Kris Jordan

I’ve made it to the motherland after traveling around in Switzerland with Cathy & Amy for a few days. Our first stop was Lucern in Switzerland which was a quaint, smaller sized city with a lot of history. Two wooden bridges there had dates back to the 1400s. After Lucern I had a brief visit to Geneva where I spent only enough time to walk around a bit and get some food. The French threw me off after being in my sister’s German speaking area for a few days. From Geneva I fewl to Newcastle to meet up with Joel and his brother Alex for the final leg of my adventure.

We spent a day visiting the modern city o fNewcastle. Its nightlife is supposed to be top ten in the world. Unfortunately, we were only there on weekdays. Never the less, there were some intersting sites to see. The Millenium Bridge was quite impressive. Its a huge structure which, at certain times of the day, rotates along an axis so that boats can pass under it. It doesn’t operate like a normal drawing bridge but rather a slice of an orange pivoting along its inner edge along a table. You’ll have to look at the Newcastle pictures to understand =). Another interesting, modern building was their performing arts center. The glass structure was curved in a way that I had never seen before. Just opening this year we were able to walk around inside the structure freely. The nicest music halls I have ever seen, hands down.

Before heading back to the hotel we decided to pick up two 2-liter bottles of Strongbow. It’s a cider based beer but it tastes like apple juice. Delicious in a way that no other beer I have ever tasted is. We only faced one problem — how to get it cool? Ice is a rare commodity here in England — you rarely get it even in ordered drinks. So finding it for purchase… challenging. Somehow we managed to find a supermarket which carried it though so back to the hotel we went, strongbow and ice in hands, and a sense of victory on our faces. Later, lightly buzzed, we went out for dinner and had some great pizza: bar-b-que chicken and hawaiian. Both were delicious and a nice last good meal before heading on our walk along Hadrian’s Wall.

The next morning we rose early to catch a bus out to Chesters fort on the wall. Our final destination would be the Roman Army Museum about 20 miles away. 2 days, 1000 sheep, lots of hills, 22 bug bites, 1 game of soccer with an 8 year old English baller, and 3 pairs of exposed boxers later, we would make it. It was a grand adventure, as far as two day adventures go, which brought us along the most spectacular portion of Hadrian’s Wall which runs through the Northumberland National Park. Ordered to be built in the first century AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian, the wall stretched over 90 miles to block access between Roman England and Scotland. Originally 3 meters wide and 6 meters tall, the wall has since been reduced to much less after 2000 years worth of farmers have stolen stones to build walls for their own properties. Quite a shame. The first days walk took us across terrain which gradually climbed uphill. The weather was so spectacular we decided to move forward in only boxers. The breeze was nice. At one segmant we were walking alongside the road and a tour bus of old ladies drove by. I counted five waves and more smiles. With our backbacks on I’m sure we looked rediculous — but it was fun.

Around 5pm we reached our place for the night in Housesteads. It was a small four diamond bed and breakfast which was one of the most enjoyable places I’ve stayed. The house owner drove us in to a local restaurant for dinner and allowed us to be embarrased while playing soccer with her 8 year old son. He was good. Much better than I was at that age, for sure. In the morning we had a full English breakfast to help us on our way.

The second day’s walk seemed more difficult than the first. Somewhat due to constant up and downs but probably more so to the soreness in my out-of-shape legs. Being partially sun burnt from the exposure didn’t help any of us either. So we were fully dressed in pants and hoodies, or a white T-shirt head wrap in my case, for the day. The scenery was great for the first part of the trip. We walked past the tree which was used in the late Robin Hood movie which was quite neat. Other areas which had been carved by glaciers showed magnificient cliffs with small lakes at their base. Everywhere you looked there were sheep, newborn and old. We made it to the Roman Army Musueum with enough time to spare to check it out — although by then we were all pretty beat. The museum was interesting. Back to Newcastle by bus we headed for the Belle Grove hotel. At 45 pounds per night for a triple it couldn’t be beat. Just would have been nice to have a working lock on the door =)

And now I’m in a bus headed towards Edinburgh, Scotland. At only 14 pounds per fare between Newcastle and Edinburgh I would have to recommend anyone traveling in Britain to look into the bus system they have here. It’s much cheaper than rail. In Edinburgh we’re staying right on the Royal Mile in a four star hostel. For the first two nights we’ll be in a big group room and after that we will be in a room for four. They advertise free internet so hopefully I will be able to post this entry promptly. I’ve been disapointed in how little I’ve been able to keep this updated, my appologies. So the adventure continues in Scotland… =)