So just back from a wet holiday in the UK. A few days walking up round Hadrians Wall was certainly very interesting. You forget that there is also so much other Roman stuff up there to look at as well as just the wall. They were also so very clever with their engineering. For example, they built every fort in the same design as visiting soldiers would immediately know where everything was. That's very logical. They were big into the baths, and you can see the same design for the heating of the water in the forts near the wall as we saw in Crete and Cyprus, with elevated floors for the hot air to get underneath. They also had to build water storage tanks and to get the flow right, they built them at the exact height and size to maintain a constant flow. That's genius, and I know plumbers here who could do with looking into that...

A couple of days in the lakes followed, which has some amazing scenery. It's just a shame that so many people go there, it was mobbed in the towns every day, but quietened down in the evening. If you wanted to park and go walking you had to be there by 10 which wasn't an issue for us. The walking is very good though, really enjoyed it.

All in all, a good week, relaxing and nice to avoid airports for a change!