The Back Story

The Back Story:

In June/July 2004, Julia's choir spent a week touring London and southern England; Emma and I tagged along for the sight-seeing. At the end of the choir trip, we rented a car and spent another week driving about, visiting with my mother's life-long pen pal Lorrie, who lived near Manchester, and exploring the west and north of England and a bit of Wales. 

Lorrie, Julia, Emma

Although all of it was a wonderful adventure, for me the most memorable places were largely unpeopled places off the beaten track--a tiny Norman church with well-preserved Celtic carvings, a half-rehabbed manor house/castle, a lesser-known stone circle, stretches of Hadrian's Wall. 

When I learned that one could walk across England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea along Hadrian's Wall, I thought I'd like to do that some day. When I turned fifty last summer, I decided that "some day" had best become "soon."  I initially planned to hike alone, hosteling along the way, but my father didn't much like that idea and thought it might be fun to come along--as long as the trip was a little more civilized and catered. So I booked a 10 day "self-guided" tour (the tour company provides a pre-arranged itinerary with maps and info, nightly bed and breakfast accommodations, luggage transfer, and emergency backup, but we walk on our own, not with a group).

Since we'll be in England anyway, why not extend the adventure? There's so much to see and do. . . .

Lindisfarne isn't far from Hadrian's Wall (not that anything in England is far from anything else), and I would like to see that. Pop is more interested in seeing scenery than museums and castles and chose "fishing villages" and "the Yorkshire Moors" from my list of suggestions. He also decided to see if we could drop in on an old friend and colleague of his near Manchester; and as I was starting to put together an itinerary, I received a card from Lorrie's daughter Jill, saying that Lorrie had died. When I emailed Jill in reply, she invited us to come visit her on her farm in south Wales. . . .

So that's the plan--fly in to Newcastle upon Tyne, hike the Hadrian's Wall Path, rent a car, wind our way through lots of north English and Welsh scenery, visit friends old and new, and fly back out of Manchester.

View Larger Map

Selections from the 2004 album:

Julia and Emma on one of Long Meg's Daughters, July 2004




View Larger Map

Although Long Meg is off the beaten path, it is surrounded by farmland and even has a Google Streetview!

______________________________________________________________