Day 1 Anniv. weekend - Journey across northern England along the route of Hadrian's Wall built by the Romans 2000 years ago

14th March 2008

Ken took me on the best anniversary weekend ever!!! We want to share our weekend getaway with you'all and hope you will enjoy the scenery as much as we did.

Friday morning we drove up into northern Cumbria and then headed east across very northern England toward the county of Northumberland. Ken took me a very scenic route and it turned out to be a beautiful day, even tho rain had been forecasted. We were having a ball taking photos!

We headed into east Cumbria and came to the ruins of an old priory called Lanercost Priory. We stopped there a little while and enjoyed walking around and taking some photos.

We then drove on till we came to some of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall that was built over 2000 years ago by the Romans, to keep the "barbarian ancient Scots" out of England. That is so interesting to me. This wall was all the way across northern England and very big! Not a lot is left but you can sit there on the ruins of the wall in places and just imagine how large it must have been originally.

We drove on along the Hadrian's Wall route until we came to the remains of Birdoswald Bastle (a Roman fort), stopped there and took photos, and a few more of the wall there. A major reason much of the wall is gone is due to people long ago taking the stones to build homes and farm buildings.

Then we were getting hungry but we drove a while till we entered the county of Northumberland at the village of Gilsland and then came to the little village of Greenhead. There we found a tea room and had a nice lunch and afterwards we walked to the ruins of Thirlwall Castle, about 1/2 mile from the village. It was a beautiful day so we really enjoyed our walk there and back, even saw some sheep being herded up by a sheep dog (Border Collie).

We drove on and stopped at several more charming little places and another castle ruin, enjoying the beautiful day.

We finally ended up in the village of Alnmouth near the coast. We got there in time to rest a few minutes and then we walked to the main street of the village to find a place to eat. They had several pub-restaurants so we had a nice choice.

Hope you enjoy your day out with us. Just click on first photo and then Next to go to the next photo.

Janie & Ken

	LANERCOST PRIORY	KEN & JANIE IN GROUNDS OF LANERCOST PRIORY, CUMBRIA - FIRST PLACE WE STOPPED ON OUR WEEKEND	GROUNDS OF LANERCOST PRIORY, CUMBRIA
JANIE AT LANERCOST PRIORY	OLD GATE INTO LANERCOST PRIORY	A UNIQUE BENCH WE SAW ON SIDE OF ROAD AND HAD TO STOP!	2 SWEET LAMBS (LAMBING SEASON)
ZOOMED IN ON THIS BABY NURSING HIS MUM		KEN & JANIE ON RUINS OF HADRIAN'S WALL IN CUMBRIA
RUINS OF A ROMAN FORT NEAR HADRIAN'S WALL	BIRDOSWALK BASTEL (RUINS OF ANCIENT ROMAN FORT NEAR HADRIAN'S WALL)		GOOD VIEW OF HADRIAN'S WALL RUINS (ORIGINALLY WAS 15 FT HIGH & 9 FT WIDE)
JANIE SITTING ON RUINS OF HADRAIN'S WALL	CROSSING THE BORDER FROM CUMBRIA INTO NORTHUMBERLAND	LITTLE RIVER RUNNING THROUGH VILLAGE OF GREENHEAD	GREENHEAD'S VILLAGE CHURCH
TEA SHOP WHERE WE HAD LUNCH AT GREENHEAD	KEN AND HIS CHEESE TOASTIE FOR LUNCH	JANIE ENJOYING HER BACON BUTTIE	KEN POURING HIMSELF A CUPPA TEA
KEN IN THE LITTLE TEA SHOP IN THE VILLAGE OF GREENHEAD	WALKING TO THIRLWALL CASTLE FROM GREENHEAD VILLAGE (1 MILE ROUND TRIP)
THIRLWALL CASTLE RUIN	FARM HOUSE RIGHT OUT BEHIND CASTLE	KEN IN THIRLWALL CASTLE RUINS	VIEW FROM THIRLWALL CASTLE
JANIE & KEN IN RUINS OF THIRLWALL CASTLE, NEAR GREENHEAD	PEEK A BOO FROM THIRLWALL CASTLE RUINS	WATCHING SOME SHEEP THAT WERE HERDED UP	A HERD OF SHEEP
MUM SHEEP AND HER TWINS	JANIE RETURNING FROM THIRLWALL CASTLE RUINS HEADED BACK TO VILLAGE OF GREENHEAD	BORDER COLLIE HERDING THE SHEEP INTO THAT PARTICULAR FIELD	MORE OF HADRIAN'S WALL IN THE DISTANCE
HADRIAN'S WALL - AREA CALLED STEEL RIGG	STEPS LEADING OVER DRYWALL FENCE ALONG HADRAIN'S WALL PATH	ANCIENT CHURCH IN VILLAGE ORF CHOLLERTON, NORTHUMBERLAND	A PHEASANT I SPOTTED
VILLAGE CHURCH OF ELSDON, NORTHUMBERLAND			ELSDON TOWER
CHARMING VILLAGE OF ELSDON	VILLAGE GREEN AREA, ELSDON	VERY ANCIENT CHURCH AT ELSDON	NOTICE THE ANCIENT COFFINS AGAINST THE CHURCH
VILLAGE OF ROTHBURY	VILLAGE OF ROTHBURY, NORTHUMBERLAND	ROTHBURY	VILLAGE OF ROTHBURY, NORTHUMBERLAND
VERY OLD CHURCH AT EDLINGHAM, NEAR THE CASTLE RUINS	INSIDE THE ANCIENT CHURCH	INSIDE EDLINGHAM CHURCH	INSIDE EDLINGHAM CHURCH
INSIDE EDLINGHAM CHURCH	ANCIENT VILLAGE CHURCH AT EDLINGHAM		EDLINGHAM CASTLE RUIN
INSIDE OF EDLINGHAM CASTLE RUIN	JANIE & KEN AT EDLINGHAM CASTLE	KEN EATING HIS STARTER OUR FIRST NIGHT AWAY - DUCK PATE	JANIE EATING HER STARTER - PRAWN COCKTAIL
BACK FROM EATING A NICE MEAL - TOO FULL! LOL	I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH OUR ROOM, KEN DID VERY WELL SURPRISING ME!!! :)