Yesterday we traveled south from Glasgow (it took nearly an hour in pouring rain and heavy traffic to get out of the city) to Lancaster in England. On the way we visited three famous places: Gretna Green, Hadrian's Wall and the Lake District. These were all very interesting and photos of each are included below.
Initially we travelled on the M6, one of the many great motorways of England. However, we were keen to get out into the countryside as much as possible. Some of the roads we got onto were little more than one way lanes, but vehicles still traveled in both directions. I am very pleased that our rental car is still free of scratches or dents. Some of the lanes have stone walls on both sides of the road which would be very unforgiving!
This morning I spent several hours at Nether-Kellet Primary School, with around 100 students and 5 excellent teachers. Since then we have traveled south and we are in south Wolverhampton for the night.
Tomorrow we will travel some more back roads from here to Oxford. In our hotel room we are currently watching an episode of "Lewis" on TV (one of my favourite programmes) and it is set in Oxford. Tomorrow, we will see the amazing buildings with our own eyes!
Gretna Green is famous around the world for being the most romantic place in Great Britain. Many years ago the legal age for people in England to get married was older than the laws allowed for in Scotland. Gretna Green is just on the Scottish side of the border and many young people in England would drive up and get married at Gretna Green.
This carving of hands together is in the middle of Gretna Green. If you look closely, there is a piper, playing the bagpipes just past the sculpture. As we watched, a young couple came out of one of the buildings - having just been married, and were being piped out by the piper.
Hadrian's Wall (left) was built nearly 2000 years ago and is 120 km long, running right across England from one coast to the other. It was built by the Romans and was the northern border of one of the greatest empires in history. The wall was about 4 metres high. This picture shows how wide the wall was (more than two metres) although it is now only just above ground level. We visited a museum which told us a great deal about the wall and its history. Below (left), I am standing inside what was once a small room the guards would live in for weeks at a time as pat of their duties.
The photo above / right is one of the streets we passed through as we visited the Lake District. It is very beautiful, but there were very few places where we could stop and enjoy the views. Driving the roads also required a great deal of concentration.
No comments:
Post a Comment