5 days and counting until Hadrian's Wall

Our 4 day hike along Hadrian's Wall begins on Monday. Hadrian's wall was/is a 73 mile-long (stretching across the width of Great Britain), 10 foot thick, ten foot tall stone wall built two millennia ago by the Roman legions, who were attempting to conquer the UK. They made it as far as Scotland, where they built the wall to protect the Roman Empire from the "barbarians" who had slowed their Northern expansion. Being a little limited with time (halfterm break), we will hike the visible portion of the ruins in the more scenic interior.

I've been reading "A Walk Along the Wall" by Hunter Davies, in an attempt to better understand the trek, the history, and the people. I picked it up at a second hand book store in London a few months ago. It was written in 1974, but since the wall had been built around 100AD, I figured that it was hardly outdated. It's been a fascinating and humorous read, hearing his take on all the research HE'd read, and hearing his insights into it as he examined the Wall Country himself. (Remember that there are Roman town ruins, bath houses, forts, tourets, barracks, and museums displaying the tools and treasure hords along the way as well). However, every time I read about some exciting side attraction -such as the shop that sells hand-knit unwearoutable socks, or the medieval feast at a local castle- I find that it has long since disappeared into the mists of time.

I'm getting excited. I have many loose ends yet to tie with only an action packed few days in which to do it. This IS the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend.

How to cover an entire county in one day

I can't believe how much we've done in the last 24 hours. right after school on Friday, my aunt and I met at the car hire agency, and headed for Devon, to explore the land of our 500 year-ago ancestors.

I was incredibly surprised at how comfortable I felt sliding behind the wheel. Especially considering I have not driven in 8 months, and the last time I did, I white-knuckled it down the "wrong" side of the road.
First adventure... I surprised my aunt with Stonehenge. It sits majestically right beside the carriage way. The grey, drizzly sky was the perfect backdrop.

This morning, we got up early and saw our working farm B&B in full daylight. Gorgeous. We could smell bacon wafting upstairs, which made me think of mornings visiting my grandparents on Saltspring Island.

After breakfast we headed for Dartmoor to follow in Sherlock Holmes' footsteps. We rounded a bend up on the moor, parked the car, and hiked up to what turned out NOT to be Hound Tor, the inspiration for Sir Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Oh. Back in the car, and on again.

We had lunch at a roadside "Hound of Basket Meals" food truck, conveniently parked in by The real Hound Tor, then continued on towards Merrivale prehistoric village.

After an hour of weaving down single lane (but beautifully flowered) "highways", finding pullouts to avoid on-coming vehicles, the sat nav led us to a dead end. We decided to head back for Sidmouth and a nice cream tea with the famous Devonshire clotted cream.

On our way to Sidmouth, we stopped off at The Donkey Sanctuary. Aunt Cindy is a donkeyholic, and made it a requirement ;) Coincidently, my school sponsors one of the donkeys there, Little Vijay. He works with children with disabilities. It was MUCH larger than I expected, and really well laid out, with many interactive areas. A donkey sanctuary somewhere in Ontario apparently visited a few years ago, to help them plan their own facilities.

Sidmouth is your typical seaside holiday town, with many shops, and a great ocean-side boardwalk. It is framed by red sandstone cliffs, full of hidden fossils.

On our way back to the farm, we swung through Ottery St. Mary, where we know for certain that two of our ancestors lived. There was a wedding at the church, so we decided to investigate the gravestones tomorrow. We did however stop at a cute little pottery shop, where we bought a few very decently priced pieces (including a rock that cracks open to show an ammonite fossil, just for my little kidlets).

Back on the farm, we arrived just as the wife was headed down to the barn with a gigantic bottle of warm milk for the excess lambs. Obviously I decided to tag along! Greedy little things, but so soft and wooly! Can't wait to get home and update my fb photo!

After the lambs, the husband let out his collies and took me around the farm on his quad. From the top of the hill, you could see the whole farm on one side, and Ottery St. Mary on the other. It was fascinating seeing his dogs work the sheep. He's lived on the farm his whole life, his dad before him, and his grandfather before him.