[Day 2] We had time to spare on our journey to D&K, so rather than following the M6 motorway to Carlisle, we got off a few miles north of Lancaster to take a more scenic route through the Lake District. This is Lake Windermere between the towns of Troutbeck Bridge and Waterhead.

[Day 2] Lake Windermere. It was raining lightly, so we walked around with an umbrella in one hand and a camera in the other.

[Day 2] We followed the shore of Lake Windermere to the towns of Waterhead and Ambleside, where we took a narrow road northwards across Kirkstone Pass. This is about halfway between Ambleside and the summit.

[Day 2] Stone walls like this one separate the various fields and pastures along the Kirkstone Pass road and in many other places in Northern England and Scotland.

[Day 2] Another look at the fields around the Kirkstone Pass road.

[Day 2] A mountain top near Kirkstone Pass.

[Day 2] The view from Kirkstone Pass towards Lake Windermere, a tiny bit of which can just be seen in the centre of the picture. The road we drove up to the pass is visibly wet from rain, as is the ground in the lower left of the frame. The temperature on the pass was about 11 °C (52 °F).

[Day 2] Clouds swirl about a mountain top at Kirkstone Pass.

[Day 3] Our programme for Day 3 consisted of a visit to the Northumberland National Park northeast of Carlisle. On our way there, we visited the Lanercost Priory. This priory was founded in 1166 and used to contain a monastery next to the church, little of which remains today. The church began to fall into disrepair when the monastery was deserted in 1536. The nave is currently in use as a parish church and was restored for that purpose from 1740 onwards.

[Day 3] The transepts, the choir and the sanctuary lost their roof to the passing of time.

[Day 3] This is looking from the sanctuary–where the altar used to be–to the nave of the Lanercost Priory church. The centre wall, with the tall windows, was erected when the nave was restored in the 1740s to use as a parish church. The arched walls on either side of the sanctuary date back to the original construction of the church between 1166 and 1220. The north wall (right) is different from the south wall (left) because they were built many years apart.

[Day 3] The southeastern corner of the Lanercost Priory church. The stone structures in the grass are the remains of some monastery buildings.

[Day 3] The cellarium, a partially subterranean structure, is one of the best-preserved parts of the Lanercost monastery. The monks stored their food here.

[Day 3] A partially surviving wall painting at the Lanercost Priory shows a phoenix in front of a pillar. This painting was probably made at the order of the Dacre family, who took over some of the buildings after the monastery was deserted in 1536.

[Day 3] The wall painting from the previous picture can be found in this hall. The wealthy Dacre family had this hall converted from its original purpose to use as a common room. It has large windows, benefiting the festivities and banquets that would be held inside.

[Day 3] The northwestern corner of the Lanercost priory church.

[Day 3] Fifteen miles east of the Lanercost Priory lie the ruined remains of the Roman Vindolanda Fort. Back in its day, it was an important frontier post for the Roman Empire. Today it is a rich source of archaeological finds, thanks to the oxygen-poor conditions of the soil.

[Day 3] This cat was hunting for a mouse on the Vindolanda grounds. The mouse escaped.

[Day 3] The Romans had several lines of defense against intrusions from the barbaric north (Scotland). The old style of a wooden palisade on a turf wall was later replaced by a tall stone wall. This is simply a recreation of both, not an excellently preserved piece of history.

[Day 3] The first Vindolanda Fort was built around 75 AD from turf and timber. Its purpose was to guard the Stanegate, an important east-west road near the Roman Empire's northern border. The fort underwent major repairs and reconstruction seven times; later incarnations were made from stone rather than timber. When Hadrian's Wall was built in 112 AD, the fort remained in place as an important guard post.

[Day 3] These buildings stood centrally in the fort and housed the most important officers.

[Day 3] The fort's northern wall (and the other walls too, presumably) was reinforced with semi-circular towers. Hadrian's Wall runs less than a mile north of this point.

[Day 3] Vindolanda's bath house.

[Day 3] Excavations are still in progress at Vindolanda. Archaeologists expect to need many more decades, if not centuries, to uncover all Roman remains.

[Day 3] Hadrian's Wall was built atop a series of cliffs north of Vindolanda Fort. The wall ran for 73.5 miles from the North Sea east of Newcastle to the Irish Sea west of Carlisle. Its construction was ordered by emperor Hadrian in 112 AD as the northern border of the Roman Empire.

[Day 3] The stone sections of Hadrian's Wall were typically five to six metres (16-20 feet) tall. Here, only about a metre (3-4 feet) survives. The rest is either buried or gone. Indeed, the wall was an important source of stone in the Middle Ages for the construction of castles, churches and such.

[Day 3] Hadrian's Wall is visible atop the cliffs. Seen from here, the Roman Empire lay beyond the wall. On this side lived the Pictish tribes, the original inhabitants of Scotland.

[Day 3] A thistle in front of Hadrian's Wall.

[Day 3] Fortifications were built along Hadrian's Wall at regular intervals. These are the remains of Milecastle 39.

[Day 3] Hadrian's Wall was, for the most part, 2-3 metres (6-10 feet) wide.

[Day 3] Hadrian's Well. (Or not, but it made for a good joke.)

[Day 3] After a nice ride through the Northumberland National Park (no pictures, unfortunately), we came to the Kielder Water and Dam.

[Day 3] The Kielder Water.