Day 5: Carlisle. A city under siege.

Terry and Liz were great. The food was fab, the conversation memorable. I was surprised that I recognised them and they me, and the discussion last way past Terry's bedtime. Still it was enjoyable.

I arose in the morning to a breakfast which could have fed two or three people. (Wonderful, honest, but I kn ew it was there all day. Thankfully such a great breakfast means you never need lunch and I couldn't have fitted it in anyway if I wanted.) And as I sat and made my way through the mountain of food I shared the conversation with a brilliant - talkative 6yr old boy by the name of Ben. I think Ben was talkative more because he liked my motorbike than he ever would have been if I didn't have one. So after breakfast and with mums permission and under nanas watchful eye, Ben got to sit and have photos.

I rode through Preston making my final stop at HD Preston on this side of the border and then I was off to Carlisle along a whole host of winding roads. It was a long journey which took me further from home on the road than I have ever been. Yes I have flown half way round the world, but never before have I rid so far from home. It was, it is, dead exciting. There is so much to see and there is so little time and should the opportunity arise, the next time I will pick a country and do just that one and not the whole thing in three weeks. So I rode on to Carlisle.

It is trully a wonderful city, with a wealth of history. I was apprehensive. I was staying in a B&B I had never heard of and could find no information about on the net, because of the limited (to zero) access I had and that remained the same for two days. Still I arrived in Carlisle to meet Julie the Landlady of the Eastview B&B. Say hi everyone...

Now the history is important, because Carlisle is the border city. For the Romans it signified a place of great importance and was built because of the strategic position it holds. Being that it lies between three rivers and is in the highest point in the whole of the local area. It also provides the starting point for Hadrian's Wall and a Citedal which dates back (originally - in its current form) some 200 yrs, and prior to that to Henry VIII, and the Romans prior to that. I had no idea what to do with my afternoon off, so went for a guided tour around the Citedal with John (the Guide) and what a tour. It was just me, so he talked and as he talked I asked uestions and aas I asked questions so his brain began to turn. I think he guessed quickly that I wasn't a normal tourist... So I told him what I did with the university and my interest in the history of punshment and crime, and of course the tour became far more discursive. It started at 3pm and I managed to get a 1 hour tour that lasted nearly 2hrs and included a look at the condemned cell and the stairway to heaven (figure it out. Still can't, text me and I'll tell you the story...) I left a very happy man. More information and an email address and some information in the post regarding Hanging Hill and the public punishments in Carlisle... I love my job.

I ate, I drank tea, I slept and then it was off once again to make my way round Britain. :0)