Day 15—Carlisle, Hadrian’s Wall, Gretna and Annan

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We got to Carlisle Castle shortly after it opened at 9.30am. We had a cold night as the day times are mild with temperatures of 16/17 and the skies clear, so at night it goes down to 3 and 4. We are really lucky though as the weather down south is really nasty with lots and lots of rain. We confirmed what we already expected, which is that this Castle is not the one featured in the kids Garfield Movie. It is a completely different colour as it is made from the same red stone that is typical of the area. There was absolutely no Cats or any other farmyard animals, and Billy Connolly was nowhere to be seen.

Next up the road was Hadrian’s Wall. A much larger, older version of all the other walls that you see everywhere in England. We figured the closest display to us was at Birdoswald, which had a good series of “intact” wall, Roman remains and excavated Roman Villages. It was listed in our guide as free, but for a modest fee, we looked over a reasonably well explained display and video display that the kids at least enjoyed. We spent a good hour and a half and weren't hurried by the pressure of parking fees. We finished with lunch and a warming hot drink in the camper again.

Next, off to Scotland. We pulled over and took the compulsory photo of us crossing the border. Also checked out the marriage place just over the border that people in Scotland used to sneak into England when they were too young to marry in Scotland.

Then, Annan. No chance of getting lost in Annan. Annan is not much and is very old and drab. Particularly on the South side of the town where we parked. We walked up and down the street, checked out the old cemetery and then figured we would head on to our camp site. We also came to the conclusion that when our ancestors left here 100 years ago, they did us all a great service. 90 percent of the people in the cemetery were Irving or Bell, so we figured that the community might be a little closely bred ! We bumped in to the two local gangs in the street( one is probably the Irvings, and the other the Bells !?!?!) and my suspicions were cemented.

We needed some supplies so I headed in to the local "Costsaver" and they had bugger all stuff we needed. I figured there would be other options so walked over to the North side of town. This is a lot newer and there is a really nice Supermarket there instead. Full of supplies we headed off to the Queensberry Bay caravan Park. It is rather posh considering the surrounds. The local area is a swampy, low lying Marshland area overlooking the Solway. We asked for a basic campsite, but "family pitches are only the ones overlooking the water", which our "our most expensive sites". Go figure.

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Photos

BraveEdgars
You can take our..........Hm what is the rest

Newdyke House
What is left of the ancestral home. I think the green field next to it, was probably where the older house was.