We tallied up the miles from yesterday - 5,183 or so from home to Berwick Upon Tweed in England. Berwick is pronounced Bear Wick, or more precisely bare-ick, with a sort of swallow on the "ick" at the end. It makes sense when you know that Ber mean grain/barley (bere) and wick represents a farm, which is a clue to it's agricltural beginnings.
This town is an old one and was well-established before the 12th century began. From 1290 to 1480 control of Berwick changed hands 13 times, finally winding up in England's possession. Queen Elizabeth 1 strengthened the walls to protect against further invasion or dispossesion, and we walked on those walls today.
The walls around the old city feature five bastions which are designed so that no land or sea approach is left unguarded. They appear something like arrow points that protrude from the walls and include cannon placements on the "neck" of the arrow as well as on the angled edges. These are huge earthworks and the photos cannot do them justice.
This is the Dewar's Lane Granary which leans more than the Tower of Pisa. It is now a youth hostel. You can see the buttress walls placed on the outside to keep it in place. We also saw the other side on our rambles; it, too, leans like this. I guess square doesn't really matter after all!
Thanks to a local gent who volunteered to be our photographer. We are on the wall atop one of the gates through which auto traffic can flow. The Town Hall / Creamery tower is seen behind us.
We started out this morning walking up river to the ruins of Berick Castle. All that remains is one gun tower and some of the famous White Wall that ran from the castle to the river. Most of the structure was torn down to build the Victorian-age train station and train viaduct / bridge. Some views.
Views of the three bridges over the River Tweed - Old Bridge c. 1611; Royal Tweed Bridge c. 1928; Royal Border Bridge (train) c. 1850. I love the reflections on the last photo; you can just see the train bridge on the far right in te background.
Some more views we encountered during our day out on the ancient walls and bastions.
North Sea with the Tweed River entering the ocean.
Garden allotments, a fierce "potted lion" who appears quite surprised, flowers on the wall of a close, the Loo-vre - a tiny B&B created from a former Victorian era public toilet, and sea serpents supporting the benches along the ramparts.
Miles 5,831; 27 hours of time from there to here.