Day 75 Newcastle, United Kingdon

 Last night, before we departed from Scotland, we had a female Scottish Piper and four highland Dancers come onboard to give us a demonstration.  They ranged in age from seven years old to seventeen.  It was a great performance and the Piper, who is one of Scotlands finest,  had us all clapping and singing along.  

But now we are in the UK and docked at Newcastle on Tyne on the Tyne River.  Our tour today was not until 11.25am and we had seen on google maps that there was parkland not far from where we were docked, so after breakfast we headed in that direction.  My god, the wind.  It nearly lifted me off my feet, but it wasn't that cold.  There were also light showers, but not enough to deter us.  We skirted around the harbour with its myriad of boats and found the entrance to the parkland very easily.  It is a lovely green area and we noticed later in the day that there are many of these parklands.  It's so good to see this as Newcastle itself is not the most attractive of cities. We walked for an hour and gee it felt good to step it out.  Even though we try to get our 10,000 steps each day, they are very slow paced when you are in a tour group.

After our walk we caught the shuttle into the town area.  We had no intentions of getting off the shuttle.  We were just killing time really.  On the return shuttle back to the ship another couple, who we had become friendly with, told us there was nothing much to see.  The only real attraction was the cathedral and that was locked!  When we got back to the ship we grabbed a quick sandwich for our lunch and headed down to the dock for our tour "Hadrians Wall and Heddon on Wall". Hadrians Wall was built by the Romans in AD122, and for almost three centuries, the wall was a vibrant, multi-cultural frontier sprawling some 128 kms coast to coast with a further 112 kms of coastal defences down the Cumbrian Coast.  It was up to 4 metres high with a garrison of 10,000 soldiers.  Along the wall are forts, barracks, and civil settlements.  As we drive towards our first stop we spot remnants of the wall scattered along the way.  We arrive at Heddon on the Wall, where we see the remains of a village and parish in the county of Northumberland.

I've always wanted to visit Northumberland after watching the British TV show, Escape to the Country.  So many people want to move here and now I can understand why.  It is the least populated area in Britain with vast open countryside.  There are sheep of course, that outnumber the people, and the patchwork landscape is a lovely sight for the eyes.

Chesters Roman Fort and Museum is the highlight of this tour. John Clayton, a town clerk from Newcastle, did much to excavate and preserve the wall, and is a bit of hero.  Chesters Roman Fort is Britains most complete cavalry fort and the military bath house by the river is amazing with its almost complete steam room!  Across the river we see the remains of the bridge that crossed the river.
The water is quite fast flowing so I wonder how the Romans had the ingenuity to build such a thing.  Then again, we have learnt so much from the Romans who shaped western civilisation through its law, language, architecture and government.

After exploring the fort we head to the museum that is full to the ceiling with roman artefacts  that have been unearthed.  My head can't get around the age of these finds.

We have one last stop on this tour and on our way to the Sill National Landscape and Discovery Centre, our tour guide points out two gaps between the hills where a Sycamore tree was planted in Hadrians Wall around 200 years ago.  The Sycamore gap tree was cut down by vandals in 2023 and the two men who were caught, and received four years in prison, did it for a "bit of a laugh".  It beggars belief.  The tree trunk has now been recycled into a lovely sculpture in the Sill discovery centre and our guide also tells us that the tree stump has now shown signs of re-growth.  

We walk to the top of the Sill Discovery Centre where we are rewarded with some beautiful views of the Northumberland landscape.  Fortunately the rain has disappeared and we are left with sunshine.

Our tour guide has somehow managed to get the time wrong for our return to the ship that sails at 4.30pm, last on board is 4.00pm.  We arrived back at 4.15pm and for the first time ever, Philip and I were the last to board the ship!  Our captain is revving up the motors as we board, and in no time at all we are setting sail. I snap a few photos as we depart Newcastle.  Talk about little boxes on the hillside, there are literally thousands of these houses, all with the same roof, colour scheme, and size as far as the eye can see….

Tomorrow we arrive back in Amsterdam.  This is the end of the cruise for the majority and us lucky ones get to stay on for one more leg!