Hadrian's Wall

Hello again! 5 weeks left in our exchange until we fly back to good old Vancouver. Seems pretty close, so we again hit the road to check out what we can in our time left. Last weekend we got a message from Jennifer and Jeff (see our Holland holiday in October!) saying that they were going to be camping at Hadrian's wall just south of Scotland. Of course, we immediately made plans to visit. What a great day! We left at about 8 am, and arrived at their campsite at 10:30. We then spent the day visiting the wall and the Roman forts at Vindolanda, and Housesteads. We also visited the geographical centre of Britain, which was the small village of Haltwhistle (which incidentally is build mostly with stone taken from the wall and fort several hundred years ago). Probably the best part of the day for us though, was the great visit with Jennifer, Jeff and the kids. Spending the day with great people made the great sites that much better!

Here is an impressive part of the wall that climbed up and down the crags close to Vindolanda fort. Its amazing to think that this wall stretched for 75 miles across the northern border of the Roman Empire in Britain, with small forts every mile and larger forts close as well. Emperor Hadrian clearly left his mark on the landscape - all to keep the barbaric Scots on their own side! Other reasons are also debated like Hadrian wanting to leave his lasting legacy, keeping his northern troops busy, and signaling to his own men that he didn't plan to keep extending the Empire, etc. Whatever the reasons, it makes for a great day out 2000 years later!

Here is our happy little family all gathered by this cool spot on the wall. If you look closely you can see the ghost of a Roman sentry standing on the wall watching for invading barbarians.

Here are Jennifer, Persephone, Patrick and Jeff enjoying the sunshine at the wall.

All five of the kids sitting on the wall. They really enjoyed hanging out again. We are really glad that Isaiah, Sophie and Emma got to know their little cousins this year.

Sophie walking along a pretty solid section of the wall. It still makes an impressive barrier!

Great friends, Peppi and Sophie. They spent much of the time walking hand in hand and talking about everything under the sun.

Don't know this guy's name (though I think he looks like a Phil). Anyways, Phil is an archaeologist at Vindolanda, which is still an active dig. Amazingly, while we were there one of the people unearthed this leather Roman sandal, which although it was still covered in mud, Phil said that it had the hobnail studs on the bottom that were used for grip on the slopes. Apparently thousands of artifacts have been found at Vindolanda, including many shoes, coins, weapons, domestic items, the earliest writing found in the British Isles (on thin pieces of wood), and even a woman's wig. Way to go, Phil!

This photo shows how extensive the site of the Vindolanda Roman fort and surrounding townsite actually is. There is still quite a bit of turf-covered area that still hasn't been excavated as well.

Here the kids are playing on the remains of a Roman floor. Interesting to see the way that the floor was constructed with hollow areas running underneath. Although I haven't researched it, I think that this was an early form of in-floor thermal heating. With a bath-house not far away, I think that the Romans probably learned to appreciate the finer things - like warmth in Scotland!

Isaiah sitting in one of the Roman rooms, near a stone basin.

Sophie and Peppi doing all the work for the slave-drivers in the chariot.

Here are all the girls posing by a headless Roman statue of the goddess Juno.

Once again, it was a great place to visit! See you next entry!

Jimy MacJohnson

Big Church Day Out

Hi all! Well, we are back to our normal schedule in Edinburgh - but that doesn't mean that we aren't still busy having fun in the U.K. For quite some time we've been looking forward to a full day series of rock concerts called the Big Church Day Out in Leichester, England. A number of our favourite Christian artists were headlining the day, but there were lots of other things for the kids to enjoy as well at the event. Short, non-historical blog entry, but hey - this is what we're up to!

A photo of the stage with a cool group called LZ7. Weak name, but lots of fun to listen to.

Brenton Brown led a great worship session.

A close-up of the lead singer of Switchfoot.

And here's his view of the crowd in front of him...

Our favourite act of the day was Toby Mac. Isaiah sat on my shoulders to be able to see over the crowd, and part way through the song the large screen switched from showing Toby Mac to a huge close-up of Isaiah bouncing up and down on my shoulders. Pretty cool moment, especially when he raised his arms in triumph and everyone cheered!

Here's Isaiah taking a break from the music and checking out the bicycle course.

And again, trying out the obstacles...

And getting ready to climb the rock-climbing tower...

Finally, this is us in the bumper cars, or as they call it "Dodge-ems". I'm not sure if Emma looks scared or just plain crazed - either way it doesn't bode well for when she gets a license someday...

So long! See you on the next entry!

Jimy MacJohnson

The Orkney Islands

Hello again! Our final blog installment about our weeklong holiday to the Highlands. The day after we enjoyed Loch Ness, we drove to the Isle of Skye, and after lunch there we carried on north to the Orkney Islands. Where are they? Well, if you go to the furthest north shore of Scotland, and take a 1 hour long ferry trip, you will get to the southern Orkney Islands. Although there are something like 70+ islands, only about the largest dozen are inhabited. They are known for their friendly people, diverse wildlife and seabird populations, neolithic archaeological sites, and Viking heritage. On our trip we were fortunate enough to see almost all of the above (not too many seabirds). We spent 2 nights on South Ronaldsay Island just outside a small village called St. Margaret's Hope. The following photos hopefully give a taste of this relaxing but intriguing area.

