Keeping busy

I have been trying to keep myself entertained on the weekends and now that I am on school holiday, I am trying to keep myself entertained during the week. It is actually pretty hard.
In the past month I have been all over the place.

Grandad and I went to Housesteads Roman fort. The weather was gorgeous and the sun was shining. I

was a bit nervous about taking grandad all the way out there because I knew there was a bit of a hike to get to the fort and wall itself. However, he handled it admirably and we stopped at a few points up the hill for a little rest. His poor knees on the steep up and down! Not to worry, we weren't in any hurry and it was nice to admire the scenery, even if I was itching to get to the top and climb the wall. As it was, when we reached the top, I showed remarkable restraint. I brought us ice creams then we sat and ate them, not even looking at the wall. It is hard to be right beside something but not touch it.
We eventually got to the ruins and the wall. It was grandad's first time on the Roman wall. I couldn't believe that in the 85 years that he has lived in Consett, so close to the wall, he has never been. I was glad I was able to rectify that.
I love Hadrian's wall. It is 1900 years old and still standing. It has seen many people walk it, fight over it, die on it, and still it stands. It stretches for 70 miles. That is seriously impressive for people who lived so long ago and everything was done by hand... and slave. What makes me sad is when I see bits of it that have been destroyed in the days before historical conservation.

Hayley and I went for a long drive up to Lindisfarne Island. I have wanted to go there for months but this

was the first time the weather was good and the timing perfect for the crossing. Apparently many other people felt the same way. It was very, very busy. So busy in fact that the priory was closed and we couldn't get into it until 3pm. We vetoed that idea and instead went for a traipse around the castle. We walked up to the castle, around a bit of the island, looked at the gardens then chilled out in the shade when it got too hot.
I actually quite liked the island. I think with less people it would be a bit more peaceful but there was so many people on pilgrimage. It is a holy place. Some saint or another lived there at some point... you know me and religion - can't recall who it was. There was also posses of nuns everywhere. I don't know about you, but when I see nuns I get very nervous. They actually kind of scare me in the way that clowns scare some people. I feel very uneasy around them. And then, on top of that there were priests and catholic something-or-others (dunno what they were but they wore purple cowl-dress thingys the Catholic hobknobs love so much). I felt bad for showing off so much cleavage but dammit, it was hot! I wrapped my shawl around my shoulders and chest when I saw them. I avoided eye contact, secretly worried that they would talk to me - Why? I don't know. I doubt they even looked at me, let alone thought, 'Right there! That is a heathan! Can spot one a mile away... best we convert her now!'. Arghhh.
The castle is lovely, on a side not to my above rant. It is a bit like 'grandmothers broom' - you know, it has

had the bristles replaced, and the handle replaced multiple times but it is still the same broom it was 80 years ago. Similar with the castle. It has been built and rebuilt but it is still the castle of old... only it isn't.
Below the castles are huge lime kilns that they used back in the day. I had Hayley guard my bag and went exploring inside one of the kilns. I am not sure you were supposed to climb through the narrow opening into the kiln, but hey, if they didn't want you to climb through holes they would block them off. The opening was on the ground and was just the right size to shuffle through on hands and knees. Hayley took a photo of me from the outside, looking into one of the air vent holes. Hello.

Grandad and I also went out to Prudhoe castle. That is an impressive site/sight. I had not been called into

work so I made plans to visit one of the local castles on the English heritage roll. I wasn't expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised buy the grandeur of such ruin. The reason, I learnt was that until recently part of the castle was actually being used. In the 1700's a house was built inside the walls of the castle ruins but had been gifted to the trust to look after. We had a a look around the inside of the house, at the ruins and then we went for a walk around the outer bailey walls. This wouldn't have been such a problem if I hadn't lost grandad at that point.
We walked all the way around the walls and as we got back to the start I said to grandad that I was going to have a look at the mill which was down a steep embankment. I thought that grandad would just go back to the castle and sit at one of the benches. After I had looked my fill and taken plenty of photos I went into the castle grounds - no grandad. I wondered if he had gone out to the car - nope. I thought he may have gone to the loo. I waited outside the toilet - no go. I was getting a bit worried and started to ask people if they had seen an old man with a walking stick. No. Oh, god, I have lost grandad. It was all I could think.
I was coming back up from the car park when I saw him coming back around the castle. Turns out he had walked the entire castle walls again. He couldn't figure out how I was ahead of him when I had been behind him. I had to explain that I hadn't moved and that he had walked it twice. Ooops.