Category: Holiday Blogs

As always, it astounds me the number of ‘hits’ & ‘reads’ these nonsense blogs get! Thank you for your comments & support!

I do always say this and the blogs help me be ‘present’ whilst on hols and also help me to unwind, which does mean I sleep better as the days progress!

Sleep wasn’t quite so relaxed last night though. At 03:21 someone awoke the mythical beast of Bamburgh, the Laidly Worm and she travelled down the coast in the form of a dragon to piss on my velux windows so heavily they seemed to want to break, and breathe fire across the sky!

I was ‘Thunderstruck’! It was brilliant! I went to the picture window and sat and watched the lighting show and listen to the thunder for a while. The rain (dragon piss?) was torrential! The lightning, thick and fast!

Eventually I retired and only awoke on my 8am alarm (given it was the “vacate by 10am” day).

It took all of about 45 minutes to get up, clear up, strip beds, pack and load the van. We did still manage to leave both of our doggos leads though. Whilst we did all of this, the Laidly Worm had returned, and it rained, thundered and all the while was as foggy as Farages brain when asked about that £5mil!

All packed (bar the two pesky dog leads) and we set off ‘home’ via lots of waypoints. We got to Cragside again before the sea mist started to lift. I wish I’d been able to get a photo of something we saw a bit further on though. Through the cloud, I could see 3 massive wind Turbines, none spinning, all with two propellers up around 10 to 2 if on a clock face.

But the mist obscured the third blade and the vertical support tower. They looked like giant, giant seabirds heading to and away from us!

From there we headed towards Black Carts Turret to keep us on backroads and the best bits of the area around the old Military Road. Then we hit the ‘road closed’ we remember we saw on the way up. Ah, sod it, let’s give it a go we thought, given the number of cars going in both directions. Nope! All the way back and then south to the roundabout onto the Military Road, famed for its links to that there Publius Aelius Hadrianus and his wall. 

We skipped Vindaloolandia Roman Fort (may be an autocorrect in there) as it wasn’t dog-friendly, so headed towards Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady Brewed, or whatever they are calling themselves today!

We right turned and parked up the hill in Steel Rig car park, and when their ticketing machine ‘couldn’t find a signal’ we, like others, left notes rather than payment.

It’s the closest car park to the Sycamore Gap, where those two dickheads chopped the iconic tree down for no valid or useful reason. We set off, with makeshift leads, but on seeing the first climb, mum, Jane, Toby and Alfie all held up their hands and said “we’re out”!

I was determined. I was well prepped in a heavy black jersey teeshirt, jersey shorts & my posh crocs. And a fancy DSLR camera.

What a stupid decision! It was up, down, up, down, up, down, back up and then a treacherous final down to the memorial to the tree. It was 30ish C. I had no drink with me.

But eventually I got there. I know it’s a tree stump now, but it does still have meaning. It was great to see its re-growing and 100s of years from now may well look something like its original.

Absolutely no way I could have walked that same route back! I was exhausted! I ended up taking the lower, flatter, but ‘entirely in the glare of the sun’ route back to the road we had driven up. I called Jane. Thankfully she had signal and answered, and then came and picked me up on the way back to the Twice Brewed pub & Brewery.

Where we ate very well, were served very well & bought more beer very well!

From there, it’s a 100-mile slog across to and then down the M6 to Mums, up in Shevy. As we got on the M6 Southbound, the clouds in the wing mirror reflections we almost black. Forebodings of future.

We drove into and then out of a ridiculously heaving rain storm, where the road became flooded and standing water kicked up spray whilst the wipers struggled to keep up!

Finally and after a 20 minute delay due to heavy traffic, we dropped Mum & Alfie off, made sure she was all sorted and then headed home, where I now write this from. Sat in the sunset light, watching Les Bleus play the Vikings, sipping cold Twice Brewed, Sureshot and my own homebrew beer and pondering on when we can go back to that area.

Anyhoo, that’s definitely all for this hols. I once again thank you & bid you farewell!

“To the Regiment! I wish I was there!”

Much love!

“UK Smashes June Temperature Record Twice in 48 Hours”

“Met Office Extends Rare Red Extreme Heat Warning into Friday”

“Unrelenting Heat Dome Creates a ‘Feels Like’ Temperature of 41°C”

Nah. Move up to the Northumberland Coast! 16.5C and foggy. I almost broke my holiday code and put socks on, but only because  they look sh1t when wearing ‘posh crocs’ (faux leather upper, no holes for ‘Jibbitz’).

Choose the sock colour correctly and you can sneak those ‘shoe liner’ versions on under sandals though. “I have only been told this & have no prior personal experience, Officer”.

It’s our last full day here and we now realise we should have booked two weeks! It’s the most brilliant area of the UK we’ve ever been to* & haven’t even scratched the surface of it yet.

