The Borders

The drive through The Borders was just stunning.  The large rolling hills, colorful spring shrubbery dotted with sheet and cattle was ‘eye candy’.  Aside from the usual curves in the road, we experience three hairpin turns approaching the English border, the many dips and rises where the cars in front of us would just disappear for about 10 seconds or so. There were so many other photos of the countryside I would have like to capture but couldn’t due to all the above, but the ones below were taken near Melrose Abbey our first stop.

Melrose Abbey

This was our first of two Abbey ruins.  It was first build in 1385 but destroyed by English armies.  What is visible today was rebuilt in 1400.  All that is left of the original is the small ruined wall directly in front of the Nave.

Jedburgh

This Abbey took 120 years to build and the artisans pushed the limits of design and construction.  The Nave was built later than the east end, the Presbytery, because the shape of the windows required pointed tools which weren’t available earlier.  When Jedburgh Abbey was built, it was built because the ruler at the time wanted to show his power and that he could build an abbey.  When the king of England wanted to show his power, Jedburgh abbey was the first in line for the cannons.

We found a great little fish and chips place across the street that only did “take away” and it was really good.  It came with one piece, a fillet of Haddock in a very thin yet crisp crust and hand cut chips.  They also serve all the pizza at this establishment with chips and a Chinese restaurant we went to in Glasgow substituted fries for rice for one gal.  I’m not sure what the deal is with the Scottish and their fries. 

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Hadrian’s Wall

This wall was built about 120-130 AD by the Roman emperor Hadrian.  It roughly runs 73 miles from east to west with the purpose of keeping the Scots out of England.  We visited the Housesteads site which is the most complete ruin and only about an hour or so drive from Jedburgh.  The countryside is amazing with all the mountains (rolling hills to us), and variety in vegetation which include conifers this far north.  We were told it is windy here all year long.  Being there was similar to standing in one of the wind tunnels in the Snoqualmie valley in November, but the wind here is constant.  They do get snow here in the winter as well.