Blogs from Carlisle, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Well it might begin with a C but Calais it aint . It will have to do though. A chance to scratch the itch of wanting to travel . Something that seemed unlikely a few weeks ago. So what did I think of Carlisle ? It seemed a mix of independent shops, many empty ones and a few beggars on the street . Masked shoppers and unmasked . Victorian splenour next to charity shops and a massive square filled with shoppers and a singer belting out Christian hymns . A medieval building or two, bench seating and alleys , jitties and gennels galore . Leading from one street to another . Scotland Street . Lowther Street , cafes , restaurants and pubs . I even found the Jobcentre . That is something I always find myself ... read more

Day Five: The Romans Came...Conquered...Retreated...after 300years ...September 30 The trail today was steep, rugged and of a “be careful” nature. There were nineteen such situations. The walk went along crags/outcrops with sharp drops off the right side of the path and vertigo causing downs for every steep up during the whole day. The vistas to be viewed are the best to be had while doing the Hadrian's Wall Walk. It is the portion most looked forward to by walkers. The only part of this torture-to-my-wonky-knee-walk that I completed was the climb to the Walltown Crag.To get there I walked thru the Walltown Quarry from where much of the stone used for the wall was taken. My day had begun by leaving Old RepeaterStation Inn behind … and not soon enough. The room was reasonably clean. The ... read more

Newcastle to Carlisle to York Monday morning we set off on the train to Carlisle, and spent the afternoon sightseeing. There isn't a great deal of that to be done here; the castle, the cathedral, a museum and that is Carlisle done. Some big cycle race had set off from the town square an hour before we got there, which may have swelled the population for the day, giving an impression of bustle and activity which I suspect is not its usual character. It's rather a depressed and seedy town; with buildings that once were elegant, now growing buddleia out of roofs and upper floor window ledges. The aspect of the town wasn't improved by the rain, which was fine, but thoroughly wetting. The main point of coming to Carlisle was to go on the Carlisle ... read more

The first day of our walk was intended to be an easy 5 miles but turned into a 10 mile adventure. Having reached Boustead Hill by 13:00 hrs we decided to walk an additional 2 miles to Burgh-on-Sands, where we found the statue of Edward I, aka Longshanks and the Scottish Hammer. He died on July 7th 1307 while waiting to cross the Solway Firth just a short distance from St Michael's church. The church was built in the 13th century on the site of the old Roman Fort of Abatlava using stones from Hadrian's wall. He lay in state at this small church in Burgh-on-Sands before being taken to be buried at Westminster Abbey. We decided to walk to the monument that marks the location where he died, adding another 2 miles to our day, ... read more

The drugs seem to be working for Mel today and she is feeling more mobile. The doctor’s orders were to walk as much as possible to try to alleviate the inflammation. With that in mind, we set out for a local parkland, Watchtree nature reserve. An old WW2 airfield, it has been turned into a wetland reserve with thousands of birds and other animals making it their home. It has more recently become a small wind farm too with a half-dozen huge turbines, blades whistling around in the stiff breeze. The reserve is a really great little place where you can hire bikes, catch tadpoles, feed the birds or do a bit of birdwatching from a couple of hides beside the main lakes. Em tried three different bikes (the bloke even dug out some training wheels ... read more