Hadrian's Wall Plaque

The Three Cousins

BW Babe Posing on a Stile

The Roman Fort

Farmhouse in Roman Fort - Now used as a Group Hostel

Three Cousins Posing at the East Gate of the Fort

Long Meg and her Daughters
Druid Stone Circle

Long Meg with My Cousin's Husband and Their Friend

One of the Carvings on Long Meg

The Three Cousins Failed to do the Outlander Leap into the Past

Gretna Green

Gretna Green

Erected to the Memory of John Dunwoodie who died at the Elebehead of Ruthwell on the 25th day of August 1786 in the 72nd year of his age.

Word of the Day

Tarmac - A native of tarnation; tarmacs are almost always going somewhere, but make awful tour guides.

I managed to fit in an hour of yoga and a shower before BW Babe and I headed on down to get some breakfast. I am so glad that I took some time to do the yoga. It really woke me up and got me moving this morning. As a result, our full day of touring and walking didn't knock me off my feet...except when I almost slipped on some rain-slicked pavement.

Our tour guide picked us up at 9 AM and we headed out immediately for our tour of Hadrian's Wall. BW Babe and I have never been to England before. Wow! We can now say that we've been in Ireland, Scotland AND England. We got our first taste of Hadrian's Wall at the Banks East Turret to Piper Sikes Turret. Just a short stop before we continued on to the Birdoswald Roman Fort, part of Hadrian's Wall. It was amazing to see how much of the fort remains. My cousin and her husband and BW Babe and I all walked the entire perimeter of the fort while trying to avoid ticking off too many sheep. At one point, I was concerned to see them chuffing at us but no-one got attacked. However, we did get a few sheepish looks of disgust.

After looking at the café's luncheon offerings at the visitor's center at Hadrian's Wall, we decided to snack on granola bars (provided by my cousin and her husband) and fruit juice (provided by our guide, Donny). Munching happily, Donny drove us to our next destination. Some of the local roads are REALLY narrow! About the fourth time we had to pull off to the far left side of the road to let three very LARGE tractors go by, we were all a bit edgy (pardon the pun) but it was that fourth and final time when some sort of HUGE mower squeaked by us that my cousin squeaked in protest and Donny commented, "Oh, Sugar!"

Risking life and limb, we continued on to visit Long Meg and her Daughters, a Druid Stone Circle. BW Babe, my cousin, and I all tried to see if we could try duplicating the Outlander effect...but, we're still here, We'll be visiting more stone circles tomorrow so maybe we'll have better luck then. We did notice what looked like prayer bundles or ribbons hanging from the lower branches of a couple large trees in the center of the circle. Also, someone made offerings at the base of Long Meg, the largest stone in the circle.  It was interesting to ponder the similarities that BW Babe and I found to our experiences of last summer when we attended and participated in an Indian sweat lodge.

Piling back into the van, we continued on to what wasn't the guys' favorite stop. Gretna Green. My cousin had heard of the place...vaguely, but none of them knew of its history. BW Babe and I have read enough Regency historical novels to know exactly what Gretna Green was and its history. Actually, it was pretty much a tourist trap but, what the heck, I've seen it. The next time I read a book that mentions Gretna Green, I can say that I've been there.

Finally, Donny took us back to the Ruthwell churchyard so we could get a closer look at the gravestone that we thought could be a relative. I'd mentioned earlier that sometimes all it takes to read some of these old grave stones is a good brush and some water. Donny produced both so we headed over to the marker that we'd visited yesterday and started cleaning. Soon, it became apparent that the name on this grave stone wasn't James Dunwiddie but James Mundell. Oh well...all was not lost. Donny to the rescue. All of a sudden he shouted out, "I found one!" and then proceeded to apologize all over the place for treating this like some sort of sporting event. Donny is so funny! After a lot of scrubbing with water and brush, we were able to make out the following inscription: Erected to the Memory of John Dunwoodie who died at the Elebehead of Ruthwell on the 25th day of August 1786 in the 72nd year of his age. Maybe a distant cousin?

Returning back to our hotel, Donny was nice enough to drive us downtown to a local pub called Cavens Arms which has won best pub of the year for 2013. It has earned this title of best pub for the last seven years. The food was excellent! Although Donny graciously dropped us off at the pub, we were on our own for our 2 1/2 mile hike back to the hotel. It was "soft"...damp weather...so I'm really glad that I brought my umbrella tonight. All told, it took us about 30 minutes...maybe longer, to walk back to our hotel but we discovered a wonderful garden park on our way home that was totally unexpected.  It was called, The Chrichon Walk.  The plantings were spectacular...we even saw one pine with purple pine cones. We'll have to revisit the park again as we plan to eat at the Cavens Arms tomorrow night too....it was too good an experience not to repeat.

Random Quote of the Day

Little by little, one travels far.

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973)