We left the Wild Boar Inn behind as we made our way to Edinburgh (on another gorgeous sunny spring day). First a cruise on one of the lakes which was quite enjoyable and then off to a section of Hadrian's Wall near Carlisle. We weren't quite sure what we would find - the wall was built from the west to east coast of England in about 120AD by Emperor Hadrian (funnily enough). It was in much better condition at that point than expected and there were also the rema...

On a beautiful bright Spring Sunday we set off to visit the cottage of William Wordsworth at Grasmere where he wrote all of his poetry during his 9 years there. We then continued our discovery of the beautiful Lake District or 'The Lakes' but never 'The Lakes District', so we are told. This country is gorgeous! Panoramic and dramatic - from the fells to the back roads with their neat hedges, juicy green grass meadows and quaint villages. Being a Sunday there wer...

Although the Lake District is in the county of Cumbria on the West coast, after leaving York we headed North-East to Whitby. The whole day was on back roads with Whitby being a very popular seaside village for tourists. The countryside was amazing and ever changing with the fells (hills) being bare of vegetation. At Whitby we were dropped off at the top of town at an old ruined Abby that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. We walked down to the village and vis...

Leaving Chester behind we headed north east to our next stop of York via the Pennines which is the hill chain running down through the centre of England and known as the backbone of England. This was country of rolling hills, no vegetation, lots and lots of sheep, windswept moors, dry stone walls and of the Brontes. We visited the Bronte Parsonage at Haworth and learnt about the tragic lives of the 3 famous Bronte sisters. A staggering 8 million visitors come eac...

With the sun still shining we drove (or Bob did) to Worcester where we toured the cathedral. While this was 'another Cathedral', it again underlined the central role of the church throughout the centuries in the lives of the English people. Still very much an active church, we were hosted by a delightful volunteer guide Andrew who was at least 80 years of age but who was very entertaining and knowledgeable. The cathedral is lovely and boasts the tomb of King John...