A surprise treat as we were preparing to leave our Yorkshire Dales cottage: a sheepherding dog practicing in the field next to us.  This dog appeared to be a younger one, still learning the ropes.  After breakfast and check out, our first stop of the day was (of course) cream tea at the Old Grainary Team Room in Platelybridge.  It was very good, though not quite as good as Wildlings.  However, it was much cheaper than Wildlings.  We then drove north Byland Abbey, dating from 1135.  This was a peaceful abbey, with very few visitors, but an interesting set of ruins.  Our next stop, however, was far more interesting.  Mount Grace Priory was a Carthusian Charterhouse where monks lived semi-hermit lives.  Each had their own cloistered apartment, complete with garden and protected outhouse.  Considering how cramped and awful living conditions were for most people of the era, these monks were living in splendor.  The reconstructed monk cell was spacious (three rooms, plus a large area upstairs for working), and the gardens were large and well protected from the wind.  The monks also had access to fresh spring water.  The priory grounds, as usual, were beautiful and well tended.  But the reconstructed cell and the gardens are the stars of Mount Grace.  Following our bit of monkish zen, we were hoping to find some nice pub food in Kelso.  Instead, since we did not have reservations, we settled for some not-so-nice Indian street food, which we ate in our car.  We then headed out into the country to check into our B&B.

Above: Mount Grace Priory

Above: Byland Abbey

Another 6-Bingo day!  What these zen-like days have in common is walking through beautiful and peaceful scenery.  And this one was a stunner.  The day began with a full English breakfast at our B&B, where we chatted briefly with a few English fly fishers.  Then we checked out of our B&B, and drove to the nearby Chesters Roman Fort.  This is another historic site with god interpretation, but with far smaller crowds than Vindolanda or Housesteads.  We especially enjoyed the bathhouse and the commanders' quarters.  We also had a nice Cream Tea following our visit there.  We then drove to St Giles Church, which dates from 1100 and includes columns scavenged from Roman sites for its construction.  There may also be Roman stones in the walls, but we're not quite sure.  The highlight of this day was walking along the original Roman wall at Walltown Country Park.  Much of this area has been quarried by the Victorians, but there are still some great wall sections.  The trail climbs up from the carpark, through some beautiful fields with windswept trees.  Once it reaches the top of the hill, it follows the wall up and down over rolling hills, with a Roman watch tower at the top of one crest.  We encountered another American couple at the tower, and we exchanged portrait duties.  We then followed the rolling hills east, with fabulous partly-cloudy skies above us, and glowing green fields on all sides.  Near the end of this walk, we encountered an amazing set of two trees, perched atop a beautiful green hill with a stone wall running in front of it.  On the way back, we stopped to take pictures of each other next to the tallest sections of original Roman wall.  I shot some amazing shots of Kristin!  We headed back down the hill, having had the best walk of our vacation.  At the bottom, it was slightly soured by the fact that my SD card malfunctioned, which resulted in me losing more than half of my pics (including those great shots of the two trees and the amazing pics of Kristin).  Still, the walk was magnificent, and we loved every step.  Our next stop was our AirBnB in Sprouston, Scotland, near the border with England.  We were getting hungry by this point, and again everywhere needed reservations except Sultans of Kelso.  This turned out to be one of the best restaurants we ate at, with delicious Indian food.  We then headed to our spacious and comfortable cottage in Sprouston.

Above; Chester's Roman Fort

Above: Walking along Hadrians Wall at Walltown Country Park. Bottom Center: The fee for going through a "kissing gate" at Chesters Roman Fort, happily paid!

