Getting to Hadrian’s Wall - Plan B

The theme of the day today is: Plan B

One of the most exciting things about Edinburgh and staying next to the train station is knowing I can have a cup of coffee at 5am! Finally a city that wakes up when I do! We scoped out my choices last night. Mug in hand, I sprang excitedly out of bed and skipped out the door … to find the train station doors LOCKED. What??!! Omg, at least this wasn't a complete surprise, and I had a Plan B - Starbucks around the corner was open…

(Note - the train station did open just much later than normal due to a planned train strike.)

The logical and cheapest way to get to Hadrian's Wall in England seemed to be to fly into London's Heathrow airport and then take a train all the way up to the northern border. But by a shear stroke of unforeseen luck, that was not the route I planned for us! We might have been stranded in London, over 300 miles from our destination …

Instead our roundtrip flight went to Edinburgh, only 100 miles from Carlisle. Our entire itinerary was planned completely around the availability of the few places to stay for 5 nights along the Hadrian's Wall Path. I made all of our reservations 7 months ago. So - I was a little stressed when I received the email 2 weeks ago warning about the UK train strike that canceled our train to Hadrian's Wall. Well, at least I had a heads up - but now what? I'm not very experienced with transportation strikes. When we unexpectedly ran into a strike in Italy, the German train line put us on a chartered bus. However, apparently the UK isn't that courteous. How do we get to remote Hadrian's Wall now? It is too late to change our itinerary!!

My options added to the stress. The cheapest option - even cheaper than the train - is the bus, but it takes 4 times longer than the train. And the Borders Bus X95 is usually not a coach which means we could be standing without a seat for 4 hours. That's just ridiculous. A one-way car rental to another country (a 2-hour drive) costs a small fortune. I was going to bite the bullet and book a taxi, despite the ~$300 price going against all my cost-saving common sense. But then I came up with Plan B - a day tour from Edinburgh to Hadrian's Wall. We just wouldn't return with them back to Edinburgh! So for almost half the price of the taxi, we would have a guide and see some sights we otherwise would have missed!

The small bus tour through the beautiful, sheep-lined, green rolling hills of the "Scottish borders" area in southern Scotland took us to Housesteads Fort on Hadrian's Wall, stopping at several places along the way - mainly Rosslyn Chapel and Melrose Abby plus a few other viewpoints.

Rosslyn Chapel became world famous and quadrupled its visitors when it was featured in Dan Brown's novel (and movie) The Da Vinci Code. But the chapel's allure existed well before the book. Its interior is carved with a stunning mishmash of Christian, pagan, family, Templar, Masonic, and other fascinating symbolism.

Scotland's mysterious Rosslyn Chapel

Unfortunately there is no photography allowed inside the chapel

Melrose Abbey is considered one of the most magnificent examples of medieval church architecture in the UK and is believed to be the final resting place of King Robert the Bruce's heart. Melrose was the first Cistercian monastery to be founded in Scotland, by King David I. It has an elegant array of carvings, from flowers, fruit, and foliage to humorous human figures and strange beasts.

At Melrose Abbey, everywhere you look is marvelous sculpture, elaborate vaulting, beautifully carved statues, gargoyles, grotesques, flowing tracery, and soaring stonework.

King Robert the Bruce's heart didn't quite make it to the holy lands and is presumed to be resting peacefully at Melrose Abbey 

At a picnic table on the abbey grounds we enjoyed a yummy sandwich from nearby Baguette 'n Go

When we arrived at Melrose Abby we found out we were in for a wee treat to see a local custom. Definitely would've missed that if we took the train. Or bus. Or car. Greg almost missed it while finishing up his sandwich! We got to witness a part of the annual Melrose Festival. For the past 85 years the festival has been celebrating the town and its history with a "Melrosian", a queen, and her court. The festival is common around the local border towns celebrating their communities after centuries of suffering from raiding and reiving.

The week long Melrosian Festival concluded at the Abbey.  We missed Tuesday's fancy dress parade followed by a disco.

Crossing the ancient Scotland/England border at Carter Bar in the Cheviot Hills. It was a wee bit windy!

The scenery throughout the Scottish borders is gorgeous!

After crossing the  border into England, the driving gets a little more challenging. Maybe our driver/guide needed to be more focused on it.   "Whoops that was a little fast," he said under his breath, as we flew up over the crest of a hill. It felt a wee bit like a roller coaster. Got a few more "whoops" out of the driver on some narrow blind turns taken at excessive speeds. The lady next to me grabbed her armrest.

What do you do when you come to a road sign that says "weak bridge ahead"??? Apparently that means drive fast over it, at least that was the tactic our driver took. It worked.

Greg and I didn't go into Housesteads Fort since our walk this week takes us right by there. Instead we asked the driver to take us to the local bus stop so we could continue our journey to our end destination: Carlisle.

In the tiny village of Barton Mill, our double-decker bus whipped up the narrow street just like the "knight bus" driver out of Harry Potter. Getting on it - and riding in the front seats of the upper deck - qualified as our 2nd roller coaster ride of the day. Fun with a great view!

We are spending 2 nights in Carlisle - technically a "Plan B" when we couldn't get a place to stay in the tiny town of Bowness-on-Solway where the hike begins.

With its medieval and gothic historic sites, Carlisle looks like a cool historic city - but it is void of charm. We walked around exploring on a Saturday afternoon and everything was closed. It felt like a ghost town - except for the locals who got all gussied up for an afternoon of drinking with their hens. We chose a prime bar with a table on the sidewalk to be entertained by all of them walking by. At one point 2 drunk local ladies even sat down with us, which made for some interesting conversation - and summed up the town of Carlisle:

"But you are in Carlisle. Carlisle. You are from California and chose to come to Carlisle. Why? I just don't understand why anyone would want to come here."

The bar opposite Carlisle's citadel (a former medieval fortress) is a thoroughfare good for people watching