When Hadrian commissioned his great wall in AD 122, he ordered six forts be built along its length, a castle every mile, and two watchtowers between each milecastle. With today's visit to the Castle Keep in Newcastle (from which the modern city gets its name), we have been to the site of five of the six forts. There is nothing left of the fort at Pons Aelius (the bridge of Aelius: Hadrian's family name), but there is a fun Norman keep. We climbed all the way to the roof up the scariest spiral stairs we've yet seen to some beautiful views on this beautiful day, our last here. The two modern bridges you see in the background are the main car and pedestrian routes, respectively, to the city of Gateshead across the River Tyne. The pedestrian bridge is an engineering marvel - it's a drawbridge that hinges at its abutments and swings vertically out of a passing ship's path.
We visited the Diamond pub one last time, and much to our delight the man in grey was still there, as was cask conditioned Black Sheep ale, our favorite on this trip. Having said our goodbyes to the beer barrels, we are now ready to travel for 30-some hours tomorrow. The only form of motorized trasport we won't use is a boat! We will post if time and brain allow. Thanks for reading this, and we look forward to showing you all of our pictures when we return.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Homesick now
We could think of no more fitting way to spend our second to last day in Newcastle than by attending a football match. We slept in a bit at Simon's, mostly shook off the exertions of last night on the town, and wandered into the team store to get tickets. According to our friends here, there's been a great deal of drama within the home team's leadership, leading up to the sudden departure of the manager (we would say coach) the day we first arrived here. Today's match was N.U.'s third or fourth without a leader, and the team has not been doing well. They are a good team, it's just that morale is in the toilet right now. So today's match was an instructive one for us: we were really there more for the people-watching than for the actual game, and the crowd obliged by being large, mostly supportive of the team, and extraordinarily vocal. You see, soccer fans don't just yell, they sing. In unison. All 53,000 of them. It was awesome!
We are having a great time here, but we both feel ready to head home soon. It's hard work being a stranger in a strange land, and we really miss our friends, colleagues, and cats. After all, there's no place like home. See you soon.
We are having a great time here, but we both feel ready to head home soon. It's hard work being a stranger in a strange land, and we really miss our friends, colleagues, and cats. After all, there's no place like home. See you soon.
Make way for the princess
Today's trip was to the highly defensible town of Durham and its cathedral, said by many to be the finest example of Norman, that is Romanesqe, architecture in England and resting place of Saint Cuthbert. We'd been looking forward to climbing the bell tower, which at 280 feet is the highest in Europe, according to the guide. Apparently they also have some beautiful reliquaries and devotional art, not to mention the Saint's lovely shrine. To our dissappointment, all these were closed and visiting hours severely curtailed due to the imminent arrival of Princess Anne. We mere peasants were made to go have a pint on the riverside in the warm sunshine. Durham Brewery's fine cream ale did much to restore our spirits, and we had a lovely time exploring the medieval streets, vennels, and market places.
Then it was on to an evening with Simon and Jill, who took us out to sample a bit of real Newcastle nightlife. Northern Soul is apparently alive and well, as evidenced by the fabulous funk band we heard. We shook our moneymakers until Sam couldn't stand anymore, and walked back to Simon's sweet garret flat for a well-earned rest.
Then it was on to an evening with Simon and Jill, who took us out to sample a bit of real Newcastle nightlife. Northern Soul is apparently alive and well, as evidenced by the fabulous funk band we heard. We shook our moneymakers until Sam couldn't stand anymore, and walked back to Simon's sweet garret flat for a well-earned rest.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Hotspur! (Not the musical.)
Well here we are on one of our last days out and about and it was a good one. Not only was it our ninth wedding anniversary, it was sunny and we got to explore a spectacular castle ruin near the equally fine coastal town of Amble. The castle overlooks a small bay and the North Sea beyond. We found it hard to photograph due to its size and general complexity. The best part was the three-story keep which we ran all around in and felt quite lost in a bygone century.
We had Angus' nephew Simon with us who was kind enough to drive us to each of our destinations today. We started out the day in search of 'proper' fish and chips which took us to no less than three coastal towns before we found our quarry. 'Proper' must come in newspaper, be comprised of a large chunk of fried fish and deep-fried or 'batter' sausage should be on the menu as well.
