The Day We Almost Saw Hadrian's Wall

St. James Park - where Newcastle United play.

Well the mini break started out quite swimmingly. Melissa and I embarked on our 8 a.m. train to Newcastle, all prepared to see Hadrian's Wall. We arrived to the station, found a place to hold our bags for the day, and boarded a bus that would take us along the route to Carlisle. According to the map, we could get off at several different stops and the wall would be nearby.

The closest we got to Rome

We chose Corbridge! It was a quaint little town that was also home to a Roman Fort. We walked the mile from the stop to the fort first, believing we could then just walk to the wall. The fort was really awesome, and we were able to walk all over the ruins. It was here that we were informed that the wall was about two miles away. But hey there were buses that ran there! We looked for these buses and saw a sign but it wasn't clear regarding where it would be going and where was the best place to stop to see the wall. So we decided to walk there! And then we realized that it was two miles of highways.....yeah, not doing that.

We did see some sheep, though.

Thus, we went back into Corbridge, determined to take a bus to another stop and see if there was a better place to see the wall. We stopped into a church in town, the Saxon Church of St. Andrews, and visited there for a bit. We were still determined to find the wall, but our will was beginning to diminish. It only took about 20 minutes of sitting for us to give up entirely, realizing the futility of our endeavor to find the wall. The signage was poor, the website useless. It was if they really didn't want visitors. Strange.

Pretty Saxon Church

Thus, we found ourselves back in Newcastle around 2 and had lunch. We believed we had about three hours to kill so we walked through the mall and people watched in a Starbucks. The number one thing we learned: Newcastle is kind of crappy. Maybe it was just the people there and the part that we were in but we felt that the whole city was populated by drug addicts. We watched a train wreck of a relationship go up in smoke in Starbucks, as two people yelled at each other in public and then the man went back to playing with the baby as the girl cried silently on the couch. It was quite an experience.

The River Tyne

It was about 4 when we realized that our train left at 7, and not 6. Thus, we had an extra hour in this city. It was painful. However, as we were walking towards the rail station at 630, we happened upon a showing of Anchorman in a large town square. I had to give the city points for that, although it was also a bit strange to show an extremely sexually suggestive movie in such a public venue. Maybe this explains Newcastle? The jury is still out. I am more than willing to be proved wrong by someone who loves the city but I am currently of the belief that it isn't the best place in the world and I would be okay never to return.

We boarded our train to York and arrived there around 830 p.m. It was only a short cab ride to our hostel, where we shared a room with one other girl. She was Asian and didn't speak much English so words were not passed. The long day had taken it's toll and we quickly took to our beds. York tomorrow!

- Kate