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!