On our way home from Edinburgh, we made several stops at notable historic sites including Melrose Abbey, Jedsburgh Abbey and Hadrian's wall. The day was chock full of ruins from hundreds to thousands of years old.
The first stop was Melrose Abbey. Like most Abbeys in Britain, it met its demise during the time of Henry the VIII when he converted the official religion of the state from Catholicism to the Church of England. Much of the church and adjacent buildings had been torn down, but it did contain the burial of William the Bruce's heart! It had some pretty spires and several unique stained glass stone frames in the arched windows.
There was some sort of church group from the states visiting and they sang a few hymns within the ruins which Tyler enjoyed listening to the nice acoustics while Laura and the kids sat in a nearby café having tea and playing Uno since it was cold and rainy.
The next stop was just off the highway in a small town called Jedburgh. It's ruined abbey from the Norman period was largely intact except for it's roof and glass windows. The symmetry was mesmerizing.
A couple of the doorways still had the original tell-tale zig zag carvings above the archways.
Our main stop of the day was the famous Roman monument of Hadrian's wall, stretching almost the entire width of Britain. Our route intersected with the wall near Newcastle on the East side and we paralleled it running west. As we drove we caught glimpses of the wall rising and falling with the surrounding terrain. We passed a famous saddle between two hills with a Sycamore tree standing in the middle with the wall rising and falling in the background along the terrain.
We found a parking lot and suited up for a blustery hike. It was in the 30's and gusting winds about 20 miles an hour. The kids were big troopers to stick with it with minimal complaining.
We followed a thick section of the wall down and across a narrow valley before climbing a steep set of stairs back up again. It was incredible to imagine Roman soldiers from so long ago posted on these lonely slopes staring northwards across the misty hills towards the stubborn Pics that resisted domination by the Romans.
We hiked for about 30 minutes until we reached a beautiful vantage of vertical cliffs and a distant lake with the wall winding along the ridge. We had to turn back at that point because of the long drive home yet, but we definitely checked off an item on Tyler's bucket list.
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