Borderlands region of Northern England.  This is where so many battles between English and Scottish soldiers happened.  We visited some of these battle castles and other sites.

For my 60th birthday my lovely wife took us to Northern England in 2004 to begin a tour around Scotland with the hope of finding “my roots” which have been a mystery to me all my life. No relatives are around to help.  We began our journey at Slaley Hall in the “Borderlands” region very close to the astonishing Hadrian’s Wall, built by Emperor Hadrian as a marker of the northern boundary of the Roman Empire.

This is the map of Scotland showing the route we took as we circumnavigated the country.  While we did not make it up into the far highlands, we did manage to see most of the truly historical sites and some lovely scenery.