Durham to Edinburgh

Durham to Edinburgh

This morning we woke up in a nice hotel in Durham. It was a lovely overnight stay. Beds were plush. 2 or 3 people per room and showers for every room. It is the only hotel stay of the pilgrimage. We booked it because there is no youth hostel within a reasonable distance that had space.

The broken TV

In the middle of the night three of our boys were awakened by a crash as a television fell off the wall and landed on one boy’s bed and a table corner. The television was mortally wounded and the boys were fine. This is the only place where there even are TV's on this pilgrimage. It was quite the topic of conversation, so we had a poetry contest to describe the event.

The winning poem was penned by Cole Callihan:

You have heard of the things that go bump in the night

and to see most of them, you might need a night light

but the one that we encountered was a little bit interesting

As it was in a different area and also very frightening

the television jumped and leapt off the wall

Crash was the sound that was heard by all

Awake and startled, we went over to look

by the sound that caused tristan's bed to shook

lying on the ground was a giant flat screen

this terrible sight that caused us all to scream

half-asleep and stretching out, we could barely function

and we knew that we would be blamed for all this destruction

"Let's clean up and make sure that we are spiffy,

then lets take our stuff and get out in a jiffy"

The plan sounded good so we did comply,

and then we convinced everyone that we did not lie

the maintenance man trusted us and believed our tale

 

Youth on Hadrian's Wall

so after everything was over were not sent to jail.

After a fabulous Full English Breakfast we left for points north. We stopped briefly at a section of Hadrians Wall. This wall used to stretch 80 miles from the East to the West coasts of the UK. It was built by Rome to protect the Northern edge of the Roman Empire back in 122AD from the wild Pict folk. 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall, it made for an imposing barrier back in the day. The part we saw remained about 4-5 feet high in spots. Amazingly the concrete that held the old wall together  was still holding fast. 2000 years of walking and weather have not destroyed the wall completely.

Further north, we stopped at the Holy Island of Lindesfarne.  This was a lynchpin in the Celtic story thread for the pilgrimage, Lindesfane was and remains a significant site of pilgrimage. Lindesfanre was started by Aiden who was sent from Iona. There is plenty to learn about both. Almost everyone took the hike from the bus parking lot to the castle. Some made it to the Priory as well. With the stories of St. Aiden and Cuthbert fresh in our heads it was possible to imagine life in the 700’s. Wild, hard, meager but manageable until the Vikings arrived.

After leaving Lindesfarne we continued north into Scotland. And ended our day in Edinburgh with a tour of the castle and dinner.

Juliet in Edinburgh Castle

Rev. Judi inside Edinburgh Castle

Fred and Tena inside Edinburgh Castle

Each morning we are on the bus we pray morning prayer. When possible we also share evening prayer before leaving the bus. Each day is filled with thoughts of loved ones and supporters back home. More flathead photos will be up soon. They are scattered over many cameras.