We arrived at about 7 pm and got to enjoy the long evening that is associated with the approaching summer solstice in Scotland. Here is the coastline in front of our cottage at dusk.

Sophia at the shore on the first evening. It is a beautiful beach, with a friendly seal who was very curious and kept his eye on us whenever we were there.

Again, just to prove it, this was the view from the front window. What a great location!

The kids with some of the locals. It was also great exercise walking down to the beach and back!

Emma and her new friend.

On the way to Kirkwall, on the main island we drove by this shipwreck not far off the road. Not sure why it hasn't been removed, except that it makes for a neat photo.

The Italian chapel. It was the tiny but beautiful chapel made for (and by) the Italian prisoners of war in Camp 60, right beside the chapel, in WWII. These prisoners were put to work everyday building the Churchill Barriers (huge manmade causeways, connecting the 3 main Orkney islands, and barricading the inner passages from German U-boats). Wanting somewhere to worship, they were given 2 small bunker-like buildings, to which they built a beautiful fascade and painted the interior very nicely. The chapel was preserved to honour their efforts and faith in such a demoralizing time.

Part of the interior of the Italian chapel. Small but beautifully painted!

This was our first neolithic visit. This is the prehistoric village of Skara Brae. In the 1800s a fierce storm exposed ancient stone walls, that were excavated to reveal this village. Highly preserved buildings, stone furniture, and many household items gave real insight into how these ancient people lived. It was fascinating to walk around these buildings from 3100 B.C. and to see so much detail and so many everyday items. 5000 years old!!!!

Kim standing beside one of the exposed buildings, with the original stone furnishings. I like the fact that they are still exposed to the elements, withstanding the test of time.

Next ancient site on our itinerary was the ancient tomb of Maeshowe. From the outside it was just this grassy hill, but with our guided tour we go to go into the locked chamber. It's hard to describe how great this was! Yes, it was "just" a 4500 year old burial chamber, built around 4 even-older standing stones, perfectly built so that the setting sun of the winter solstice shines exactly down the entrance passage to illuminate the interior. To add to that, is the fact that some vandals broke in and wrote graffiti all over the interior. These vandals were none other than the Vikings in about 900 A.D. Apparently during a particularly violent storm at sea, they beached their longboat, broke into the howe and weathered the storm inside. During the long night the Vikings scratched many runes, still completely visible and legible (if you are a runatic), with various greetings and forms of "Sigvaard was here making this message". Isaiah was very excited to see that one of the messages was signed by the viking named ERLING. After explaining that Grampa wasn't actually a Viking in his younger days, Isaiah was content to know that it was one of Grampa's great grampas. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos, but we bought the book from the nearby bookshop!

Sophie working on her Viking scowl. Actually, in the Orkneys, there were many Norwegian flags flying, and one resident told us that she considers herself more Norwegian than Scottish. The Orkneys were actually ruled by the Vikings for hundreds of years, and were only given to Scotland as part of a marriage dowry from the King of Norway later. Many of the names of towns and places are clearly Scandinavian, and the spreadout seaside villages and farms are very similar to photos I've seen of rural areas on the coast of Norway.

Oh, and did I tell you that we enjoyed our time with my dear brother Bruce? Okay, maybe it wasn't the real deal, but it was uncanny when Kim and I went through the Maeshowe tour with him. We both looked at each other and whispered "it's Bruce!" Scottish Bruce was nice enough to take a photo with me.

The Standing stones of Stenness. They echoed clapping back to you only if you stood in the exact center. Cool!

Isaiah, Sophie and I and a big old stone.

The Ring of Brodgar. Other than Stonehenge, this is the most impressive stone circle and henge in the U.K. Here however, unlike Stonehenge, you can actually walk amongst the stones and touch them (probably even hug them if you wanted to!) I felt a little like sitting in the middle and humming Kumbaya, but I kept it in.

Great view of the stones. Usually people Photoshop the background to make the sky look red and spectacular, but I liked the natural look!

Kim and Sophie in the town of Kirkwall. Nice town in a great area!

The Earl's Palace in Kirkwall. Great building, but apparently a bad dude. Made life miserable for everyone around him until the King of Scotland had to arrest him and execute him in Edinburgh.

Amazingly, this lonely sentry is standing in a field on the hill within view of the cottage that we stayed in. When I walked up to it (having to jump over a dozen barbwire fences first), it was huge, standing about 16 feet tall.

A final view of Isaiah, pondering his Viking heritage, and looking off towards Norway.

Well, that's it for now. Our holiday to the Highlands was awesome. If you ever get the chance to go, I'd highly recommend it. See you soon in our next update!

Jimy MacJohnson