Wednesday 19th August pm- Vindolanda We drove to Vindolanda which is a Roman Fort in the heart of Hadrian's Wall and is a working dig that has continued to bring ground breaking discoveries which have included the Vindolanda tablets. At Vindolanda Roman occupation lasted more than 300 years. The people on the dig are in the main just average people and if you visit the site as a tourist like us and decide that you want to become one of diggers then they w...

Wednesday 19th August - Housesteads Roman Fort Today we walked the wall. We set off from the B&B to drive to Hadrian's Wall at Housesteads, a distance of about 20 miles. We got there at 10.00am and had a coffee that I poured out of a machine and it wasn't too bad. We got in with our English Heritage passes so another savings. These passes have well been worth the purchase. There was a free guided tour starting at 10.30am so we decided to wait. Paul st...

Tuesday 18th August pm - Carlyle Castle We had lunch at a French Bagette Shop and it was nice not to have chips served up with our filled rolls. Afterwards we headed for Carlyle Castle and as part of our English Heritage passes got in free. Some English castles evoke romantic images of knights and fair maidens but this is not one of those. It is nearly 900 years old and has been the scene of so many sieges throughout the ages and it has always been the home ...

Tuesday 18th August - Carlyle We left Keswick after saying our goodbyes to Andrew and Tracey and headed up the motorway to Carlyle. It only took about 50 minutes and as it was way too early for us to check into our B&B we headed into the main part of town for a coffee. We found a park almost opposite The Lanes Shopping Centre and paid our Pay and Display. £2.70 for 3 hours. You cannot go around England without coins in your pocket as it costs at every c...