We spent the afternoon in Alnwick gardens, which were not as cool as advertised, but had some pretty neat water sculptures. Even though it's hard by Alnwick castle, the garden is cunningly designed so as to allow no views of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland's residence. The treehouse was a highlight, although tea was not available at four pm, but it did feel as if we'd gone to Endor, sans Ewoks.
We had Angus' nephew Simon with us who was kind enough to drive us to each of our destinations today. We started out the day in search of 'proper' fish and chips which took us to no less than three coastal towns before we found our quarry. 'Proper' must come in newspaper, be comprised of a large chunk of fried fish and deep-fried or 'batter' sausage should be on the menu as well.
We spent the afternoon in Alnwick gardens, which were not as cool as advertised, but had some pretty neat water sculptures. Even though it's hard by Alnwick castle, the garden is cunningly designed so as to allow no views of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland's residence. The treehouse was a highlight, although tea was not available at four pm, but it did feel as if we'd gone to Endor, sans Ewoks.
Hotspur! (Not the musical.)
Well here we are on one of our last days out and about and it was a good one. Not only was it our ninth wedding anniversary, it was sunny and we got to explore a spectacular castle ruin near the equally fine coastal town of Amble. The castle overlooks a small bay and the North Sea beyond. We found it hard to photograph due to its size and general complexity. The best part was the three-story keep which we ran all around in and felt quite lost in a bygone century.
We had Angus' nephew Simon with us who was kind enough to drive us to each of our destinations today. We started out the day in search of 'proper' fish and chips which took us to no less than three coastal towns before we found our quarry. 'Proper' must come in newspaper, be comprised of a large chunk of fried fish and deep-fried or 'batter' sausage should be on the menu as well.
We spent the afternoon in Alnwick gardens, which were not as cool as advertised, but had some pretty neat water sculptures. Even though it's hard by Alnwick castle, the garden is cunningly designed so as to allow no views of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland's residence. The treehouse was a highlight, although tea was not available at four pm, but it did feel as if we'd gone to Endor, sans Ewoks.
We had Angus' nephew Simon with us who was kind enough to drive us to each of our destinations today. We started out the day in search of 'proper' fish and chips which took us to no less than three coastal towns before we found our quarry. 'Proper' must come in newspaper, be comprised of a large chunk of fried fish and deep-fried or 'batter' sausage should be on the menu as well.
We spent the afternoon in Alnwick gardens, which were not as cool as advertised, but had some pretty neat water sculptures. Even though it's hard by Alnwick castle, the garden is cunningly designed so as to allow no views of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland's residence. The treehouse was a highlight, although tea was not available at four pm, but it did feel as if we'd gone to Endor, sans Ewoks.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Ave Maria, and Maria, and Maria
Our last day on the wall was short on walking and long on looking. We backtracked for a few miles to the cutoff to Lanercost Priory and its beautiful parish church (Anglican) and the ruined abbey (Catholic). Not surprisingly, this was the fifth or sixth St. Mary's we've come across. It was also a great example of what went on here during the religious troubles of the late Tudor period. We had a great look around, then caught the AD 122 bus to the immense fort and archeological dig at Vindolanda. Their museum is excellent, entirely filled with items from the site and well interpreted, to give a vibrant picture of daily life in a Roman outpost. Town, really - in addition to the legions, there was a substantial civilian presence there. Our favorite parts were standing on the full-size replica wall and shouting insults at sheep, learning about the many uses of hair moss, marveling at the preserved leather goods and silver ear cleaners, and playing find-the-phallus in all the engraved stones. Romans had dirty minds, I'm here to say. Now we're back in Ponteland, resting up for a day driving north with Simon tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Mille Passum
Willowford Farm was totally awesome! If you are ever in the north of England, Liam and the gals will treat you right, and feed you better than anywhere else. And as for tourist value, the Wall runs through the place, and most of the buildings are made from parts of it. When we put together our farm B&B, all you who are in on that crazy plan, these folks make a great model - and they are our age. From there we rambled across easy, if mucky, pasture land to the imaginatively named village of Walltown and the Centurion Inn, which makes up for its lumpy beds with fabulous trout, local craft ales, and a decent selection of single malt scotches, not to mention the friendly barmaid and the lively conversation. We needed all that after our walk today. Tomorrow: a shorter walk, more ruins, and return to Ponteland. Now: deep sleep, and dreams of large farm animals.
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