Hadrian's Wall/Glasgow. June 14.

Nic and I rose early to head to Scotland on Tuesday. I sort of forgot that Nic has friends in Glasgow that we had made arrangements to stay with, so...I was reminded. It is a lot to keep track of! It turns out that Nic knows half the country and the other half has been waiting for him to come back to make friends with him. Before we headed into Scotland we restocked our breakfast and lunch supply at Booths. We love this store. Nic told me as I took this picture, "This aisle is England." There you have it folks, England in a series of packaged cakes. We bought fruit cake. Nic is convinced I should like fruit cake and that if I eat English fruit cake I will like it. I do not like it. I feel a little like Sam I am, except I won't change my mind, thanks.

After we shopped we hit the road, but we had not had coffee, so we pulled over at a rest stop off of the highway. I took a picture because I have never in my life seen such a rest stop. For reals. We grabbed a cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin. It was a pretty sweet way to begin a day.

Hadrian's Wall was on both our lists. It worked out perfectly to pull off the motorway and pop in for a bit of Roman history. It was a good 5 mile hike along and on the wall. It was pretty amazing to see the landscape and the ways in which the Romans used the natural landscape to defend their territory.

As we arrived, as school group were out in the ancient Roman fields getting ready for battle. I loved seeing the kids re-enact their history. 

We paid the extra money to see the Roman fort and wander the ruins. It was pretty remarkable to see how well this fort was designed and the ingenuity of the Roman people.

Nic standing on the edge of the Roman Empire looking North.

And there we are on the wall!

The wall is much wider than I expected. It is comfortable to walk on without any real worry for balance. A path has worn itself on top of the wall that has grass and shows centuries of use.

This is on top of the wall - see how the wall falls away on the north side? JRR Martin was inspired by this wall for his Game of Thrones series and the ice wall.

At one point there was a sign telling us not to walk on the wall, which we ignored - rebels that we are. Clearly, based on the path, we were not the first.

Remember our windy picnic at Saddleworth at the top of the Pennine Way? Here it crosses Hadrian's Wall. Nic and I stood and discussed which path we'd rather hike. His vote is with the Pennine Way. My vote is unsure. They both seem rather windy and wet. To quote my friend, Frost, "And both that morning equally lay/In leaves no step had trodden black." 

Here we are with the wall stretching out behind us across England. The scenery along the way is truly stunning. 

The path wanders into the wood and loses some stones along the way to the numerous other walls that have been along the centuries. The English are good at repurposing. The wood was everything you want a wood to be, lovely, quiet, thick and calming.

We stopped at the top for a picture and a picnic.

On our way out, we saw an ancient, and still used today, ford. Nic thought this was cool so we stopped to admire the handiwork and look for fish, of course.

We finally rolled into Glasgow. We walked with Paddy and Catroina (Nic's Scottish friends) around a green. It was truly lovely.

There were little Hobbit holes tucked into the corner of the green. It was adorable.

And of course there were the cute little wooly cows of Scotland. Nic is too tired to remember their names right now. They were so cute!

 It was a really, really good day. I need the hike and the time with Nic. It might have been my favorite day so far - Maybe.