*It’s not. But our friends Betty & David, Martin, Peter, Lisa & a few others know where is. But this is a well placed top 3 easily.

We’ve started to pack & tidy.  Ugh. It does bring it home that we really haven’t stayed long enough. Especially in this cottage! It’s turned out that we are staying here in one of its last rentals, before the owners move back to live here. You lucky buggers! How fantastic!

We’ve hardly used the downstairs lounge, even though it’s nice and I bet brilliant in winder with its log fire. The lounge got used only because the World Cup was on and that’s where the telly is. But this place has the most amazing “TV” that you can watch for free all day and all night if you want to.

That view! Ever changing, with the tides, the wind direction, the clouds, the sunlight and shadows. It’s such a wonderful thing to watch.

Anyway, it’s cold and foggy. So bugger that when the rest of you lot are getting par-boiled! We’re off inland today!

Dead simple plan:

1. NT Cragside House & Gardens
2. Tea, on way back to The Gap
3. Enjoy view from that window for the last time

It’s about a 30 minute journey from Boulmer, through Alnwick and then out inland. (“Out inland “? What drivel. Lazy). It took about 15 of those to clear the sea mist (fog). The temp then jumped to 24.5C. Lovely! If you’re in an air conditioned vehicle, but not if you’re a dog walking on hot tarmac. (I’ll address this shortly).

On arrival, we paid our way in (plus gift-aid of course), and parked up in the upper car park.

Doggos sorted, sated and hydrated, we set off! In the wrong direction. The impressive and massive ‘house’ that you see as you pay up? Thats just the gift shop and cafe! After correcting our navigation, we went up a path to the proper house.

Loads of scaffolding around the central section at the mo’ but that is for the good.

I love loads of things (I’m definitely one that’s could tick a few of these newer acronyms and spectra), including a love of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture & design (come one! The ‘Falling Water House’ on its own, says most things). So much so that when Lurchio was a kid playing Minecraft, I built a Minecraft homage to that building that still ‘exists’ apparently!

This house is internally arts & crafts, innovation (first hydroelectric house, including a sawmill, a water-powered laundry, early versions of a dishwasher and a dumb waiter, a hydraulic lift and a hydroelectric rotisserie!

Outside its apparently Tudor revival, but read the WiKi part – no one can clearly categorise it. And that’s why it’s amazing! Helps they had loads of dosh through being “the worlds first arms dealer”, along with more philanthropic ideals.

Mum & I did the first tour, while Jane calmly took the dogs on a well-behaved walk. On-lead, in the shade and on stone and grass, not melting tar.

Then we swapped. We dog-wrangled. Whilst Mum was dragged down the rock garden and I kept partially strangling a dog because ‘he didn’t want to leave his mum behind’ so stopped suddenly and sat, waiting to go back the way we’d come from.

Eventually we got both of them to the ‘Formal Garden’ and found a bench in the shade, where we calmed them down & gave them more water.  In a lovely cooling breeze, thankfully.

Sorry to stereotype, but history states that it was Mrs Armstrong that ‘did the garden’. What an underplaying! Again, read up – it’s an incredible feat, borne of ingenuity & travel and an important acceptance of other cultures that led to the amazing grounds that we walked. Bloody miles of them as well! About 40-odd miles of paths across the Estate, apparently.

After Jane joined us, and Toby made peace with me, we headed to the gift shoppe and had Lemonade and cake, and then headed back to the van. More hydration, then a track back to Alnwick where we filled up with ab exact £100.00 if diesel. Yees!)

Then a very short stint back to Lesbury and the Old Coach Inn, where we stopped on the first day. Same servers, different table by 4ft. There seems to be a scampi thing going on, as I was the only one that didn’t order that. I went “Pie of The Day”. Steak & Ale.

Then back to The Gap to begin the decamp. Boo-hoo.

We’re out by 10am tomorrow, so up earlyish, and the plan is the journey here in reverse with a possible lunch stop back in the “Twice Brewed” (it may be Thrice Brewed by now).

This is likely the last of these blog posts for now as I doubt motorway/Shevington/Cheadle Hulme/House burned down/feral offspring makes good reading , so thanks for reading, and putting vicarious pressure on me to write this crap each evening.

Thank goodness I’m not going away again in the next 4 weeks!

x

I confess to having a beer too many & staying up far too late last night whilst watching the football, so I was a little slower getting up this morning.

To fully resurrect myself, I made a big bacon and fried egg toasted sandwich, a cafetière of Old Brown Java coffee that I’d bought in Amble a couple of days ago & a big slug of orange juice. Back in the game!

We were taking our longest day trip out today, so didn’t hang around too long, and set off up the coast road through Seahorses and on to Bamburgh.

