Hadrian's Wall and Edinburgh

We’re now in Scotland, yay! Yesterday we started the day with Carlisle Castle, not a pretty castle, but has had an amazing amount of sieges and general battles fought over it, being so close to the Scottish Border. There was a dungeon with holes in the walls where prisoners were chained, and places where they’d licked the rock in thirsty desperation, not a happy feeling to the place at all! Must have been very dank and uncomfortable even if you were upstairs. After the castle we had lasagne and chips at a mall to warm ourselves through a little!

Next stopped off at Hadrian’s Wall, we were intending to go to a couple of places along it but the wind was howling and it was COLD so we decided one stop would do. We chose Housesteads Roman Fort, was an absolutely fascinating place, with so much to see (far more complete than I had imagined) and we fully intended to go for a walk along the Wall but the wind by now was BITTER!

It’s a universal truth of travel that no matter how fascinating the sight; if the body is not comfortable, it immediately loses all charm and appeal. So we did make ourselves walk around a bit and take a few photos but quickly retreated to the warmth of the inner campervan and a cup of tea. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been so cold – considering I had on a polyprop, jacket, woolly hat, scarf and gloves; and this before we even reach Scotland!!

Crossed the border into Scotland but the wind was blowing so hard we were a bit too nervous to stop the campervan for a photo, decided to press on. Stopped at a nice sheltered (well relatively) site at Jedburgh (as in Edinburgh – not as in Iceberg as we were pronouncing it – luckily we asked someone before we made idiots of ourselves). In the morning the sun was shining! Walked into the town to have a look around, a really lovely little town and the people are incredibly friendly. Already everyone has a lovely Scottish burr, we weren’t sure whether this would be the case so close to the border – the people who live right on the border must be torn in how to speak! The Abbey looked really interesting, it’s one of four in the border area.

We also went into ‘Mary, Queen of Scots house’ although it turned out she didn’t actually live there, but had visited on a number of occasions. It was free though, and had really good displays on her life, we’ll be whizzes at Trivial Pursuit evenings when it comes to the royal families!! On the way back to the camp, there was a guy setting traps and filling in holes – Gus got talking to him, and he was trapping moles. He reckoned one or two moles had dug all the holes we could see, about 10 holes in an area of a small lawn – all dug in one night!! I’ve always thought they were cute little furry things but I’m glad they were one pest our forefathers managed to resist introducing. The guy was very happy to chat to us though, he immediately recognized we are from NZ, can’t think how everyone can tell:), we just talk normally!! Also stopped in at a Woollen Mill, very touristy with lots of coaches outside, Gus got himself a woolly hat for 3 pounds, a nice one too! We asked if they had any, and the man behind the counter said it’s really getting a bit warm for woollen hats now (!) but he’d see what he could find, once again very friendly and obliging. So far, have to say, have found the Scots people to be friendlier than their English counterparts, although we did speak to a lot of lovely people there too, quite often the ones behind the counters could have done with a lesson in customer service though... Tonight we’re staying outside Edinburgh itself, lots to see and do here, may even stay a couple of nights. The weather has improved a little from the north of England, so hopefully will keep on with that trend?!

Woke up to rain, but then the sun broke through and remained more or less the rest of the day. What an amazing city Edinburgh is! We caught a bus in, not a lot of parking for the Enterprise. Found our way to Edinburgh Castle, not too difficult, it completely dominates the skyline and can be seen from quite a distance. The castle was interesting but starting to think we might be a bit castled out :). There are 14 castles and palaces within about a 5 mile radius of Edinburgh alone!! One quite beautiful tiny room was where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to her son. When he revisited the castle as an adult (and King of Scotland and England), he had the room painted up, and it still remains in that original state, from the 17th century - incredible really.

The cannon pictured here was last fired in the 15th century and on that occasion the stone was found 2km away, perhaps fortunate for a beautiful city that they don’t use it anymore! A royal family member from earlier times was apparently heard to refer to the castle as ‘That damn cold rock in Scotland’. The information said that if we were unfortunate enough to be visiting when the sea mist was in, we would sympathise. We were obviously very fortunate with the weather, we even had to remove our jackets during the day.

After the castle we went for a wander through the city, starting with the ‘royal mile’. This is an amazing street running from the castle right down to the Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland. Edinburgh has a beautiful skyline; lots of cathedral spires and ancient buildings. It has a very aged and sophisticated feel, appears prosperous.

On the way we went into a couple of small museums, one was the ‘Children’s Museum’ and contained all sorts of toys and games from through the ages. An amazing collection of dolls and dollhouses; toy cars; meccano etc. These two cuties were happy to pose when the lady with the funny accent ask them to hold up the puppets they were playing with.

We couldn’t resist this ‘doggy in the window’. I’m not sure if he realised he was part of the window display but he was doing a wonderful job of it. It seems a waste that neither of us is partial to whiskey, for any of you that are; you'll love Edinburgh!

We finished off at the Museum of Scotland, lots of wonderful displays including skeletons of extinct species like a giant armadillo and a giant crocodile; a foyer with the wow factor; lots of great interactive displays for kids (including big kids like ourselves); and even Dolly the cloned sheep who was apparently born not far from here.