We camped within walking distance of the best preserved part of Hadrian’s Wall and wasted no time checking out this impressive military line of defence. If you feel up-to-it, you can walk the entire length of this 117 km coast-to-coast stone wall that was built by the Romans along their northern most frontier to help control the barbarians beyond. Only a few kilometres away we visited the significant Roman ruins of Fort Vindolanda that archaeologists are still excavating and will be for many years to come. When seeing all of this infrastructure so far away from Rome, one can’t help being in complete awe of the power and might of this ancient empire.
We crossed the border into Scotland and spent our first night near Lockerbie in a great campground that was located within the grounds of a small castle. What a wonderful introduction to Scotland. We drove on into Edinburgh city and had a great time checking out its famous castle on the hill and then exploring the historic city below. Margot managed to find a local “Scottish Knitwear Designer” with beautiful handmade custom apparel and so we significantly helped Bill Baber reach his month’s end income target. On to St Andrews where we were pleasantly surprised to find that there is a great deal to this historic town besides it’s world-famous golf course. We actually managed to get time on the Old Course and played 18 exciting holes… unfortunately the 18 holes were limited to the putting practice greens only. Margot got real lucky and won the game (actually, I was trying to be nice to her… and the sun was in my eyes). I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of this game. After this fun but stressful game we visited “Jiggers” legendary pub at the end of the 17 hole to mellow-out and somehow got mixed up in a wedding stag with a large and friendly group of guys having fun and celebrating to the max. The old downtown is small but impressive and the great University in St Andrew is where Kate & Will first met and dated. The Castle and huge cathedral ruins were cool as well. From St. Andrews we drove through Dundee to visit the oldest working Scotch Distillery in Scotland. The Famous Grouse Distillery has been producing fine Scotch whiskey since 1775. The small distillery is filled with character and we had a great tour and tasting. Stirling was next in line and we were impressed with this little city. We discovered that this area is truly the heart of Scotland. From the top of the impressive memorial tower to William Wallace you can see his battlefield below (Braveheart), the castle across the valley, and the battlefield of Robert the Bruce in the distance. On through Glasgow and down the coast to the wonderful Culzean Castle. We stayed a short distance away at Turnberry and had a chance to check out the famous golf course with hotel that Donald Trump has purchased and is spending a fortune on fixing-up. It will be opening this summer and it will definitely be first class. On our way out of Scotland we stopped to pay tribute to Robert Burns at his birthplace near Ayr where they have an impressive museum and park in his honour. We were sorry to leave this friendly Scotland behind.
For a number of reasons we’ve decided to forgo Ireland and save that beautiful country for another adventure (sorry Terry) so now we’re quickly heading south and starting to plan our re-entry into Europe.

We’ve covered a substantial amount of ground since Lands End. Heading northward through mid England we’ve stumbled across many very interesting places between the “big-name” tourist destinations. Unfortunately trying to describe all these great “little” finds would require blogging in the extreme so you’ll just have to wait until we get home and on request (or not), we’ll yak “on-and-on” about them for as long as you can stand it. Having said all that, there is one place that does deserve a special mention. Ironbridge Gorge is where the Industrial Revolution was kick started and the impressive 1779 Iron bridge spanning the gorge was its catalyst. Engineers from around the world came to marvel at this wonderful new structure and then went home with new ideas on how to create things with this brand-new super material. Interestingly, 237 years ago they were still trying to figure out how to work with steel and cast iron so they opted to build this bridge using popular woodworking joinery methods and under closer examination you’ll see common techniques such as dovetail and pinned mortise & tenon joints throughout. As for other major tourist centres, we’ve done our best to touch base with as many as possible including Bath, Bristol, Wells, Stratford-upon-Avon, Chester, Manchester, Liverpool and York and I think we did a fairly good job of covering the highlights of each. I will admit however that a big highlight for us was our Beatles “mania day” in Liverpool where we visited the Cavern Club, took a National Trust special tour of Paul and John’s childhood homes, waved hello to Strawberry Fields and walked the circle at Penny Lane, what a fun day. By-the-way, the downtown waterfront area of Liverpool deserves a big shout-out as a great place to wander, shop or just hang-out.
Unfortunately we don’t have the time to cover everything so as we move about we’re sometimes forced to make difficult decisions as to what we see and what we add to our wish list. On top of that wish list will be Cambridge, Norwich and Nottingham. Scotland is now close at hand and we’re looking forward to eating Haggis to the sweet and mellow sound of the bag pipes. Wish you could join us!