From Deb's Desk: We get to Scotland!

June 16, 2017 - After a restless night, I woke up this morning I woke up in York, England ready for new experiences. The seven other ladies I am traveling with split up into two rooms last night and there was a lot of snoring in room 304! LOL We are a noisy bunch but they are wonderful people to travel with and I am enjoying my new friends and roommates! Our goal was to meet at 7:30 for breakfast in the hotel and then explore the town. We just about made that time...almost.

York was at one time a walled city and portions of the wall remain today along with the guard tower which was directly across from our hotel on a raised embankment. There are many small charming shops of every variety - chocolates, fruits, flowers, bolts of fabric, antiques, even a Harry Potter store named "The Shop That Must Not Be Named". You HP fans will get that! The fish monger was happy to smile for a photo and we happened upon a local flea market where most everyone found a little something to bring home. I bought a vintage picture of one of the historic buildings in York to have as a memento.

Back into the big black van we loaded and hit the road through the picturesque northern English countryside. More charming cottages than we can count greet our eyes and the winding, twisting, up and down drive tests some of the ladies equilibrium. Thankfully, I do not suffer from motion sickness and I continue to enjoy the views.

Our destination is Hadrian's Wall. The 73 miles of Hadrian's Wall defended the northern frontier of Roman Britain for over 250 years. It is a World Heritage site and at these sites being a "senior" really pays off! On this vacation I am nearly 60 years old and because my birthday is within three months of buying a pass, I am allowed to enter some of these sites for free and the rest for half off. With many of the entry fees set at 15 to 20 pounds ($19 - $25) each, this is a significant savings and I am proud to whip out my membership card!

It takes us more than an hour to reach our destination but the many turrets, stone buildings, arched bridges, and the abundant greenery gives us plenty to see out the van windows. We see a lot of cattle along the way but the most charming to me is the hundreds of fields of grass that are bordered by stone walls and filled with sheep. The white woolly creatures appear to be the main animal crop of the area and I have seen several large livestock carriers three levels deep filled with them.

We arrived at Hadrian's Wall not knowing what to expect. In the parking lot some of the ladies changed into boots and shoes instead of sandals. We have had another lovely weather day so far, and as they change I chat with a man in a van who is making lunch inside his van. His set-up looks homemade and is a stripped out VW van with a curtain hanging behind the two front seats. Directly behind this is the kitchen area and he must have propane because he was eating some kind of hot soup and tea. Behind the seat he was sitting on a homemade sofa and laying on this was a very pregnant poodle. He told me she was due to whelp this weekend and she had spent a lot of time resting the last few days. He is a retired civic worker from the UK and is traveling about seeing more of the country and commented that his set up was quite comfortable and suited him. It appears that it makes into his bed. He chatted on a little bit about politics and the horrible fire in London - which I saw in a newspaper today - has over 100 fatalities and where we had been and where we were headed. Then it was time for me to be off to the wall.

We entered the gift shop and ticket area and rush for the restrooms as women do. Speaking of toilets, there was an example of the ancient Roman toilets here and I took a picture with Flat James and Flat Caden because I know how much little boys like bathroom humor. You see, the Roman toilets were a communal thing and men at the fort would sit on the toilets and chat and sometimes even eat! We exited out the back door to a scene like no other! Those beautiful rock walls that I love were bordering the fields and then I saw the path! An extremely long graveled path through a sheep pasture filled with sheep, then over a creek, and up and down and up, up, up a hill to the Roman ruins of a town. There is no question that this would be a good place for a fort because when I finally huffed and puffed my way to the top the view was magnificent and you could see for miles!

There was a museum explaining things at the site and then I walked around the ruins putting things together in my mind as to how it was set up and then wandered around the ruins. Sheep rule the area now and spring lambs were jumping on and off of some of the stones - a delight for the eyes. This section of the wall is 14 miles long and some people hike it from end to end but I am not. I did enjoy exploring what is nearby. I must tell you that the weather was sunny but very, very windy and by afternoon's end, finally a few drops of rain. Finishing our tour of the area we headed back to the van to reach our final destination - Scotland! It was odd that as we drove into Scotland the mist rolled into the valleys and made everything damp - just as I would expect!

When we arrived in Scotland we all clambered out for a group photo at a large rock with England on one side and Scotland on the other. Again, the wind was very strong and we certainly have a windblown look! We wound our way around the countryside till we reached Edinburgh and our hotel and dinner. We must get some rest as I know that a very full day is in store for us tomorrow!