Thursday July 17

Where in the world are Ethan and Siena? Yes, they are hiking on an ancient wall, but no, we are not in China. Like the Great Wall of China, this wall was built spanning an entire country to keep the barbaric people living north of the wall from invading. It was built in 144 A.D. and took a mere 2 years to complete the 73 miles. Not only did they build the wall 10 feet high and three feet wide, they also built deep ditches parallel to the wall to help defend the border. This is Hadrian's Wall, in northern England, to protect the Roman Empire's northern territory from the Scots. I'm not sure you can see in this picture, but the wall is built on the ridge of a mountain range. During our 10 mile hike along this mountainous section, we had up to 100 foot straight drops down on the north side of the wall. We stopped part way along for lunch, then cut back to the road to wait for a bus back to our hotel. Our choice of beverages at these stops caused Ethan to reflect, that whilst others walk from peak to peak, "The Beatties hike from pint to pint."

England has a reputation for mediocre food. We have been very happy with the food. We have had lots of pies--cheese and onion, steak and ale, lentil, mint and lamb, beef and Guiness. The food is all hearty. We have tried to have the local specialties, including Black Pudding, which is a sausage made from pig's blood (better than it sounds, but it would almost have to be), yorkshire pudding (yum!), lots of lamb (there are sheep everywhere), strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, local sausage (which are all very different) and local ales (also all different, but all good). We went on the Wensleydale Creamery Tour and sampled all 12 cheeses--the good ones multiple times. I am glad we are hiking about 8 miles a day to work off some of the calories.

Yesterday, we arrived in Scotland. We are staying in Stirling with a friend of my parents. Peter must be an excellent friend to invite his friends' daughter and her entire family to stay. It is wonderful to be in a home after 2 weeks in hotels. And, "hotel" is definitely a compliment to some of our lodgings, so this is especially wonderful. Yesterday, we went to Glasgow and stopped in at the Horseshoe Bar (thanks, Jim and Gillian for the suggestion!) Today, we traveled to Edinburgh. The picture of the family (with Peter) is from the castle.

On a technical note, I understand some are having problems seeing pictures on the blog or responding to us. Please feel free to go directly to our blog site--www.beattieclanworldtrip.blogspot.com. You can also email us at beattieclan@gmail.com.