ENGLAND - What have the Scots got to do with it!

So today I am having a look round Carlisle and the first thing I have to highlight is the smell, they might have called Edinburgh "Auld Reekie" but this place really stinks! The trouble is its a nice smell so you find yourself wandering around constantly taking in deep breaths. You see McVities have a large factory near the city centre that makes Digestives, Chocolate Digestive, Hob Nobs etc and it floods parts of the the city with the rich aroma of baking and biscuits!!

Carlisle is a border city, indeed it is here, that the border and customs formalities are conducted on trains heading into Scotland - OK not quite (for the moment) but travellers are required to don masks before trains head north out of the station! The castle therefore is a very important part of the city's history having been beseiged more times than any other English castle.

The castle has changed hands between the English and Scots many times. King David I (I know, never heard of him, English school kids don't do Scottish history) anyway King David I was Prince of the Cumbrians before he became King of Scotland in 1124 - it seems the border was lower down in those days and he must have spent a lot of time at Carlisle Castle because he died there in 1153 after a long illness.

It has never been allowed to fall into ruin so there are a series of gatehouses, a keep and dungeons etc to explore.

The keep has a leaky roof, hence all the scaffolding

The other notable building in the city is the cathedral, which, like the castle is built of the local deep red sandstone. It is the second smallest of the English cathedrals and has no real nave with all the seating for the congregation being in the chancel / quire area. The cathedral was orginially much bigger but during the English Civil War, the Scots (hang on a minute what have the Scots got to do with the ENGLISH civil war? - It's Oliver Cromwell & Co right?) tore down part of the cathedral to use the stone to reinforce the castle. The Scottish army being presbyterian did not see the point in having cathedrals so were not really bothered about pulling it down.

I'm heading for home tomorrow but - Storm Dudley permitting - I'm hoping to stop off somewhere a bit unexpected, stay tuned.

The biscuit factory is close at this point making a walk on the castle walls enjoyable