Carlisle

Yesterday we travelled to Melrose and visited an old Abbey. It's a ruin now as are most but enough remains to give you an impression of it's former granduer. It would have been huge when complete. The outer walls are 3 stories high with spire, turrets and a bell tower even higher. The stone work is very ornate, especially around the doors and windows. It's main claim to fame is that the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried here. They have excavated the site and found an urn inscribed saying contained a heart so the rumour is probably true. From here we drove to Jedburgh and another Abbey from a different order of monks which was basically the same as Melrose. The layout and condition were about the same but Jedburgh was a bit larger.

Having had enough of Abbeys for one day we drove south to the border where there is a large marker rock with England inscribed on one side and Scotland the other. There was a lone piper on the Sotch side drawing a large crowd and nothing on the English. Took 1 last pic. of Sctland and 1 of England before continuing to Hadrians wall built by the Romans in 122 to 125 AD so nearly 2000 years old. It was originally 4.5M high and up to 2M thick with a fort built every Roman mile. Had a look at a few bits and then found an out of the way farm B and B. It was a real surprise. There were about 12 others staying so it was quite big, had a bar and restaurant and was full of crazy people who are walking the whole 80 miles of the wall

Hadrians wall

This morning we walked a few sections where the wall is still at it's best. In mplaces it is still over 2.5M high and we also went to several of the forts and sentry posts. It would have put the wall in China to shame if it had not been pulled to bits and the stones reused to build churches and castles in the centuries following the end of the Roman empire about 44 AD.

Tonight we are in Carlisle and will continue south to Wales over the next couple of days so text us that phone number Shaz or ring Bianca and she can pass it on