Expecting the castle car park to be a rip-off, I parked up in the large public car park opposite the road up & paid my £8 for 4 hours parking (not that we’d need the 4).

Meandering across the road and onto the cricket field in the centre of Bamburgh and in the shadow of the castle, that’s where we spent an obligatory few minutes letting the doggos do their turdy thing and bagging it up!

We headed across to the Pavilion side and then through a small opening onto the coastal path, but rather than walk along it, we took the path leading to the beach. Deep, soft  white sand. Looks lovely, but bloody hell, it’s hard to walk on! My Achilles were screaming at me to stop the stretch.

We crested a grassy dune and saw the beach for the first time. Wow! Just wow! Really open, not too many people and miles and miles of that beautiful sand, a turquoise shoreline shifting to an azure blue sky, all with the backdrop of the magnificent Bamburgh Castle. Stunning!

We could have walked for miles and miles but we were on the clock (not the parking though). So we cut up and over the first big dune and struggled through the sand back towards the Castle Carpark. By the time we got there we were all knackered, as it was tough walking, very hot and also steep in many parts.

If you ever go, learn from my experience – if you can, park in the Castle Carpark park! It’s only £6 for the whole day! Doh!

As much as I would have loved to have a look around the Castle, it just wasn’t going to be worthwhile spending £29/head for what would be an hour, maybe two at a push. One for next time, as we will definitely be coming back to this area again!

So we headed back down to the cricket field and then across towards the village green. Everything was kept so well! There’s a few bob around these parts, that’s for sure! 

A few gift shops were visited & a purchase was made, while I researched a nearby pub, The Lord Crewe (looks a bit swanky for us windswept and interesting folk!).

We mooched up the road and then discovered the Bamburgh Walled Garden, a free to visit space for everyone, with a lovely modern cafe.

After sitting a while in a lovely little flower garden space, we headed into the cafe and I had a double espresso, while Mum & Jane had a latte and a cheese scone and an orangina and a sticky toffee muffin respectively.

After a quick toilet stop, Jane had 5 minutes in a normal sized deck chair with the doggos. Nonsense over, we headed back to the van and set off north towards our goal of Lindesfarne.

The route takes you over a level crossing, onto the A1, off the A1 and over another level crossing before heading towards the causeway and Holy Island. We had to wait for two trains to pass by at the level crossing. Just our luck.

Then over the famous causeway and on to the ‘Holy Island of Lindisfarne’. I’m not big on the Holy stuff, but I do like a bit of a National Nature Reserve that’s teaming with flora, fauna, birds & insects, and even a few deer (along with the farmed sheep).

We followed the recommended approach and parked outside of the village (£7 for a few hours) and walked in. We refrained from the icecream, coffee and cake emporia but did visit the National Trust shop & made a few little purchases. I bought 12 blank postcards, made of watercolour paper.  Maybe I’ll do some postcards one day! It was more a token purchase, a sideways donation of you will.

“From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.” — Franz Kafka

We didn’t turn back and pressed on to our second Castle of the day. Not as big, but the 16th-century Lindisfarne Castle is described by the National Trust as a “castle (that’s not a castle), on an island (that’s not an island).”

It’s a small but impressive fort on the top of a rock that was turned into a family home by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901, and also has a walled garden that’s in a very odd location off away from the Fort.

We did the looped walk, around the north side of the fort, out to the coastline where there’s a sculpture of a Tern.

We then headed back, taking us past the walled garden, which Jane had remembered was planted up by the esteemed horticulturist & garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll, a turn of the Century version of Carole Klein or Monty Don. It’s recently been renovated and is based on her original planting scheme.

Whatever, we liked it.

The doggos (on leads as required) were far more interested in the cheekily brazen sheep, who are clearly used to human and canine visitors.

By now, we were all very hot, very conscious of the heat for the doggos (lots of water breaks in shade and no walking on tarmac unless shaded), and very knackered!

It was a bit of a slog walking all the way back to the van to be honest. My G4 osteoarthritis in my knees, and Jane and I both have bad hips, were definitely suffering. Meanwhile, my near-80 year old wobbly-headed

Mum was breezing along, putting us to shame!

Once in the van, we fed, watered and cooled the doggos down, before setting off over the causeway only to be stopped at both level crossings. Our timing is impeccably poor, it seems!

We headed back towards Seahorses and this time, called for tea at The Old Buoy Inn for our tea. Mum nearly walked into someone’s annex room thinking it was the pub entrance, but otherwise we managed to get a table (albeit for a brief slot) in what was a very popular pub.

Yes! Finally I felt like this was a place worth ordering the mussels! Marinier for me please! Jane had the Mary May Crab Soup (I tried it and it was delicious) with the truffle & Parmesan chips whilst Mum plumped for the Griled Halloumi Bruschetta.