Above: Hadrian's Wall, photos by Kristin

Yet another 6-Bingo day!  Can you guess what's coming?  That's correct... a lovely peaceful walk through beautiful scenery, and historic site that we had to ourselves, delicious cream tea, and another historic site that we almost had to ourselves.  Predictable we may be, but we know what we like.  Our day started with breakfast (same old), and from there we drove to the small village of Ancrum.  On our journeys to England, Wales and Scotland, it seems as though we always find outselves climbing up remote hills to the barely-visible ruins of iron-age hill-top forts.  Ancrum's such offering was just as inspiring as the others we have visited.  The trail to this fort starts at church ruin at the bottom of a winding narrow road.  The church lost its roof long ago, and in fact graves and tombs now fill what was once the church hall.  This might be the most beautiful churchyard we have ever visited.  It has a bit of spooky feel, but mostly it is just peaceful, carpeted and covered in green, skirted by a lovely blue stream.  We then crossed an interesting stone bridge across the stream and climbed the hill to the old fort.  Some of the fort foundations are still visible, as are grassy ridges under the remains of walls.  There are thousands of these hilltop forts in the UK, so this is nothing special on a national level, but it was very special to us.  Peaceful and fascinating, a place where we could imagine looking back in time.  After reluctantly leaving Ancrum, Kristin pulled out the phone to search for (wait for it) a TEA PLACE!  And she found the best one of our vacation!  We drove a short distance, again along single-lane winding roads, to the Woodside Plant and Garden Center, which also has a lovely tea room.  Imagine going to your favorite garden store, only it's quaint, very green, surrounded by beautiful woods, and it has the best food in town.  Here we sat outside for our lunch (Kristin had Coronation Salad, and I had a sandwich and a cheese scone).  We chatted with some English people, who were accompanied by a very friendly dog.  After they departed, we headed for the exit.  On the way out, Kristin said "do you think we should try some cake, too?"  Um, yes please.  So back in we went, where we each had a slice of delicious cake (mine was chocolate, Kristin's was vaguely undefined).  We sat inside this time, and watched some birds eat from a bird-feeder suctioned-cupped to the window.  This was one of the most peaceful stops of our entire vacation.  When we finally pulled outselves away from cake, we drove a short distance to Dryburgh Abbey.  Dryburgh dates back to 1150.  It is not a large abbey, and its ruins are not particularly spectacular.  And yet, the combination of small abbey, landscape-worthy ruins, curious sheep in the fields, beautiful woodlands, swiftly moving river, and very few visitors makes this one of the most tranquil and lovely places we visited.  If your soul need a refresh, then this is absolutely the place to do it.  We headed back to Sprouston for dinner at our cottage.

Above: Ancrum church yard

Above: Ancrum Iron Age Hilltop Fort

Above: Woodside Plant and Garden Center Tea Room

Above: Dryburgh Abbey

Last Day.  This could have been a bummer of a day, but instead a nice stop at Heatherslaw made it a fitting bow on the vacation package.  We started with breakfast at our cottage, and then spent an hour packing up (both for the next hotel, and for the flight home).  We stopped a Etal Castle and the Lavendar Tea Rooms along the way, both of which were interesting but not inspiring.  We then drove a short distance to Heatherslaw Corn Mill, which is a still-functioning four mill making use of a water wheel and the nearby river.  The mill itself was charming, but when the miller took time to chat with us, answering all of our questions, it became so much more alive and fascinating.  We appreciate her knowledge, friendliness and time!  We then headed over to Lady Waterford Hall, which is a historic school built in 1860 by the wife of the local gentry who owned most of the surrounding land.  Lady Waterford had every right to hold herself apart from her tenants, living a high life in her castle.  Instead, she chose to get to know her tenants, to build community support structures, to invest in education.  She even painted the walls of the school with bible scenes, using the tenants as face and body models for the biblical figures.  She was a fascinating woman, and this was a great little stop.  We had lunch at a nearby pub, and reluctantly drove to the Hampton Inn at the Edinburgh airport.  The next morning, we packed up, hopped an Uber, and climbed onto a crowded plane for our long flight home.  We were eager to see friends and Bingo, but we were sad to say goodbye to the UK.

Above: Etal Castle

Above: Heatherslaw Corn Mill

Above: Lady Waterford Hall