It was a busy day of exploring English Heritage sites and driving north to Scotland. My first stop, and probably one of my favorites was Brougham Castle. It's a 13th century castle that was owned by the Clifford family. It's located in Penrith in Cumbria, and boy what a site to see. Although it has crumbled, there are still many walls and foundations to get a feel of what it must have been like there. You can walk through the castle and explore different rooms that have beautiful views of the river below. The inside of the castle rooms are covered in moss and ivy, and it takes your imagination by storm. That and the fact that you can walk up a winding staircase (a little wonky, due take care), and look out over the fields and rivers, not to mention the rest of the castle. It even has tiny slit windows, some for bows and some for crossbows to defend the castle. It was Patti nice because other than one small school group, I was the only one there!
Then it was on to Birdoswald Roman Fort and Hadrian's wall, which are only about a half hour away. The wall which runs 80 miles or so, is thought to be the border between England and Scotland, but really, it is completely in England and Scotland is a few miles north. The wall was supposedly constructed to keep the Barbarians out and away from the Romans. The Birdoswald Fort sits right on the wall and is just that, a Fort. Well, actually i guess it's technically a hostel now, but that's beside the point. You can take a lovely walk around the Fort and even hike along the wall.
After that I drove back down the narrow road to the Lanercost Priory, my other favorite visit today. What a beautiful church! From the actual existing and working church building, to the even more stunning ruins of the once existing church which was built sometime in the 1100s!! The architecture of this place was fantastic and around every corner there was something cool to see, even the birds loved it as they ducked and dove in and out of the buildings. As I was leaving a group of motorcyclists rode in and a few couples were coming in from a walk. I let them pass before I backed out of the space I was in and couldn't figure out why they were all staring at me. Perhaps it was because my vehicle had been bombed by an army of Blackpool Pigeons and I hadn't yet scrubbed it clean... but I think the real reason was because I backed from the space and drove down the driveway in complete silence. They were in awe of how silent my car was... thanks hybrid!
My final stop was Carlisle castle. All I could think of was Fort Ticonderoga. Not the look of it, but the feel. That fortress around what was once a bustling community, with the kings house at the heart of it. As usual, I explored the dungeons first, I can't help but wonder what it must have been like long ago. I then took a lovely walk around the castle wall which over looks Carlisle. I didn't spend a whole lot of time here and there was much more to see, but after all of my other adventures I was poope!
My final leg of the journey was to Strathclyde, Scotland. It's just a layover until I move on to Aberdeen tomorrow, but boy did I get a good look at Scotland on my way in! The rolling hillsides filled with cattle and sheep. It reminds me a lot of Vermont, except there are less trees covering the hillside/mountain areas. It's absolutely stunning and I can't wait to see more!
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