We all loved the food, drinks and service except for the dogs. The kitchen used a doorbell to alert the staff there was something on the pass that needed to be served. It turned out it was the same doorbell noise ours makes and so the dogs went nuts barking every time ‘the doorbell rang’! Shambles!

Sated, we paid up, and headed home and past RAF Boulmer and its Phantom.

Since which…we’ve done a couple of loads of washing. The weather breaks when we get home, so we may as well get it washed on someone else’s ‘leccy and water meter and get it dried in nice weather than when we get home!

Usual setup otherwise – sit, look out of the ever-changing picture window (me), crochet (Jane, not me), read a Kindle (mum, not me). Oh, and we all dipped those crackers into the smoked salmon pate, bought in Craster a couple of days ago.

So that was today! I’ll sit and fall asleep pretending to watch Scotland v Brazil shortly, before actually going to bed.

Much love, take care & be brilliant to others!

x

Up and at ‘em, this morning! And then jammy toast for breakfast for me because it tastes as good coming up as it down going down apparently. I’m not the most confident on boats but I do seem to be getting better at them, and that’s the plan for this afternoon – a boat trip to the Farnes!

But first, a return to Craster. Kippers are on our list of purchases and what better place to get them than Robsons Smokehouse on the harbourside.

We parked in the Quarry car park again (1h only this time) & so had a little walk up to the village. Most of which was spent picking up dog crap, as our lads seemed to be dirty protesting. Toby did his usual ‘spin and sh1t’ to one side of a roadway into the car park.

Whilst Jane was picking up, I’d like to thank the impatient driver & passengers that glared at us because we delayed their entry to the car park by 90 seconds. Is it just us that think there’s been a shift towards a self-centeredness to more people? Or are we just getting older and grumpier?

Having spent 15 minutes of our hour ‘turding’, we got to the village.

It is a lovely little place, and the little gallery on Haven Hill had some wonderful locally crafted jewellery, pottery & artwork.

We then headed back up the road to the Smokehouse shop. What a wonderful smell in my humble opinion! Although, I did see an owd lady wafting and mouthing “it’s disgusting” to her likely long-suffering partner. Ey well.

Everything in the Smokey-shop sounded fab, and really good value. I’d’ve spent a fortune (fish soup, lobster bisque, crab terrine etc) but thankfully we switched and Jane went in and made more sensible purchases. Traditionally Oak Smoked Craster kipper fillets, Craster Smoked Salmon Pate, and to spoon it into yer gob, fig, honey and virgin olive oil crackers. Heaven!

Having not walked the dogs as yet, we let them both go feral on the small beach (it was close to high tide). They once again loved going into the water, with Alfie being braver when Toby piles in.

Once wet, and knowing he was going to end up in an enclosed space Toby then pulled off another trademark move and rolled his damp body thoroughly with fermenting seaweed and rotting crustaceans. Perfect, as we head towards a boat trip that I think we were all secretly nervous about.

Back to the van and we headed up the coast road again to Seahorses [sic], where this time, I “grew a pair” and committed to pier parking and went all the way to the end. Where we had about 10 spaces to ourselves!

Mum had made us a ham sandwich each (on an oven bottom, so it’s the best), wrapped in tinfoil. It was a pinprick of memories from the ‘70s. This prompted a recollection of some of the ‘simple teas’ we used to have. Get this Jamie Oliver:

1. bowl of chips from chip pan
2. Pour over a tin of oxtail soup
3. Eat

Gordon Blue memories over and over!

We checked in, got our boarding passes and when instructed, headed down to the gate that let you onto a floating pontoon. 

We had booked because one of Jane’s friends had been up here a few weeks ago and had a great experience. Thank you for the recommendation for Serenity Boat Tours. We did also. Staff turned out to be brilliant!

Andrew (Skipper) & Andy took us out across a choppy-for-us North Sea for the next couple of hours and their commentary, boat-handling skills & enthusiasm were very much appreciated!

We saw loads. And I have to put a massive shout out to my wonderful wife Jane (and her Dad, who encouraged her) for her Birding knowledge, pointing out loads of species, their differences & how to identify them.

The high points were Jumplings (baby guillemots) and my mum trying (she didn’t) to give us a Temu version of Audrey Hepburn. The comedy sea parrots (Puffins) weren’t bad either!

I’ll just drop a few photos and let you decide how good our trip was.

But once you have, I’ll then ask you to review your choices based on how badly their rock faces full of guano (bird crap) stank. It was a full-on attack on the nostrils! Poor doggos must have been almost high on bird poo smell given their enhanced olfactory senses!

