Blogs from Northumberland, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 12

There was no sign of Lowry or Russians village on Holy Island, but then the Causeway could have been closed when they tried to visit. Holy Island has probably been passed 200 or 300 times in my life on the A1 just to the west and this seemed like a good opportunity to venture that last 5 miles from the main road. The causeway was due to close at 2.00 pm and not re-open until after dark, so we made plans to go across early in the day. It all looks fairly serene at low tide, but in the height of summer you could imagine Mr Tourist panicking as he attempts to get back to his static caravan at Haggerston Castle or the like and makes serious misjudgement as to the waterproof capability of their vehicle………….and ... read more

The astute of you who knew the original plan will have noted that this is not Bosnia. A combination of British Airways and a family crisis prompted a trip in an alternative direction and without aeroplane assistance. Bosnia is apparently recovering well from the Balkans War, but that trip will have to wait for another day and Berwick looked as though it was fairing reasonably well in the aftermath of the Crimean War and the peace treaty of 1996. Yes, that’s correct………….. Berwick is finally at peace with the Russians, after an administrative slip when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1856. In 1502 Berwick was given special status as a town “of” the English kingdom and not “in” it. When Queen Victoria signed the declaration of war on Russia in 1853, she did so ... read more

Alnwick Castle was quite interesting. First off, the name looks like it should be pronounced "Aln-wick" but really it's said "Annick" (or at least that's how it sounds to me). The castle itself is HUGE and still being used by Lord and Lady Percy. I was allowed to take photos on the grounds, but not inside the State rooms, which was too bad because there were some really neat ceilings and many mirrors in the rooms that would have made for some interesting photography. The castle was used in the making of the Harry Potter films, as discussed by my tour guide. I had wandered around the entire castle on my own first, and then joined the tour group before heading out. That way I was able to see what I wanted, take my time on ... read more

It was raining when we woke up this morning at about 6.00am. It was still raining by 8.00am so we decided that slogging around a field in the mud with the warden looking for a herd of white cows seemed pretty undesirable so we abandoned that idea. With the house at Cragside not opening until 1.00pm we could have wandered around the gardens for a couple of hours, but that seemed like a pretty horrible idea too with the temperature only about 7°C and wet. We interrogated Edna about points of interest and tourist destinations in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, York and Leeds, but in the end decided that we would just drive back to Stalybridge. We have had four good days out of five so we really can’t complain. We sent a text to Kath to let her ... read more

It was a bit sunnier this morning, but quite cool and windy! Our first stop today was Bamburgh Castle the ancient capital of Northumbria and home to its Kings. The oldest part of the castle is the Norman Keep a 900 year old legacy left by William the Conqueror and it remains the most imposing part of the site. Unfortunately Bamburgh is privately owned and we had to pay for our visit today! When we went through the Great Hall we were fortunate enough to hear a couple of instruments being played for a tour group. It seems that the tour group was due at 10.00am and the entertainment had been organized for them between 10.00am and 11.00am before the rest of the paying public started to arrive. Having chairs laid out in the Great Hall ... read more