Tindale/ Tynedale Continued

Sunday, we spent the day in Hexham, the seat of the Tynedale local government. Apparently Tynedale is combining with several other local governments to found Northumberland county, but I don't think much will change for the region.

Hexham was a nice town, with a very old Abbey, shops, restaurants and pubs. One thing I noticed was that there is a local "building society" that seems to offer bonds on construction loans. I wonder what else we could screw up in America by doing that- at the same time, I wonder if it creates a better oversight for which construction projects are actually done since there are now bondholders watching these projects?

Yesterday we visisted Hadrain's wall and got a chance to see much of the northern countryside (from the bus). I found it interesting to see how that people seem to be proud of it- they don't view it as a hostile occupation, they view it as their link to classical history. The bus driver mentioned the "barbarians to the north" I wonder how the Scottish feel about it.

They mentioned the border reivers (raiding bandits who took advantage of various Scottish-English conflicts after the Roman Occupation) They were basically neighbors who stole from each other.

Last night we stayed in the Tindale room at Langley castle, which is a very cool 4-star hotel. We had an incredible full-course meal, and drinks in the seating room after. We had a chance to talk to (Colin?) on staff, who gave us a little history and recommended we take the castle tour this morning.

Langley belonged to a family that were "De Tindales" in the 100s but managed to change hands quite a few times. Apparently a Dr. Stewart Madnick- an American professor at MIT owns it now.

Today it's off to Newcastle, and possibly up the coast toward Scotland if we can figure out a way to hire a car and get going early.