We docked at a low tide and just got off the boat before it would have been grounded. Perfect parking meant we got off, headed up the steps and straight into our van where we warmed up (that wind had been cutting).

We then headed around the harbour and up to the Black Swan Pub, which served incredible-sounding food but was a bit above our requirement after a queasy two hours on a boat.  

We had a nice drink in there (and thank you to you lovely couple next to us who loved our doggos), but we moved on and grabbed a bit of ‘pub tea’ from a place down the road.

When we went through the menu though, Mum was a bit over-faced & didn’t want to order food she would leave (wasting food is a big thing for her). 

I went to the bar to order food, and then I laid it on thick and asked if we could order a Kids Meal for my “elderly, infirm mum, who needs looking after”. It was a yes, and mum loved her Scampi, chips, mushy peas and fruit-shoot drink!

Jane went down her usual route and ordered two starters, the leek & pot soup with a fishy block of paste.

I went for king prawn, chilli, garlic linguine. It was definitely chilli!

With that done the evening took a more familiar course:home via the co-op and then trying to watch football but nodding off.

As I suspect you are now, reading this nonsense.

More stuff actually planned for tomorrow though. How’s that heatwave we’re missing out on?

x

A better nights sleep for all of us last night, with us all starting to move about at around 8am. The forecast for today wasn’t the best, so we decided we’d make this a lazy day & set off to Alnwick at some point.

Before that, given we were in no rush to leave (as it was trying to rain at the time), I decided to make the most of the giant range grill & made a hefty grilled breakfast of Bury black puddings, Cumberland sausages, bacon, poached eggs and toast. I was very happy with the result, as was Jane. Mum had already eaten so went for a read to avoid temptation!

We spent the morning watching the clouds roll by and they grey, choppy sea carry sailing boats along in the breeze.

I got out the paints and finally gave up faffing with my painting and called it ‘finished’. Loads wrong with it but all still part of the learning process, I suppose.

By 2 o’clock, we decided we should do something so packed up and headed the 6 miles into Alnwick town. We managed to park up in a roadside space just around the corner from Barter Books.

What an amazing place that is! Housed in the old Victorian Station, Barter is one of the largest secondhand book stores in the UK. It’s quirky! Open fires, sofas and tables where you can read, a station Buffet room serving food and a model railway that runs overhead linking bookcases together. It’s a great idea as well! You can donate books and your ‘account’ gets credited, and you can then spend those credits on other books in the store.

From there, we headed back out and towards the town centre.

The first thing we came across was an old chap staring into the engine bay of his broken down Triumph Stag. We passed and I had a quick nosey under the front-hinged bonnet, but couldn’t see anything obvious.

We walked on, but I kept glancing back. The fella looked like he knew what was wrong but couldn’t fix it. Jane saw the look on my face, sighed and accepted the inevitable. I went back to him to see what was wrong and offer tools if needed. He explained that it was the fuel pump that was stuck and so he was waiting for a pal to turn up with a spare part. He was very grateful of my offer though.

Happy that he was ok, I headed back to Mum, Jane and the doggos and we meandered down through the Hotspur (or Bondgate) Tower, named after Sir Henry Percy commonly known as Harry Hotspur, the son of the 1st Earl of Northumberland and into the town centre.

It was quiet. With it being a Monday and the town being biased towards tourism, a good few of the places are closed for a well earned day off after what I hope are busy weekends for them. But we had a nice stroll and Jane even managed to sneak into a yarn shop. Thankfully, no yarn was bought (as we already have a houseful!) but a bag to store yarn in was.

Throughout our walk, we were getting slightly rained on, but as we got back to the van, it started to properly rain. Time to plan our next moves!

So, we headed to Alnwick Brewery & Tap Room, where they had decided to shut early but also only had two beers on Tap, their Amber Ale and their Stout. I had a half of the Amber which was very nice and bought a few bottles and a can of their 5% ABV NEIPA (New England IPA, a hazy & hop-forward style of beer).

Now what to do for food? We thought we had a plan but the Monday conundrum kicked in – the local place were shut or not serving food. So we ended up driving about 20 minutes north to High Newton-by-the-Sea & had a belting tea at the Joiners Arms.

I’d highly recommend the place. The service was great & the food was excellent! I had the Slow-Braised Brisket Ragù:

“Layered fresh pasta with tender 12 hour braised beef in a rich tomato & red wine ragu, fresh parmesan & basil, rocket salad”

Oof! Proper rich! Mum had the Carrot and cumin soup served with warm foccacia, and Jane plumped for the Tiger Prawn Scampi with big chunky chips, served with tartare and mushy peas.

By now it was chucking it down, and the doggos hadn’t had their teas so we legged it back up the road to the free carpark and headed home to the Gap.

