Suitcase Sagas

For the final leg of the trip, we started off in the afternoon from Edinburgh and headed down South. But the journey was to be more interesting than the final destination !

Part of British Road Trip : UK – Road Trip

Day 9 – Hadrian’s Wall

• We headed for Hadrian’s wall – This is a stone wall built during Roman era which runs from one coast to the other of UK ! And this is what inspired “The Wall” in Game of Thrones …
•  Part of this ancient wall stills stands today and you can head to Northumberland to see portions of it.  As you can imagine there are various spots to view the wall when you cross over from Scotland towards England. Based on our route, we decided to go to Housesteads Roman Fort (Entrance Fee of 7.5 GBP) where you can see remains of an old fort and visit a museum. This spot is broadly halfway between Edinburgh and York (2-2.5 hours each way).
•  While this fort is nice, what we were really looking for was a place to see a long stretch of wall unspoilt from modern constructions. The person at the Roman Fort was very nice and gave us some information about the wall and set us off towards Steel Rigg Car Park. Boy, were we glad that we took his advice. Just park the car and head towards the lil hill – walk up the slope and enjoy the views from the top. Portion of the walls is still standing and you can imagine soldiers standing here and looking out towards the North. There was no one else when we went and this was a thrilling experience! SS Tip: GoT fans – this is worth the detour

•  After grabbing some dinner on the way, we headed over to our farm B&B just outside York. The hosts were very nice and showed us into our lovely room on first floor. All-in-all a wonderful day with castles, walls and lovely room.

Day 10 – York and Cambridge

• After a lovely home-cooked meal, we decided to take the car to York. We started off with key attraction York Minster. This is a very large and beautiful cathedral.

• Right outside the Minster, we joined a walking tour – typical free tour where you pay as you wish at the end. The guide was very good and took us around the gardens and city walls. The city walls run a circuit and you can walk through towers, look through gates and enjoy the sights while you walk along this well preserved route.

• The guide was a GoT fan and told us lot of parallels between city of York, House of York (similar to Starks), Wars of the Roses and GoT. This trivia was an absolute bonus ! If you have more time in York, you can head over to the city museums.
•  3 hours drive, brought us to our final stop on the trip, Cambridge . We walked around this university town filled with gardens and historic buildings.

• This was very similar to Oxford with colleges, chapels, museums and a river. Typical spots are King’s College Chapel, St. Mary’s Church, Christi College, Mathematical Bridge,  etc. So after 1-2 hours of exploring in the rain, we called it a day and headed back to car.

• We filled petrol close to Heathrow airport and returned the car. It was simple and quick –  Thankfully no tickets or damages. Got onto their shuttle to London Airport and took the tube to the city.

End of a beautiful British Road trip…