16th July 2021
In terms of sightseeing this was one of the things I had most looked forward to, a visit to Hadrians Wall. We were all up earlier than usual, and I had the car loaded before breakfast. After some excellent food, we checked out and were on the road by half 8. I had pre-booked tickets for the Roman Army Museum, which was literally just up the road. Unfortunately I had purchased the wrong ones, they were for a sister site, however they were kind enough to let us in anyway. Whilst relatively small, it is a total treasure trove. Childhood memories of reading Asterix & Obelix came flooding back as I looked at shields, swords, and a whole array of Roman artifacts. When we exited via the giftshop, they were even selling Asterix books, so I purchased one along with a couple of maps.
Next, we moved on to a car park around the corner that had a path leading to Hadrians Wall. There was a little shop there where we got a drink and an ice cream,, as well as a map of the wall. From the car park there is an uphill climb to reach the actual wall. Shani & Erin gave up halfway, but Ash & I soldiered on eventually reaching the peak to see, and touch, a very decent section of the wall. You get such a fantastic sense of history when there, and develop a sympathy for the poor soldiers who were stationed there.
As we bade farewell to Scotland, we were supposed to take a leisurely drive through the North Pennines, however the Sat Nav took us over to Newcastle then down the A1M, which was inconveniently closed at Junction 62. This then took us on a 2 hour detour, in heavy traffic, through Durham. We eventually arrived at Walworth Castle Hotel at half past four. We had a beer then got unpacked. Shani was not well so went off to bed early. We had a massive, and very enjoyable, dinner, before also crashing out for the night.