At "Cuddy's" (Cuthbert's) Crag near Borcovicus is one of the most picturesque bits of scenery to be found on the whole course of the Wall. My first acquaintance with it was made on a day of grey mist and drizzling rain, which completely hid any view of the surrounding country, and of necessity confined our attention to the stones (and wet grass!) immediately beneath our feet. But another visit was on a day of wind and sunshine, and in the company of a group of light-hearted students. We explored the ruins of Borcovicus, walked along the broad and broken top of the Wall, and climbed up hill and down dale with it under the pleasantest conditions, if a trifle breezy on the heights. June was at her traditional best, which she does not often vouchsafe to show us; flowers waved all around, amongst the grass and in the crannies between the stones, and more than once the lines at the head of this chapter were quoted by one to another. Again and again our progress was stayed while we admired the glorious view spread out all around, but especially was this the case at Cuddy's Crag. We looked westward over Crag Lough, its usually dark waters flashing in the afternoon sun; the three Loughs were all within view; away to the southward, beyond Barcombe Hill, and the site of Vindolana, Langley Castle could be seen, "standing four-square to all the winds that blew"; and further away again, beyond the valley of the South Tyne, to the southwest the faint outlines of Crossfell and Skiddaw. Northward it was quite easy to imagine oneself looking out over the Picts' country still, so far do the moorlands stretch, and so few are the signs of habitation. Rolling ridges stretch northward, wave upon wave, clothed with grass and heather, amongst which Parnesius and Pertinax went hunting with little Allo the Pict; to the northeast the heights of Simonside showed; and far beyond them, though more to the westward, the rounded summits of the Cheviots lay on the horizon.
A short distance westward from the Crag is Hot Bank farmhouse, a place which most visitors to the Wall remember with grateful feelings; for what is more refreshing, after a long tramp, than a farmhouse cup of tea accompanied by that most appetising of Northumbrian dainties, hot girdle cakes! The Visitors' Book at Hot Bank is a "civil list" of all the most learned and noted names in Great Britain, and many outside its shores, together with legions of humbler folk. In this it resembles the one at Cilurnum, which is the only other considerable station along the line of the Wall in Northumberland.