The Lakes district undoubtedly is a beautiful place, earning its reputation as one of UK's most visited site. Unfortunately, since I only had a day to spend here and was heavily dependent on public transport, it pained me to know that I could only travel a small part of this wonderful countryside. Furthermore, my blistered foot made me a bit hesitant to trek.
After a long day of adventure in the Windermere and its surroundings and a lovely night of sleep, I woke up to catch my train to Carlisle, where I would catch my Hadrian's Wall Day Rover bus to visit the sites along Hadrian's Wall, and eventually end my day in Newcastle to visit my friend, Dr Lim. Purchasing the ticket online really saved me a couple of pounds.
The trip via train from Windermere to Oxenholme then to Carlisle was uneventful; I arrived in Carlisle pretty early, at around 8.30am, and the town was still pretty quiet. Streets were rather empty with a few cars and buses and pedestrians slowly emerged in the walkways. As I exited Carlisle's train station, I was welcomed by the Carlisle townhall, which rested itself in 2 brick red towers of centuries old. Further ahead was the Carlisle cathedral and castle, which was not in my itinerary as I did not have ample time to linger in this little town. So I sat on a bench near the town center, and started nibbling on the Granny Smith apples that I had bought a few days back.
Around 9.20am, my bus arrived and I started my journey eastward. Hadrian's wall was actually built by the Romans to demarcate their borders and protect themselves from the Scots in the north. It runs from the west coast of Britain till the east coast, and there were numerous forts located along the wall. After the Romans deserted Britain, it was left to decay on its own, but fortunately some remnants still persist and recent archaeological expeditions managed to uncover some of the Roman forts.
As I need to arrive in Newcastle by dusk, I could only afford a few stops here. I bypassed the Vindolanda Fort and the Roman museum due to lack of time, and visited Houseteads Roman Fort, which is the most famous and has the most complete ruins. Fortunately the kind salesgirl at the ticket counter allowed me to store my huge backpack in their storeroom, otherwise I would have to carry it up and down throughout my journey. I felt bad thought as she was later reprimanded by her supervisors for fear of me leaving explosives in my backpack. How ridiculous! Do I look like some fanatic bomber?
Anyway, Housesteads Roman Fort is just breathtaking. Upon entering the historical zone, I was given a warm welcome by flocks of sheep scrambling around the ruins and bleating at me as if I were some hungry looking wolf. The sheep were kept out from the fort by the stone walls and trapdoors however, but there were already hordes of tourists swarming inside the fort.
The Roman fort had been geniusly designed I would say, as each fort has a building for the commanding officer or Principalia, barracks for the soldiers, baths, mess hall and bakery. Outside the fort however were small settlements for the peasantry and slaves who would supply the fort with food and rudimentary services. The fort is no more but the stony foundations and the ruins somehow gave us some basic idea how the fort might look like.
Having spent around 90 minutes here, I picked up my backpack and waited for the bus and head out to my next destination. It was already 1.30 noon by then and I gobbled on a piece of sandwich that I bought here; food sold in tourists site are never cheap!
My next stop was Chester's Roman fort, which was a cavalry fort and has a museum loaded with Roman artifacts excavated from the site. It was not as grand as Housestead's Roman fort and hence there were less tourists there.
The museum paraded all sorts of Roman artifacts dug out at Chester's, particularly the stony ruins of walls, arches, roofs, etc.. The fort was a bit smaller in size, and had a stable for the horses of the Roman Cavalry, hence I finished my visit in an hour's time.
The was no point heading back the opposite direction, so I caught an earlier bus to Hexham where I could catch the next train to Newcastle around 4pm. Hexham, another small town, has nothing much to offer me, so I lingered in the train station only waiting for my train.
I eventually arrived in Newcastle's railwaystation around 4.45 pm and waited for my friend to pick me up. Apparently he aldy had plans made for me; he cooked me a sumptuous Malaysian Indian feast of nasi briyani and chicken curry with cholocate lava cake and ice cream as desert, and took me out to stroll at Tyne's riverside.
I did not like Newcastle that much as it left me an impression as a modern city just like Glasgow, unlike Edinburgh. Yet my friend was so proud of this city and the left me pondering. Oh well. We snapped a few photos at the riverfront where lies the Millenium Bridge and the Sage Music Center, before heading for home as I was already weary of my long day and I had to catch an early train to Durham and York the next day!
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