Usual setup here after that. Watch a bit of the footy, then upstairs, to read, crochet, paint and sup beers, wine and even Jane had a Gin!

Big day tomorrow, so early to bed and “early” to rise. Hopefully puffins and sealife, but no seasickness. That’s the plan!

Night, night!

This morning started later than yesterday did, thankfully due to a heady mix of fresh air, lots of walking, and a few beers last night!

It was around 6am but I couldn’t be arsed getting out of bed at first, so lay there until around 7am…

When I decided it was time to try and learn to paint with watercolours. I have had two relatively recent previous attempts, tbh, but those just showed how much there is to learn.

That pigment swills around in the water on a brush, and does some right funny things if you’re not aware of how to control it.

So I got up, looked out of the picture window, wetted some paper & let it dry a bit. I lightly pencil sketched the very simple shapes – a horizon, some clouds, and a big green field with a foreground hedge. And then put some paint on. I’m learning that it’s too easy to ‘colour in’ and use too much too soon. Build in layers of light to dark. And be patient.

Anyway, that first wash done and I joined mum downstairs for breakfast, to then discover Jane had been unwell in the night and was feeling rough (Jane sleeps in a room with Toby, the dog because “he snores slightly less than you do” hence me being unaware).

So we decided to make sure this was a very easy day. We had our breakfast, got sorted and decided to head up to Seahouses (which Mum kept referring to as Seahorses).

I managed to do a 7 point manoeuvre into a crazy tight space right at the entry to the busy pier & was silently glowing with pride at the result.

We eventually decamped and headed up the pier to find loads of parking spaces (3, 4 empty in a row).  What a shambles. Thank goodness I didn’t make a big thing of my parking prowess!

Nice views from the pier end looking out to sea & watching all of the shuttling tourist boats heading out to hopefully catch a glimpse of a puffin or maybe even a seal or dolphin. Just like we will be doing on Tuesday from 2:15pm!

Meanwhile, Toby found his ‘inner goat’ and lept up onto the seawall, causing much surprise and joy. As I took a photo of Jane taking a photo  of Toby, I then took another photo of what was behind Jane, which was a Banksy-esque stencil of a girl spray-painting a heart. Apparently it turned up overnight in 2023.

From there we headed into the town, where Jane stopped and visited a variety of touristy shops in the hope of finding a ‘tacky spoon’. This is a thing that has been going on decades. A ‘tacky spoon’ is exactly that. A ‘silver’ spoon with a handle with a local motif or shield, or some other location-based stamp on it. We have loads of them.

Apparently they are now hard to find so Jane had to fall back to the next tourist shop position and she bought a couple of ‘baubles’ for the Christmas Tree instead – a Tin Angler Fish and a rolled back Sardine Tin with a comedy Puffin inside eating said sardines!

We headed down to the harbour and wandered along the rocky stretch of low-tidal rocks before Jane & Mum found a nice spot to sit & enjoy the view. Jane had the pocket Leicas with her (Jane’s Dad, Arthur bought well when he bought binoculars).

I on the other hand was on a secret mission, so carried on ahead, up to the coastal path and then to the pub.

I’d done a little research and thought the Black Swan Inn might be somewhere to have a ‘celebratory’ meal out. I nipped in via the under-glass outdoor space, thought the restaurant and into the bar, where I ordered a pint of IPA. I raised a glass to my Dad, my “in-law Dad” Arthur on Father’s Day before it quickly evaporated or there was a hole in the glass! Reception here is non-existent, which is why I assume I’ve yet to hear from Lurchio on the Dad Day stuff.

I’d seen enough. The food I’d passed looked outstanding, the bar staff were friendly and engaging. I was sold. We’ll be back.

We only just made it back to the van before the parking ticket ran out, but we got there! Oh, the jeopardy!

With no real plan in mind, we just headed south but only for a quick detour. Down and left, and we ended up in a carpark (free for an hour, £7 + for longer) Beadnell Beach.

Blimey! It’s fantastic! Loads of people there but it’s so vast that it feels like you’re one of just a few. Loads of Terns doing a ‘Stuka’ dive into the sea to come out and fly off with a fish in their mouths. I tried to capture a photo, but my timing was off so I only got the splash and not the moment before.

The hour went quickly and we ended up back at the van sooner than we would have liked, after this discovery.

Heading home, we turned off for a Sunday evening stroll around Craster Harbour. The pub with “Famous Crab Sandwiches” was busy (it is Father’s Day after all), but the rest of Craster was closed, including the Smokehouse, which was fair on a Sunday, late afternoon, but did mean no kippers for us.

We sat on the benches overlooking the harbour and chilled out for a while, watching a family learn to paddle board & make it look as difficult as I suspect standing up is on a floating ironing board!

