The Armin Grewe Homepage
Picture of a red car Saturday 2nd of September 2000, shortly after lunchtime: Finally it's time go. I've picked up the rental car from Avis, packed my stuff, cleaned the house (more or less) and sent the last e-mails before leaving

The plan for today was to drive up to northern England, may be even cross the border to Scotland. Leaving Swindon northbound I took the A419 and A417 to Gloucester to join the M5. This would take me up to Birmingham, from where I would take the M6 further north.

Picture of a car dashboard
Picture of a view into a back mirror Picture of a view across a motorway Picture of a view over the M6 motorway, sign above
Picture of old buildings in Carlisle town centreAt about 6pm I decided it was enough driving for the day. At that time I was just approaching Carlisle, so I decided to leave the motorway here and find a bed & breakfast somewhere. It turned out that that wasn't a big problem in Carlisle, the road I drove into the town had one in almost every third or fourth house I passed. After a pizza in some fast food place I went to bed to be ready for some serious sightseeing the next day. The next morning I started with a walk around Carlisle. The town centre is quite nice with a few old buildings and lot's of flowers. Another interesting place to visit is Carlisle Castle.

And then I left for Hadrian's Wall:

Picture of a castle wall
Picture of ruins of a wall stretching into the distance Hadrian's Wall in BanksHadrian's Wall is the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain. It was 80 Roman miles long (117 kilometres or 73 modern miles) and about 5 metres (15 feet) high. It's purpose according to Hadrian's Roman biographer was ‘to protect the Romans from the Barbarians’. After the Romans left Britain the Wall became derelict and it's stones were re-used in local buildings and field walls. However, you can still some of the remains, the pictures here were taken in Banks and Birdoswald. Several museums and visitor centres give you an excellent insight into the history of the Romans and their achievements.

Scotland 2000 Index -> Next: Driving through southern Scotland