Gone one month and we're in England

We got to England on Oct. 10th, one month after we arrived in Iceland. It feels like we have been gone for a least two months. Everyone else says it feels shorter than that. We have been through a lot of countries: Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and we are now in England. We have been in England before, because London is where our plane flew into from Iceland on our way to Ireland. As we traveled from Scotland to England, we stopped at a couple places.

The first place was called Caerlaverock Castle. The castle was built with two moats going around it. The first moat was around the base of the castle then there was a hill all around that, then the second moat. The first moat that went all around the castle is still there, complete with water, to this day. The castle itself is in relatively good condition for a ruin, although half of the wall in the back of the castle has fallen off into the moat. All of the corners are still standing. The people who keep the castle let you climb just about anywhere. Pigeon's live everywhere in the castle. That is not very nice because then when you look up into a tower you have to watch it or some bird dirt will land on your head. None landed on any of our heads, but it could happen. When you walk into the castle you can still see the carvings in the walls.

When they built this castle, it was actually the second castle. The first one was built not even a mile away. It was abandoned because being built in a bog, the walls started to cave, sink, and sag; the only thing left is the foundation. I do not have a picture of the very first castle because there was nothing there really.

The second place that we stopped was Hadrian's Wall. It was built by the Romans to keep the raiding Scots out of what is now England. The wall is about 73 miles long. The men who built it finished it in 7 years. The wall was about 15 feet high and on top of the wall there was a walking path for the solders who guarded it. There were forts every mile. The wall is slowly falling down.

When we were finished looking at a small section of the wall and fort ruin and reading about it, we started the last leg of our journey for the day which was heading to our 'new' house. We will be in this house until Friday, Oct. 16th. The name of our house is The Dairy House. It is very nice. I get a bedroom all to myself! YAY! I have always wanted my own bedroom. Jack, Bria, and Landon have to share a bedroom up in the loft.

To get to this house we had to go on what we call 'cow paths', in the dark. The land that we were going through was bare as far as I could tell in the dark. We came through a National Park. That is why it was so bare. The locals were on our tail. We were going maybe 45 MPH and the locals wanted to go much faster. The roads were single, narrow, sometimes steep, lanes. We passed through 2 fords, one with water, one without. The ford was not deep at all, it was only a little stream running over the road.

When we finally got to town we had to stop at the pub to pick up the key to the house, then Dad lost internet connection so we could not find it. We went back to the pub and a guy came out and walked to the place where our house was to show us the way. We had some tea and went to bed. We are in a small little town that has a pub, two little rarely used churches and a few more little houses like the one we are living in. Newton-on-Rawcliffe is its name. Our first morning in The Dairy House we had no breakfast. Dad had to run to the store in the next town to get something for breakfast and lunch.

So far on this trip I have enjoyed most things. The houses are nice and sight-seeing is great; and as far as driving, I think mom and dad have gotten used to it. :)