The Distracted Wanderer

Update: It is with great sadness that I have to add to this post that the beautiful Sycamore tree that stood in the gap was felled sometime during the overnight on Thursday, September 28th, 2023. Needless to say there has been an outpouring of both sadness and rage all over the world at the senseless and cruel loss of this iconic tree and I am right there with them. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to visit it when I did. Nestled within a gap along the Great Whin Sill, Sycamore Gap is a natural amphitheater located on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England between Milecastle 39 and Crag Lough, about 2 miles west of Housesteads Roman Fort . This section of the 73-mile wall follows the edge of a cliff and has several sharp dips in it caused by melting glacial waters - the tree occupies one of those dips. The wall and adjacent land, including the site of the tree, is owned by the National Trust and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the area not just f...

Back in June of 2015 when I finally had the chance to fulfill a longtime dream and visit the United Kingdom - something I had been wanting to do for the better part of forever - I started my journey in Scotland, first landing in Glasgow where I met up with my UK buddy Claire - aka The Doodologist and owner of CRPittDesigns - and then boarding a train for Edinburgh where we were going to spend the first few days of my vacation. After checking into the Sherwood Guesthouse  which I had found through extensive online searching and turned out to be a great place to stay in Edinburgh complete with the nicest hostess ever and easy access to all of the places we wanted to go, Claire suggested that we not waste any time and head out to climb to Arthur's Seat which we could see from the window of our room - Sherwood Guesthouse and not-so-hot photo from our room posted below. Even though I had just flown over to Scotland from Boston via Iceland and gotten darned little sleep o...