Adventures in Boggle Hole

There are many reasons to enjoy youth hostels. They are convenient, relatively cheap, offer lovely accommodation and the staff are lovely. I have not stayed in hostels outside of the UK, or independents yet, so far it has only been Youth Hostel Association and I've not been upset.

Boggle Hole has to be one of the best. This is our second stay, a hastily booked break after our original planned stay ended with our car breaking down inside the Leeds metropolitan borough (we had not got far), and it just feels right and comfortable. We even had the same room as before.

My favourite bit has to be the Cthulhu sign in the toilet informing children that he will be unhappy if they do not wash their hands. I always thought Cthulhu was a little indifferent to the hygiene of children though I am not a parent so this might be some part of the mythos I have previously missed.

Close to the edge (of the known world though not actually the *known* world at the time)

Easter was spend near the edge of the world (allegedly) and the centre of Britain. Yes, Hadrian's Wall and Haltwhistle. Easter was spent in the Youth Hostel Association's Once Brewed hostel.

Let's clear something up, as it bugs me constantly. Hadrian's Wall was not the edge of the Roman world; they travelled beyond it; they traded with people from the other side of it; and they fought with people outside it. No one in Rome sat down and asked the next fellow, "do you know what is beyond Hadrian's Wall?," to get the following reply: "Cliff, void and endless namelessness nothingness."

And what evidence do I have for this? Well, the gatehouses for one. Civilisations don't normally build gates onto the unknown void unless they want the unknown to come in, pay taxes and trade.

Youth Hostels are great way to travel. We have been visiting them for about a year, and while there can be some niggles the experience has been good. Once Brewed appears like a building built in the 1960s, with a canteen, self caterers' kitchen and a good lounge. While we were there there were at least two other walking parties and a number of bicycling groups. Unsurprisingly the hostel is on two major walking routes (Hadrian's Wall Path and near the Pennine Way) as well as national cycle routes. Everyone was friendly and mostly welcoming.

During our stay we walked along the Wall. We also looked into the unknown void that is Northumberland north of the Wall, and the unknown void looked back and said: "Next time maybe you'd like to walk here, too".