Cultural Routes and Heritage Trails - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 41

the Spanish-French border from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and takes
45 days on average to complete. While much of this experience involves weav-
ing to and fro across the border and appreciating the border landscapes, it is
as much a nature-based trail as it is a cultural trail. There are, however, other
border-based trails where the borderline itself is the main attraction.
There are several different types of political borders, but their discussion
is beyond the scope of this topic. One type, however, is necessary to mention
in the present discussion: relict boundaries. These are former borders that no
longer function as political divides, but their imprint on the earth is still vis-
ible in the cultural landscape. There are a number of relict boundaries that
function as heritage attractions in Europe, Asia and Africa (Timothy, 2001).
Many of these relict boundaries and their remnants have become prized
resources for heritage routes today. Among the most perceptible are Hadrian's
Wall, the Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China.
Hadrian's Wall was erected between 122 and 127 AD as a barrier between
the Romans and the 'barbarians' to the north. It functioned as a fortification
and political border to mark the northern limits of Rome in Great Britain.
Some historians believe it functioned then much as international borders
function today, as lines separating states, as filters for people and products
coming through, as a defensive rampart, and as a point to levy customs
duties on imports into the Empire (Everitt, 2009). Today, the wall is for the
most part well preserved and one of England's most popular heritage attrac-
tions. It meanders across the width of northern England from Bowness-on-
Solway to Wallsend. Its ruins comprise stone walls, tower footings, fortress
remnants, berms and turrets. Much of the wall is owned and managed in a
collaborative effort between the National Trust and English Heritage.
Hadrian's Wall is one of the UK's most important cultural corridors
(Coleman, 1994; McGlade, 2014; Usherwood, 1996), and in the 1990s, the Heri-
tage Lottery Fund provided a sizable grant to the Countryside Commission
(England) to develop a 140 km pathway along the wall as a tourist attraction
and venue for leisure walkers (Leisure Management, 1997). Hadrian's Wall
was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987, and Hadrian's
Wall Path National Trail was subsequently opened in 2003. Since that time,
the trail has become one of England's most popular long-distance footpaths.
On average, walking the entire route takes seven days.
Following the 1989-1990 dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the subse-
quent reunification of the two Germanies, several pieces of the wall and
many of the fortifications associated with it were preserved as tourist attrac-
tions and political memorials to the divided heritage of Germany. Beyond
Berlin, some parts of the former border between East and West Germany
have also been preserved, and several border museums ( Grenzmuseum ) have
been developed to remember and interpret the 41-year division of Germany.
There have been several movements since the 1990s to promote the former
Iron Curtain as a tourist trail, beginning in the far north where Finland