I walked the pier and took an incredibly arty and original photo that I’m sure* hasn’t ever been taken before.

Mission accomplished, we headed back to the van, and after a brief stop at the local Co-op, we got back to “The Gap”, the official name of our cottage.

Since getting back we’ve made a leftovers ‘picky tea’ with many things that don’t work together, have dabbled with watercolour, crocheted, and looked out of the picture window. It’s been good.

We’re all yawning, the weather forecast is “who knows, but likely to include rain”, so we’re all off to bed to see what tomorrow brings (Tuesday & Wednesday already have structure & timings).

So I bid you a bonne nuit! See ya in the morning!

Much love you gorgeous people, especially Dads, those here and those ahead of us, that were here before! To the Regiment!

The day started early today for me! Sunrise around 4am as it happens, when my inability to sleep continuously for any length of time let me down again. Unable to settle, I got up, and headed to the upstairs lounge that has that big picture window.

Although there was a big dark cloud along the horizon to the east, the rising sun fought intensely to show itself, even if it was just in little slivers parallel to the sea.

Hopefully, if I do wake again at this time, I’ll be able to witness a cleared sunrise & get some decent photos of it!

I did try and go back to sleep after a while and managed to doze through until about 8:30am. Better than nothing I suppose.

Turns out Mum had her sleep interrupted, but hers was by Alfie, her doggo, who was restless, and as I vacated the upstairs lounge, they both went in. Mums morning was worse than mine as she let Alfie out in the garden and he promptly rolled in a pile of fox sh1t, so she ended up spending the next part of her morn giving Alfie a shower down.

Eventually we all ended up congregating around the kitchen table and having a light breakfast, all the while deciding what to do. Not easy when there’s a sudden & heavy downpour as the sky went black.

Thankfully that cleared, as we packed up and headed the 0.3 miles up the road to Boulmer Beach Car Park. A £1 spent for 2 hours parking and we headed off back south down the sand.

Beach-combing for nice shells and red, blue and green ‘sea glass’ (the rarer colours), we meandered past our cottage and down the coast almost to Foxton Bay.

We walked back past the carpark and along past ‘our local’ pub (yes, I can do that) and to a specially built shepherd’s hut filled with lovely artwork for sale by local artist Jenny Allan.

Our 2 hours was almost up so we headed back to the small but full carpark and let someone else have a go.

We’d decided to drive down to Amble via Warkworth and its stunning hilltop castle. Coming in to the village, we were greeted by a stream of red Mazda MX5s all in really good nick. We lost count and with driving, I have no photos or record, but we all would say somewhere between 25-30 cars! It was great to see! Subsequent research suggests it was the MX5 Owners Club Tyne Tees, who organise regular trips up the coast road.

When we got into Amble, albeit the roads got quite narrow and busy we were able to get to a decent (and once again £1/2h stay) car park near the harbour.

A meander to the crafty ‘Pods‘ at Amble Harbour Village on the quayside eventually led to the purchase of some taster packs of ground coffee for me (there’s a French Pot here), and a 3ft tall carved log section depicting a Green Man face.

My mum also got to sit on a bench on the harbourside that is dedicated to a relative of ours, Auntie Teasey, which was a nice add-on!

My slice of toast input was wearing thin and I was getting somewhat peckish. That meant a Chippy tray & cheeky birds, that knew exactly what they needed to do. To be clear all of us had chips, not just me, including baby Spadgers.

From there, you’d think we’d hang fire for our pub tea, but then we walked past Spurellis, who have an incredible reputation for Gelatos and Ice cream. I have no idea what we were thinking but Jane & I had two double scoop cones between us! (£11, fyi!). Jane had chocolate and toffee fudge, and I had double strawberry and cherry & cream.

Bloated, and now at risk of explosive bowel movements (we’ve found that Ice Cream can do that to us), we decided to head back to the van.

I know we’ve not seen or experienced Amble as much as we should so it’s a definite “back there again if we can”.

Then we started heading back towards home, via Alnmouth and a pub in Lesbury where we’d booked a dog-friendly table for our tea.

Unfortunately our initial experience of Alnmouth was ‘Crap parking facilities’. But then again, I doubt the 18th Century smugglers that helped it prosper after being wiped out in the 14th C & then the Black Death cared much for the large scale storage of Jaecoo SUVs.

We did have aa great estuary walk though and then headed north along the beach though after finding a spot.

The dogs loved it! Toby headed straight into the water, but for Alfie this was a whole new game. Egged on by Toby, he got brave and had a go, bless him!

The walk took in the estuary and then a walk along the the side of the ‘oldest 9-hole links course in England’, which I presume means there only one or two, not being a golfist.

