We climbed to the highest point on Hadrian’s Wall walk today — and there are more hills tomorrow, which is our longest day in distance. I have lots of info to catch up readers. That will be done when I can stay awake after these days of walking. Be patient and good night.

In for the night and ready to post about the real Hadrian’s Wall, rocks and all. However, the WiFi and cell signal could be left over from what the Romans installed.

Walked 9.5 miles today and finally saw Hadrian’s Wall, at least the parts the later occupants left standing.

More when signals are better.

We did not get started walking until 11 a.m. because of further bus adventures. But we connected with the Hadrian Wall bus that brought us back to where we left off yesterday. Those extra four miles we did yesterday shorten today’s walk to seven miles that we wrapped up by 3 p.m.

Hadrian Wall was once again a no show, but the guidebook said it would be “some pleasant riverside strolling, a sizable chunk of walking on mercifully quiet roads and some lengthy roaming among ruminants.”

Which it was.

Great weather today. No rain, shirt-sleeve weather.

We left the Inn at the Bush at the Bush in Kirkbride, Cumbria, this morning, wearing our rain jackets,

which stayed on all days as the rains came and went. Hadrian’s Wall is still hidden away in all the buildings that have been built since the Romans left the country in 410 AD. So this post won’t break the surface.

Today we walked on

We walked 10 miles today, going four miles that were scheduled for tomorrow. We put in the extra mileage and taxied back (because the buses apparently don’t run on Sunday) to our inn in Carlisle.

We start getting into some hills tomorrow. But we will still have our faithful companions:

Started our first day of walking along Hadrian’s Wall, which that Roman emperor began in 122 AD to divide England from Scotland and all its barbarians. Did eight miles. Seventy-seven to go.

Today we saw lots of these:

Many of these:

It rained some but then the sun came out.

Talked to a couple from Colorado Springs. John and I (another John) are hiking eastbound. I met two westbound walkers who announced, “This is my final day.”

Speaking of final days, I learned about Edward I.

Edward, the Hammer of the Scots, came up here to fight Robert the Bruce in 1307 but died of dysentery instead. He lie in state in this church

before he was carried off to London for burial at Westminster.

One thing I did not see was Hadrian’s Wall. That’s because after the Romans left in 410 AD, the wall came down, stone by stone, to build churches, barns, houses, shops and anything else that the next thousands of generations wanted. Here are csome of the Roman stones that appear in St. Michael’s church, where Edward was on display.

On a site that has seen defensive structures for 2,000 years, you might think I would come up with something more learned than what the above photo shows. But this little corner in the dungeon at Carlisle Castle spoke my lingua.

When Jacobite soldiers, trying to restore the Stuarts as kings of England, were held here in 1745-6, the only water available to the 30 prisoners, standing room only, was water dripping down the stone walls. So they licked. And licked some more until the grooves you see were formed. Stephen, our very good tour guide, said the top one tastes like strawberry. I took his word for it.

The Romans built a turf and timber fort on this site in 72 AD, before Hadrian’s Wall was started in 122 AD (a date and who started it a matter of debate). A hill and three rivers surrounding it made it too hard for the Romans to pass up. Stephen said The Guardian newspaper recently named Carlisle Castle the ugliest in the United Kingdom. That’s OK with Stephen since this castle has withstood more sieges than any other in the realm. Ten times, which makes it much different than those “Disneyland castles” down south.

We finished off our visit to Carlisle with a walk-through of the cathedral there. Carlisle has been a center for Christianity since at least 650 AD, when, according to Bede*, St. Cuthbert** visited “an active Christian community” there. Then King Ecgfrith (get that one past self correct!) of Northumbria granted land to Cuthbert to keep the Christian influence going.

This may be the beginning of what a previous traveling companion called a VAC vacation as in Yet Another Cathedral. But this is a beautiful church and a good way to start this walking journey. I could have knelt down for a blessing but was afraid my knees would not let me get back up.

*theologian and historian who wrote “Ecclesiastical History of the English People”). He died in 735.

**regarded as the patron saint of Northumbria. He died in 687 AD.

Back in Ohio for my 60th high school class reunion. Sixty years later, I’m still learning about my class and drawing conclusions about what happened way back then. Our class had 67 members, but I found out Saturday night that only 66 showed up for graduation because the mumps were visiting the house of Judy. Twenty one class members showed up Saturday, 25 have died (including Judy), and where were the rest of them?

Another thing I learned at the reunion: The man who taught half days when we were in the sixth grade was a submariner during WWII. No wonder he blew up in anger when young boys, who knew nothing about an attractive symbol they had seen or what it represented, carved swastikas into the wooden desk tops.

Thinking back on his math classes, I now realize that he was teaching base two math to our sixth grade. This made no sense to us or our parents. The teacher tied it to nothing. No way would we ever use this math, using only ones and zeros, in our daily or future lives. No way it would ever help us get a job. Just numerals and how they worked: When this column is full, move to the next one, sort of like you do when you get to nine and double digits show up at 10.

If he had said, “This is what computers (definition, please) are based on, this is the coding that runs them, this is what Alan Turing used to help defeat the Nazis, we could have dropped out of college and invented Microsoft four years before Paul Allen and Bill Gates did.

Then we could have flown around in our private jets and picked up those people who missed the reunion.

My sister thinks I may have been named after an Ohio state park. I thought my name had more noble beginnings, but maybe not. My made-up understanding was that somewhere in the 1890s my grandfather was named in part after William Jennings Bryan, the Great Commoner, twice presidential candidate and Secretary of State. He started with Bryan as a middle name and now three more generations have included that in our names.

Then there is my sister’s theory. Our parents married in the spring of 1945 in Northern Ohio. World War II was still going on, and for wedding presents, people gave the honeymooning couple gas rationing cards. Off they went until the ration cards ran out — at John Bryan State Park.

I came along three years later. Did my parents say, “What a great name John Bryan is? Let’s name our son after that memorable park.”

We each have our theories. I’m sticking to mine on the orator who once gave the Cross of Gold speech, imploring the government to keep on the monetary silver standard rather than the more stringent gold standard. Wonder what he would have thought of crypto?

From the NEW York Times:

“President Trump called Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, in the hours after the United States men’s soccer team played Wednesday and asked him to review the suspension of the team’s top goal scorer in the World Cup, Folarin Balogun, after he was given a red card, according to four people familiar with the conversation.

“On Sunday, FIFA reversed the suspension, announcing that Mr. Balogun would be eligible to play Monday against Belgium.

“The reversal is highly unusual and is the first time since 1962 that FIFA has allowed a player to appear in a game when they would have been suspended after being sent off in the World Cup.”

Why would any team, except the United States, want to play inside this country now that FIFA is following the rules of the Orange Man instead of its own?

Games to be played in the United States should be moved to Canada and Mexico, where they can be played fairly without interference from someone off the field of play. The stadiums are there. The schedule can be rearranged. The outcomes will be honest, which is not a rarity in our country.