Invergarry to Newcastle

I just realized that all of these entries and pictures are posting against the chronology. Sorry about that!

May 30 we drove from Invergarry to Newcastle England to fly to Dublin. We did it pretty much so I could see Hadrian's Wall, so Patrick wanted to kill me after hour 8. He liked seeing the countryside though which is good because he is our driver! Anna, Finn, and I pretty much sleep the whole time in the car if we aren't looking out the window.

We went around Edinborough (the signs all spelled it differently than my iPad just autocorrected to. Edinbrogh?) because Patrick didn't want to drive in another Scottish city. The driving here is tough! We had lunch in some tiny town in a Scottish pub. I'm getting a little tired of heavy pub food at this point and strangely enough crave fruits and veggies. I guess I eat more of them at home than I realize.

We spent about 45 minutes saying at every fence and raised piece of ground "that must be part of the wall!". I'm guessing one of them was actually the wall because we never did actually see it. Hadrian's Wall was built east-west between England and Scotland during the Roman Empire because the Romans couldn't defeat the Picts (Scots) and they got tired of losing. They built the wall for protection. Parts of it are an actual wall with stone and forts and everything, and parts are basically just earth thrown up. The Scots are one of very few cultures that the Romans couldn't defeat. <\end history lecture>.

I put up a few pictures of the fort we did actually find, but it was ssssooooooooo cool! To stand on walls and walk down stairs that are over 2000 years old blew my mind. Especially since I've been living where I have been recently with history that dates back all of 200 years. Slight difference! The fort was actually a granary for most of its lifespan, but they had to build walls and have soldiers to protect it. My favorite thing that I did was in the room with the alter I said a little prayer to Jupiter. I figure he's probably lonely after all these centuries of people not believing in him :).

Newcastle is obviously not a city that made a huge impression since I can't even remember it. That's not a good sign! We stayed right at the airport because we had an early flight, and we didn't do anything other than dinner. If I remember it I'll edit the post.

Next post: Dublin.