in thawing permafrost after more than 50,000 years.

The creature, resembling a small elephant with a trunk, was recovered from the Batagaika crater, a huge depression more than 80 metres (260 feet) deep which is widening as a result of climate change.

The carcass, weighing more than 110 kg (240 pounds), was brought to the surface on an improvized stretcher, said Maxim Cherpasov, head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory in the city of Yakutsk, according to Reuters.

He said the mammoth was probably a little over a year old when it died, but tests would enable the scientists to confirm this more accurately. The fact that its head and trunk had survived was particularly unusual.

"As a rule, the part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds. Here, for example, even though the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved," Cherpasov told Reuters.

It is the latest of a series of spectacular discoveries in the Russian permafrost. Last month, scientists in the same vast northeastern region - known as Sakha or Yakutia - showed off the 32,000-year-old remains of a tiny sabre-toothed cat cub, while earlier this year a 44,000-year-old wolf carcass was uncovered.