THE NORTH COUNTRY – Carlisle, Edinburg and Lindisfarne

It is horrifying to watch the crack-up of our country. It is even stranger to watch it happening from afar. Nothing has prepared our nation from an autocratic takeover. We thought our system of checks and balances and separation of powers would protect us. But Trump is ramping up his takeover by sending troops into American cities, uninvited. Everyone we spoke with here in the UK expressed outrage at what is happening in the US and offered sympathy for our plight. We can only hope that on our return to our dear home of San Francisco we will not find National Guard troops and ICE agents swarming the streets. Marc Benioff and Elon Musk be damned. We are steeling ourselves for what may be a bumpy return.

Our trip to the far North of England continued as we left the Lake District and landed in Carlisle, close to the Scottish border. Our friend John Darwell and his partner Katrin live in an old school building surrounded by English farmland. He is a retired photography professor and is well known for his many published photo books. Katrin, originally from Germany, currently teaches photography, philosophy and other subjects at local universities. We obviously had a lot in common. They also have an adorable puppy named Rosie who is starring in her current role as the Terror of Cumbria.

The next day we visited two attractions in nearby Carlisle, the Carlisle Cathedral and the World Heritage site called Hadrian’s Wall. The Cathedral was surprisingly glorious, and the ancient Roman wall lived up to its world class status. The Wall was a Roman frontier built starting in 122 AD to mark the edge of the empire and to keep the Scots out. It stretches 73 miles across the entire width of Britian, and we visited one of the better-preserved parts of the remaining wall. We later took a hike along a ridge in the late afternoon Northern light. While walking across the undulating hills and beautiful farmland, we looked to the North and finally saw Scotland.

The United Kingdom is a complicated political place. As we drove north the next day, we didn’t see when we transitioned from England to Scotland. Although they are two separate countries, with separate parliaments, Prime Ministers, and histories they are also deeply bound together. A few years ago, a vote on Scottish separation was turned down by the Scottish voters. Although, BREXIT shook things up, it seems like the United Kingdom will remain united, for the time being.

As Americans, we really did feel like we were in a separate world from England when we arrived in the Scottish capitol of Edinburgh. We went to an exhibit at the National Galleries of Scotland of the artist Andy Goldsworthy. He is English but now lives in a rural part of Scotland. He uses the landscape and nature as the basis for his art, and we gained even more appreciation for his work by being in the place of his inspiration. It was the same appreciation we experienced for the writer Wordsworth after being in his home in the Lake District.

Edinburgh is a city of hills, castles and cathedrals. We got an unintentional but exceptional workout climbing around the steep hills of the old city and the Royal Mile. We were inspired by some whimsical photos made in the 1960s of the library staff dancing on the reading tables of the Scottish National Library. But the more interesting Central Library of Edinburgh was across the street and was originally built by the famous Scottish native Andrew Carnegie.

One of the great experiences of traveling is finding the best of the local food. In a pub called Teuchters Bar & Bunker we encountered a new cuisine of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties as well as Cullen Skink. None of this food is healthy but when in Edinburg…I even tried a very peaty Scottish whiskey and some toffee sticky pudding. Next week I’m going on a diet. To work off a very small fraction of our heavy meal, we walked home through the misty and wonderfully moody dark streets of Edinburgh.

The next morning, we drove 30 minutes north in the rain to the small town of Dunsfermline. Here was the birthplace and childhood home of Carnegie and here he built the world’s first Carnegie Library. It has been wonderfully restored retaining elements of the old library with a beautifully designed new addition. Of course, this is Carnegie’s hometown, but it was curious there was no mention of the complexity of Carnegie’s career. During his lifetime, his library building campaign doubled the number of public libraries in the United States. But he also treated his steel workers horribly, sometimes calling in troops to violently crush strikes at his steel mills. Perhaps his library building later in his life was to atone for his sins as he was building his empire. He was a complicated man rather than the purely great man depicted at the Dunsfermline Carnegie Library.

The weather in northern England and all of Scotland is famously bad. Remarkable, we have been spared the worst of it. But now a big storm was heading our way as we left Scotland and headed to the remote Northeast corner of England. We quickly drove by the wonderfully named town of Burwick-upon-Tweed and headed to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Driving ahead of the approaching storm, we were warned to consult the tide tables as many cars have been stuck on the causeway that connects the mainland to the island. On Holy Island, is an ancient abbey first built in 643 AD. Many invaders have ravaged this religious community since then including the relentless Vikings. The Normans and countless others followed. Today it is a breathtakingly beautiful and lonely place. The ruins of the abbey were haunting and our hike out to the Norman Castle showed us the sweep of the land and the dark grandeur of the North Sea. Fortunately, we made it off the island before the rising tides and threatening storm.