We left Newcastle yesterday in a rental car, headed along Hadrian's Wall. I was very excited about this part of the trip, so when it turned out to be a miserable windy and rainy day, completely unsuitable for hiking. I was very disappointed.
There were a few highpoints. We saw a neat part of the wall, so straight and regular and well-preserved compared to the more modern boundary walls. There was also a moment that may have been my favorite of the whole trip when we fought our way down a path to a Temple of Mithras in the middle of a sheep field against 50 mph winds and freezing rain. It sounds awful, I know, and Aaron thought it was awful and only went because he loves me so very much, but it was exhilarating! I could lean back against the wind a little and not fall over! And it made my coat blow out behind me and made my cheeks red and bright. There was something primal about fighting the wind, almost like fighting backward against the current of time rushing at us, fighting to get to that temple. I left a coin to propitiate Mithras (and so along with Jesus and Sulis Minerva, whom I have already propitiated with candles and coins, I ought to be covered!). We also saw some lovely hillside country and a lot of sheep and a Roman fort or two on the hills.
We spent the night in a cozy little B&B and set out again this morning for York and the Viking Center. The drive was nice, and we loved seeing the country change from hills to flat land that I think might be moors (but no ghostly hounds were there to make me certain). The awful part came when we tried to get into York. It was comical how terrible it was. We learned never, never, never to drive in York. There is a ring road that looks on the map like it would be easy to stay on, like I-285. Oh no, that is not the case. There are hairpin turns, about 40 roundabouts that are unlabeled, and apparently the Brits haven't learned east and west yet. Once, we actually ended up in the middle of an intersection in a pedestrian only area. We had to honk at people to move to get out of the shopping area. We hated it so much and got lost so often that I groaned every time I saw the York Minster Cathedral in front of us, though I had been wanting to see it.
Finally, finding the parking lot that we had been struggling toward for over an hour and there not being any spaces and York Castle looking a lot like a sheep fold we saw this morning, just set up on a hill, we escaped out the first highway we came to and cared not a jot for the Cathedral or for the Vikings.
We ended up at the Yorkshire Air Museum, which was small but a lot of fun. Aaron got escorted by a worker into the private workshop to see a Harrier, which is a jet that can take off vertically, in case you are the British Air Force and don't have any carriers or other defensive technology other than planes designed in 1961 that are still in use. The man was super nice and seemed so sad that the Royal Air Force and Navy were so reduced. We also saw a big ass beige airplane that they named the Nimrod.
We wandered the hanger and a couple of outside planes, just like we do at Warner Robbins, and it turned out to be a lot of fun, though it rained on us. Rain here only lasts about 5 minutes, so we just ducked in a building and waited it out.
Tomorrow we are doing a crazy plan. It will probably turn out miserably, and I'll write about how ridiculous it was tomorrow night. But we don't care because it will be a truly great adventure, even if it's a disaster. We are going to drive through the North Yorkshire Moor National Park (because I am just fascinated with moors) and up to the Scottish border. We are going to wait for the tide to go our, drive across a causeway that is only available during low tide, visit Lindisfarne (a priory and castle famous for the amazing illuminated manuscripts produced there) though we probably won't find it open, attempt to find a room on the island (Holy Island) on the spur of the moment (because you can't book them on the internet), and drive back out to the mainland late at night, when the tide is low again if we can't get a room. We'll report on this adventure later.
Aaron comments:
- I can't believe that people don't gamble more when there are gambling machines EVERYWHERE. No one is ever using them.
- If I were a sheep, I would just off a cliff (like a "theoretical lemming") if I had to live in this weather. (But, says Kelly, as Aaron insisted yesterday, sheep cannot jump or else cow grates would not work on them.Maybe the dissatisfied Aaron-sheep would just fall off the edge of the cliff passively.)
- Yorkshire has crossings for deer, tractors, ducks, cows, and TANKS!!!
Kelly's extra comments:
- Aaron is very good at driving a stick shift and on the wrong side of the road. However, he is a timid city driver and stops at green lights just like Mamaw. He needs to take amphetamines before heading toward a city center, especially a pedestrian-only zone.
- If we sound slap-happy, we are. It's the only way to survive the city of York with your soul intact.