Another 2h parking stint almost expired (this time free), before we headed the very short trip to the Coach Inn in Lesbury, where we fed the doggos in the carpark before heading inside and negotiating a slightly earlier access to our table.

We all ended up ordering food, and all of us ended up leaving plenty of the lower cost items (chips and salad). But we had decent food at a good price and we managed not to fall asleep at the table!

Then, we’re back at the cottage where we’ve been chatting, snoring (dogs especially so), writing blogs, crocheting, and I’ve started tinkering with some paper and might have a go at a watercolour painting whilst here. Seems only right in such a tranquil place, surrounded by such fluid beauty.

And that’s a wrap! Bedtime now and we’ll see what tomorrow brings, weather wise first, plans second!

Night, night! (Although it’s still daylight here).

Boulmer. Pronounced Boomer. Thats where I am right now. It’s on the east coast, just south of Seahouses & Craster and plenty north of Newcastle. We’re here for a week.

So why Northumberland, apart from the obvious (it’s beautiful!)?

I’ve been through and down the coast of Northumbria a few times due to my old job, but just once with Jane (a quick stop-off in Seahouses on our way back from a weekend in Edinburgh). The Caravan & Motorhome Club were a client, and one of the reasons for my travel. I received their magazine and one such cover photo looked like it was shot in the Bahamas. It was this coastline. We’ve wanted to come here since.

But that’s not the only reason. There are a couple more reasons, both with a similar theme.

Our doggo, Toby is nearly 11 years old (the equivalent 77 in human terms). He’s getting a bit nobbly bobbly, to the point where we’ve just had two lumps biopsied (if that’s a word).

It’s also Mums 80th birthday in October and it’s been over 9 years since she’s had a holiday. She’s getting a bit wobbly bobbly, insomuch as her trapped nerve or vertebrae issue means her head has a little shake when she looks directly forward.

Time moves on. More than ever over the last 6 years (3 being part of running a tech business, 3 realising nothing lasts forever, so “make hay while the sun shines”). So much has changed and I want so much more to make sure I enjoy life in the present, having been ‘elsewhere’ prior to 2023.

So we booked this cottage ages ago as a surprise ’present’ to Mum as part of her birthday. Booked through Cottages.com (although it’s now not listed) it’s turned out to be one of the nicest cottages we’ve ever stayed in! But I’ll come back to that.

We set off in the California (campervan) from Cheadle Hulme at just before 10am this morning and headed up to my mums in Shevington, north of Wigan, where we loaded up the final luggage haul and the high value items. These being 3 pies and 3 sausage rolls from Baldys Pies (check them out, they are multi-award winning).

After stowing the pies in the pre-chilled camper fridge we set off up the M6 heading to Once Brewed, a small hamlet just off the A69, and very close to the Sycamore Gap site. I’d seen on the map there is a Twice Brewed Observatory and Planetarium, so wanted to check that out.

On arrival, it turned out that:

• The sign on arrival to the hamlet now says it’s ‘Twice Brewed’, not Once Brewed
• There’s a decent pub on the same site called the Twice Brewed Inn, serving decent food and beer
• And who’d ever have thought it, but there’s also a brewery and tap room on site!

We did go to the Observatory, sadly not dog friendly, but the cafe was. Three leek & potato soups, with white buttered bread and a cheesy scone (with a silent ‘e’) downed and I nipped in and bought a selection of beers and the obligatory matching glassware.

A panic buy of a £1 pay & display ticket (not very well signed, imho) and we set off for the next part of the journey, to NT Cragside House & Gardens for a recce of a planned visit. Blimey, NT places aren’t cheap anymore, if they ever were, but I’m assured this is going to ‘press my buttons’.

Final push on and through Alnwick, past another brewery (!) and a few places we’ve added to our potential ’to do’ list, before heading up the coast to our cottage.

And wow! What a gaff this is! A huge enclosed garden perfect for doggos, with decent, secure off-road parking, and a brilliant sprawling 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 lounge home with a big & well-appointed kitchen.

There’s a lounge upstairs. It faces east and has a huge picture window. What a great picture! It overlooks fields then the beach and the sea.

We unpacked & settled in and chilled out in all of the various areas. Toby has been especially ‘chilled’ as we have had to ‘dope’ him up for the journey with a mild dog sedative. It worked and the car journey was much kinder to him for being tranqued up.

Eventually we sussed out the range cooker and got those Baldy’s pies & gravy underway, along with a side of mashed potatoes.

Full as bulls we then retired to the lounge, put the telly on (USA v AUS) and then promptly fell asleep!

I suspect it won’t be that long before we all retire to our various rooms after the fun but intense drive here.

Anyhoo, we have a local’ish day planned tomorrow to get our bearings, but plenty already planned and even booked to keep us on our toes!

Much love and be good to each other, you wonderful people!