Rob-n-Hild Take the High Road!

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Glasgow to Penrith 206 km driven in 3:01 hours with an average speed of 67.9 km/h. Max altitude 332 metres.

We woke up to another morning of Glasgow drizzle. A bit of yoga exercise and packing up the room after breakfast was refreshing. The first stop on our drive was Costco for some diesel and AdBlue for Percy. Of course, we used the opportunity to stock up on crackers, mangoes, and Aussie Bites treats.

We have tried hard to not drive the same road twice during our trip. As we passed the junction for Moffatt, we realized that this is where we left the A74(M) when we drove north in May. Technically we aren't driving the same road as we were going north on the other side....

Gretna Green is famous for many things probably. Rob remembers that people who were not allowed to get married in England without parental consent would go across the border to Gretna and get married there. Even blacksmiths were allowed to marry people, performing "anvil" and "handfasting" ceremonies.

Just after Gretna we passed back into England. Yeah! Home again, more or less.

Check-in at our campsite was not until after 1 pm so we wanted to eat lunch first. Hild chose a small park on the River Eden, which flows through Carlisle. The spot was beautiful, but the weather was not. You may be able to spot how cold Rob looks while making tea in the back of Percy. Luckily we were sheltered by a tree and didn't get wet.

After lunch we went for a bit of shopping in Halfords. Mostly we just like looking at stuff and not buying anything. This time this caught our eyes: a blast from the past with a cassette adapter for your car stereos. That is old-fashioned even for us.

And Rob found this enormous spanner - say hello to my little friend!

Carlisle Citadel looms large over the streets around and reminds us of the last public execution here on jail wall in 1862.

Carlisle Cathedral was established in 1133 and has gone through some renovations since. Who wouldn't if one was that old!? The cathedral program only mentioned evening prayers when we walked by, but it sounded like more than that. We heard choir song but we didn't go in. There were also an unusual number of well-dressed people wandering around so maybe a wedding was on too?

Carlisle Castle was first built in 1092 and rebuilt in 1122 and fixed many times since. The castle has been important through history including during the wars between England and Scotland.

The castle is also near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. Roman emperor Hadrian started building the 73-mile long wall as a defensive fortification in year 122. We hope to walk along part of the Hadrian's Wall Path although most of the structure has been dismantled and used to build roads and farm houses.

Back in Carlisle Castle, we took a photo under the portcullis. Having no real knowledge of history, the gate reminds Hild mainly of when Luke Skywalker killed the rancor at Jabba's palace.

Here are a couple of fun signs we saw in Carlisle:

* "Brewed Awakenings" is a good name for a cafe. * And Grill39 is a good example of fusion food: Tibetan, Mexican, Sushi, and English Roast. Something for everyone! "Where every flavour tells a story".

Half-an-hour later we arrived at Mains Farm campsite. Robert and Julie welcomed us and gave us 3 options for different pitches. We chose one in the orchard. They have 800 sheep which takes all their time between September and April. Then all us tourists take the rest of the year. The farm buildings are great and have been converted to toilet and shower facilities. One building even has some rooms for those who want that type of accommodation. There are some small cabins, tipis and pitches for caravans and RVs.

To get Percy into the orchard, we had to drive through old cobble-stone archways in the farm buildings. He only just fit and we had to fold in his wing mirrors. There was also a cute hedgehog in the archway which Robert moved so we could get past!

We can enter the courtyard through a nice wooden gate. That is a first for us!

In the orchard, we are sheltered by stone walls and have an apple tree next to our tent. Keen observers will notice that Dominic the tent has been switched for a new tent - a "Sendero 4". Poor Dominic survived in Canada and in England, but Shetland 50 miles per hour winds were too much for him.

It was time for some work in our new tent. We noticed that our mobile phones do not have great coverage here, but our mobile hotspot does. We love it when a plan come together.

We had talked about dinner most of the day, and went ahead with the plan to repeat our earlier success with haggis, baked beans, and kavring (krisprolls) - with milk of course.

Coming up: Penrith and surrounding areas

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