Sheep, Boots and Inns

We saw thousands of sheep on our recent trip to Great Britain.

Thousands.

I’m thankful they were sheep and not goats. I like sheep – goats, not so much.

Not only were the sheep in fields along the highways and byways, but we walked right next to them in their pastures as we hiked along Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. The sheep didn’t seem to mind us hikers. They tolerated our presence and our antics towards them.

But the sheep also didn’t care about where they did their business as we had to carefully (and constantly) step around all the sheep droppings. They chewed their cuds as they watched us make our way through all their poo, maybe with smiles on their faces. I still think they’re cute.

Only two times did we miscalculate our steps, and needed to stop and clean out poop from the cervices of our hiking boots.

We were prepared for what is typical Scottish weather, cool and rainy, on our four-day trek along Hadrian’s Wall. Instead, we had unusually warm, humid and sunny weather. Although we were hot and sweaty as we hiked, it was preferred to the cold and rain.

The terrain was more rugged than we anticipated, but it also made for interesting scenery and amazing vistas. We walked a total of 34 miles in four days. We were hiking from inn to inn.

At the end of the day, we hiked off road to an inn where there were rooms reserved for us, and our luggage was waiting for us. 

As we hiked, we only had to carry our backpacks with water, our lunch and a rain jacket (which we didn’t need).

All the inns provided for our needs of a place to sleep, dinner options, breakfast the next morning, and packed lunches for the trail.

Pastoral scenes, beautiful and expansive vistas, Hadrian’s wall, sheep, various cattle, personal and lively conversations, and occasional fellow pilgrims on the trail provided our entertainment. 

And we had a marvelous time!