Adventures & Photographs at Hadrian’s Wall

One of the reasons we moved to our present spot in Cumbria after our ‘big adventure’ was because we would be surrounded by so many amazing places.  Whichever direction you head, wonders await ~ Scotland, Northumberland, the Pennines, the Lake District and Yorkshire plus all the places right on our very doorstep in border country. Our intention on moving here was that we would head off out and about in our little camper on a regular basis to see the sights, a day trip here and an overnight stay there. Note I say ‘intention’… we got rather bogged down mentally last year and ended up not really seeing or doing much at all.

We decided this had to change for two reasons.  Firstly we don’t plan to remain here in Cumbria for too much longer and want to see as much as we can before we say goodbye to this gorgeous area.  Secondly we have set up a microstock portfolio (Phillip photographs and I tag/submit) to aid our alternative lifestyle dream.  So once a week our trusty Bongo sets off on a mini adventure with the double bonus of us seeing our surroundings and getting photos for the portfolio. Sometimes I simply enjoy seeing and walking, other times I sit myself in the Bongo and either tag photos or tap away at some writing (at this time of year normally with a nice warm blanket round me and gloves on!).

A recent focus for us has been Hadrian’s Wall. For some reason the Wall really speaks to me. I love seeing it, being near it and imagining what it must have looked like when it was built and in use. We are lucky to have some amazing sections of the wall near us with stunning views over the surrounding countryside and some (occasionally sneaky) free places to park!

The closest bit of Wall to us is at Banks East Turret and we always take any visitors for a quick visit here as the views are amazing (if the weather is being nice that is, being Cumbria it usually isn’t!) and we are slightly proud of the fact that it is only about 10 minutes away from our home.  It is bizarrely where we got our Glastonbury tickets in October 2015 as they went on sale mere days after we moved and we had no internet at home!

Heading further east there are some lovely long stretches of Wall at Birdoswald Roman Fort and over the border into Northumberland.  A couple of weeks ago we discovered one of those sneaky free parking places I mention at the amazing Walltown Crags.  This has to be my favourite spot so far.  The Crags are gloriously rugged and the Wall snakes its way up and down them.  Add to this the bleakness of the surrounding landscape and well…I am a happy bunny.  I quite happily tromped around for a while relishing being there in the cold, fresh air and then settled down in the Bongo to work whilst Phillip was shooting awesome shots like this.

Hope you enjoyed our little Roman jaunt ~ stay tuned to see where our Bongo adventures take us next!

All photos in this post taken by ColobusYeti and available at Fotolia

Visiting Times

No sooner had we finished unpacking (well almost finished…there are always those little bits and pieces that take ages to find homes for aren’t there?!), we were off again!  We headed into Scotland to the fantastic Clachaig Inn in the truly breath-taking Glencoe for 3 nights to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.  It was a very welcome break, giving us the chance to clear our heads after the downs and ups of recent months as well as returning to our favourite pub in Scotland which we stumbled across by chance last year during our travels.

Our trip was closely followed by our first visitors….who were then very closely followed by our next visitors!  First up were our friends Zoe and Mike who came many miles to visit us for only 2 nights.  They had never been this far North before and really wanted to cross the border into Scotland….so we obliged!  We also did a quick visit to parts of Hadrian’s Wall, took in some Cumbrian and Northumberland scenery and spent the afternoon at Kielder Water.  Not bad for such a short trip!

Next were my parents who stayed in a local B&B in Brampton for a week.  Despite some pretty poor weather during their visit, they were quite taken with Lanercost, Brampton and Carlisle.  I don’t think their next visit at Christmas will be their last!