I have to admit that the original idea was to make posts on the
road as I go along. But the hours in between cities were spent with me pouring
over the GPS or ‘counting churches’ – a game of Adrian’s invention. Writing in the
evening was out of question as they were spent hastily searching for rooms for the
night it was impossible to predict where we will be staying the nights in advance.
And late evenings – well I rarely had power in me to brush my teeth before blacking
out from exhaustion and over excitement.
Day1, start from Glasgow 1730, planned night Hexam/Corbridge
Adventures started in Glasgow. It turns out that Glasgow is
a nightmare to enter and to leave and the amount of roads cress-crossing the GPS
usually gets it wrong. The first stop was Roslyn and I was a maniac with the camera
and taking pictures of everything I could see during the short trip there.
Rosslyn Chapel (aka Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew)
This small mid-15th century Roman Catholic collegiate church became
known to the world mostly because of the book that shall not be named. With the
fame came the tourists and with them funds. Currently the West side of the
church is being renovated and a contemporary entrance with the information desk
and gift shop were built on to the West side.
The church looks like a delicate ivory miniature of a cathedral in
stone. It is tiny, delicate and fragile looking on the exterior.
Unfortunately I never saw the
interior as we arrived after working hours thus I never got a chance to search
for the famous Templiers treasures and the remains of Christ and/or Mary
Magdalene but I did find a bunny hill with many bunnies opping around.
The
Abbey itself was founded in the 12th century by Augustinian monks. It saw
destruction by various Earls in the 15th century, yet it was the Scottish
reformation that brought it to its down fall. The West transept (the part with windows) is used as a parish church.
It should be added that Jedburgh is also home to a castle, which was then used as a jail, and in the contemporary times as a Youth Hostel and currently it is a museum.
We left Jedburgh at twilight which was probably a mistake as
the road to Hexam was long and narrow and went up and down through the hills.
At the beginning of it we discovered a sign with a skull and crossed bones
telling us that there were 75 deaths on it in the last three years (aka this is
a death road).
After a loooong and scary drive (during which I kept remembering
Jeepers Creepers) the journey ended in Hexam at around 2230 with us having
nowhere to stay. Google showed only three hotels/B&B nearby. The first one
was closed for the night, the second one asked for a first born (metaphorically
of course), the third one – we were lucky, as we later found out if the
landlord hadn’t had 4 cancellations that day and if he hadn’t stayed with his
friends for a drink after work he wouldn’t have bothered to pick up the phone
when we rang at 2300. The Bed and Breakfast was slightly out of Hexam right
next to Hadrian’s Wall which was the first thing we saw on day 2.
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