Haltwhistle....

Before you hear the plan for today there is a little background. When in Guernsey we took money out of a cash machine. Norm in one, me another. Little did I realize that I got Guernsey money. It has the Queen on it but says State of Guernsey. I didn’t know this till

I tried to buy food at Waterloo station. They looked at the note and after much discussion said ok. It has to say pounds sterling on it. Apparently these don’t! 

I tried buying groceries, they wouldn’t accept it.

So we decided to go to Haltwhistle to a bank and exchange the money. But first we would visit the Roman Military Museum. Off we go the usual 2 miles to Geeenhead on a beautiful morning walk

Lambs

Norm showing what a vallum (a valley) is, built by the Romans near the wall. Quite deep.

As we crossed the fields we saw a sheep dog in action. 

We hiked up to the museum another 3/4 mile only to realize we would not have enough time to see the museum and catch the bus to Haltwhistle.

The hill we hiked up (a bonus walk). But nice views 

Back down to Greenhead, caught a bus and off to Haltwhistle. 

The only bank in town is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. There are charity (thrift) stores which tells a little about the town. But Norm gets a newspaper that he has missed for a few days.

And another scone and tea.

He sat and read while I checked out the charity stores. I managed to spend 10 cents but when they saw it was a Guernsey coin there was reservations. Whew, I got the sale.

Could have gone for a fascinator but thought no room in my backpack. After less than an hour we were ready to leave. Finally found a bus that would drop us near Greenhead if we waited 45 minutes. Can you tell we were hanging out in Haltwhistle? 

Next back to the Roman Military Museum. It was quite good and included a 3-D movie. 

A Roman soldier.

Norm pretending to be a Roman soldier. He needs more armour.

This period of history was quite remarkable. The soldier’s life was hard but if you survived 25 years you would get your own retirement home. All soldiers were expected to read and write Latin. 

Here are some surprising photos of the washrooms. Female first 

And check the men’s.

Even Yellow Bunny got into the mood with the lions and gladiators.

Back home to Gilsland to our new BnB. We had to move on from the last one, no rooms available. And only 2 1/2 miles from Greenhead. It is called Hill on the Wall, classy. 

Lovely views

View from our room.