A Thanksgiving to Remember

We woke up early today and drove down to the coast to see the sunrise over Whitley Bay. We rolled down the windows and since the tide was out, the smell of the sea was strong and the gulls were circling loudly. I cried just a little; it's going to be hard to say goodbye to this beautiful coastline. Not to romanticize it too much: In the back seat the boys were like, "I'm cold! Can you roll up the window?" and "I'm hungy" and "Is this it? I'm bored." Ah, life with kids.

We drove back to the house for showers and breakfast and headed off to Hadrian's Wall for the day. We'd driven along it once before, but hadn't stopped because of the rain. (We were lightweights then.) Today we decided we'd walk a section of Hadrian's Wall, rain or shine.

Mike loves an open stretch of road so much, he pulled over to take a picture.

At a section of the wall at the Steel Rigg car park, near the town of Once Brewed.
The wall was built by the Romans in A.D. 122.

Our destination is Sycamore Gap, near the cliffs/water.

This stretch of the wall had four big climbs up and down. The boys did great!

The many easy walks along the ridge allowed us to catch our
breath after the steep climbs....

...just to lose it again at such breathtaking views!

Mike is thinking he might like to come back and hike the full 82 miles of the wall
for his 40th birthday. Sounds awesome. 

Merrit, our personal photographer. :)

More up-and-down climbs ahead. In the foreground: Ruins of a Roman outpost.

Sycamore Gap: We made it! Just one final descent and we're there!

Below, see the clip from the movie "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" (yeah, saw this
about 999 times with Dawn Hill in high school/college). Can't believe I stood in the
same spot as Kevin Costner! Oh man, we used to crush on him. (Don't get it now.)

No deerhounds chasing Merrit today!

You can see why it's called Sycamore Gap.
Old well in the foreground.

Mike walked down the other side of the gap to take some pictures into the light.

This one is kinda cool. :)

After resting and playing for about an hour at the gap,
it was time to walk back to the car park. I don't know how
far the walk was; I'd bet it was about two to three miles, round-trip.

The wind was wild at certain peaks. Merrit is leaning against the wind in this pic.

Looking back at the gorgeous view and the wall along the ridge.

The hikers have worked up a nice appetite. This was a great little pub with
money from all over the world tacked over the bar and a large map literally
covered in pins from around the world. There were so many pins from the
southeastern U.S., there was no way we could have squeezed one more onto the
state of North Carolina!

Mike having a taste of a locally brewed cask ale.

The muddy, tired-out explorers warm up by the fire.

Windblown but loving this Thanksgiving day. 

Thankful for our time in England and for the beauty of God's creation.
And for my quirky family.