Once again we packed our bags and journeyed forth on our Road Scholar adventure. Today we have a fairly long drive of about 200 miles ending in our final city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Despite several inquiries as to the proper pronunciation of Edinburgh, I still don’t have it down–the ‘burgh’ seems to be pronounced sort of like ‘buhrow’ with a rolling ‘r’. Maybe by the time we leave I will be able to say it correctly.

The weather was a little cooler this morning, and I wore a jacket with an Alabama ‘A’. Jon, a retired Lutheran minister–who has been ‘taunting’ me about next year’s meeting of Wisconsin and Alabama–spied the ‘A’ and immediately declared “Adulterer!” For some reason, association of the Crimson Tide’s ‘A’ with The Scarlet Letter had never occurred to me.

Angel of the North

We traveled mainly north out of York. Along the way we passed an archaeological dig. Peter explained that the area was being developed and that the cost of the dig had to be financed by the developer under the “Developer Pays” Act. We also passed a very large metal structure, called The Angel of the North. I am not sure what to say about it.

Eventually, we turned west a bit and traveled quite a ways paralleling the original Hadrian’s Wall. In most places the only visible remains of the wall is the large ditch, or bern, on the north side of the wall.

Hadrian’s Wall across England

Finally, we reached Chesters Roman Fort, the finest remaining ruins of one of many forts that the Romans built along Hadrian’s Wall. As has happened so many times on this trip, I was completely surprised by the magnitude of the ruins. This was a big place that housed 500 Roman soldiers. Linda made the statement that the Romans built this place to stay; one of the clerks in the gift shop said “They were here for 400 years, about the same as your country since the landing of the Pilgrims.”

Foundation of north gate

Good luck phallic symbol

Lewis hole for lifting stone

Bob at Hadrian’s Wall

Barracks: 3 men & 3 horses in each enclosure

One structure’s foundation inside fort

A short distance from the fort, we had a nice lunch of sandwiches and cakes. We then voyaged on for about an hour and crossed the border into Scotland where we stopped for picture taking. The elevation here is 1371 feet, the highest point on our trip. Crossing into Scotland gave me a feeling of satisfaction: ever since we were first married Linda has been wanting to go to Scotland and I was finally able to say that she had made it there.

Linda being serenaded by bagpiper

Bob & Linda at Scottish border

Peter herding cats

Abbey

Presbyterian kirk

A little further on, we stopped at the small town of Jedburgh for a rest-room break. Just off the parking lot were the ruins of a beautiful abbey and also a Presbyterian kirk, the main church of Scotland.

Hotel in Edinburgh

After a short break we then drove on into Edinburgh and checked into the last hotel of our adventure. Before dinner Peter gave us a talk on the history of Scotland. It was really full of very interesting information: I just wish I could remember even 10% of what he told us. We then had dinner, after which we retired for the day.