In which we Drive and Climb and Drive and Shop and Drive a lot More

Jane's Journal Page Notes:
True Meaning of the crucifixion in today’s world.

The serpent in the garden of Eden did not mean the disgrace
Of humankind but rather our awakening to the link between
Sexuality and spirituality. The crucifixion was an actual vision
Of the future, of what man would become if he continued the
Torture of his own kind and that of the planet.

Mary did more than just hold Jesus after his descent from
The cross, she resurrected him with love as a symbol of
All who resurrect hope in today’s world of holy wars
And misguided, unloving religious fanatacism,
For when you are truly loved and loving in every way
All around you are TRULY loved.

Journal entry:
Up at 7 again for our scheduled breakfast. We had small smiley potato cakes instead of fried toast triangles. Otherwise, it was a rerun of yesterday's meal. Chatted with the other guests--a local woman now living elsewhere, home visiting family, and a woman from NYC. Yesterday there were two couples, but they must have moved on.

We had finished shoving the rest of our things back in suitcases before breakfast, so we basically retrieved them, hauled them downstairs and paid up--cash only. Our car was fine, inspite of the worry about the broken glass, and we asked Daphne to please direct us to Housestead’s Fort at Hadrian’s Wall. She, naturally, did a fabulous job, getting us there in about an hour.

The shop at Housesteads was at the bottom of the hill near the road. It is currently having proper toilets added. I think the woman there said they were also adding a small cafe. Now it‘s just all torn up, with an ordering window for snacks only. And a nice shop. To get to the fort itself you must go through a sheep gate and walk up a steep track to the entrance and one-room museum. It’s not an awful walk--thank goodness we’ve been doing hills all week!--and there are lots of scenic sheep scattered about the hillside. Lots of them. It’s really a pasture. Takes about 20 minutes, with a breather break halfway up, because I’m out of shape.

At the top you enter the museum where you can get a quick overview of what you are about to see. I wish I would have spent more time doing that, with the guidebook (which is the first guidebook we’ve bought that has some actual chunks of meaty information in it--I’ve been very disappointed in the dumbing-down of most of the guides). Unfortunately, we didn’t buy the guidebook till after we walked around the fort.

Once through the museum, there is normally an entrance through the south wall of the fort, but it has been so wet that the grass has slid, so they have a new path in, but it's pretty slippery.

The fort itself is remarkably well-preserved, especially considering people have been dismantling it rock by rock for pasture walls for two centuries! There are areas where the remains are waist-high or more. They really sell the fact that they have an almost completely extant latrine, which was very interesting. But the whole layout of the place was absolutely enthralling. It is built along Hadrian’s Wall, as all the Roman forts were every few miles; this one is unusual in that it doesn’t straddle the Wall itself. It can’t: the Wall runs along a cliff. This fort was built in the second phase of the building of the Wall, and like the whole project it was done fairly quickly.

The ground is very much sloped away from the cliff‘s edge--why does one always assume archaeological sites are flat?--so it’s clear that this would be a very defensible position for the Romans. On the north side of the Wall about fifty feet away from it and for most of its length the Romans dug a trench for added security. They did a similar thing by digging a vallum, basically a flat-bottomed trench about 100 yards south of the Wall. These trenches are still visible if you know where to look, as are the terraced farm fields (which you have to climb up to get to the museum).

Kids love this place. After all, it shows where people pooped, and kids are allowed to run around and climb on rocks. What more could a kid ask? It was fun to see them dashing about.

We headed back downhill eventually, stopping quickly for drinks at the snack shop, but figuring on lunch and souvenirs further down the Wall. Except, when we reached the Tourist Centre, it turned out to be much tinier than the shop at Housesteads. And no restaurant at all. Oh, well.

Instead, we directed Daphne to take us towards the area in which we stayed in ’96. We ended up going through Alston, Appleby, Kirkby Stephen and Thwaite, before reaching Muker, which is about ten minutes from Low Row and our erstwhile rental house there.

Now, if you look at a map, this looks like about a one-hour drive. WRONG. We stopped in Alston at the Co-op for picnic supplies--there are no restaurants in sight on this trek, or at least no take-out places. We had finished our sandwiches and apples before reaching Appleby and desolation. There is absolutely NOTHING but sheep between Kirkby Stephen and Keld. Oh, I forgot the tour coach/bus, which--no exaggeration--ran us off the road because the road was exactly the width of the bus itself. No trees. Lots of bracken and thistles and grass. And sheep. Have I mentioned them? This was also the one area so far in which Beast had no signal at all on his cell phone. But the scenery is spectacular, the weather ever-changing, and if you don’t think about winter, the moors and dales are beautiful.

Muker was wonderful, like an oasis in the desert. We got the sense that local people don‘t cross back over where we had just come from. Very insular. Nice people though. We stopped in Muker to stretch and to buy a hat for Beast at Swaledale Woollens. We ended up buying a lot of other stuff, too. Handmade, all of it, using local crafters and local wool. [Have you heard, there's a lot of sheep around?] From there we cruised through the villages, including Low Row, to Reeth. The house we rented is no longer a rental; the farm itself is now a regular school-tour stop, and the hostel up the road seemed to be closed. We weren’t able to stop and play quoits.

After a quick stop at a bakery in Reeth for some shortbread, we spent another two hours getting to Richmond and then to the A1. Then it was highway driving for four hours to Leicester. Amazing. Distances are so deceiving. Part of the problem was that we got caught in rush hour traffic around Leeds. Around that time it also started to rain. It was pouring by the time we reached Nottingham traffic. But as we approached Leicester the sun came out again.

I had told Jesse we’d be late, not to expect us till after 6:00. We pulled in at 7:30, and unloaded the car quickly. He had already given up and cooked himself something for supper, but he acquiesced and came with us when we begged him to think of a place we could eat. He took us to Local Hero (I think that was the name); it’s similar to Applebee’s, with bar (not really a pub) and a restaurant. Good food. He had a companionable pint with us. It’s a busy place: attached to the big theater (movie) downtown, and the Safeway.

Home and crash into our beds...after we made them. Sparky’s was still done from when we were here before. Marie and Jan had slept in our room (actually Jesse's room--can you hear more Family Confusion approaching?) but they had stripped it when they left for Germany on Tuesday. For some reason it smells of cat in here, even though Schrody’s not allowed in. I checked: no spots that I could find, but very fragrant anyway. Maybe from outside?? It’s warmed up again since the rain this afternoon, and the sky is cloudless, so it’s another warmish sleeping night.