Camping adventure continues in the North East - read all about it!

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Camping adventure continues in the North East

I have added the photos of the puffins which I could not do yesterday - don’t they look cute - you want to take them home.



We wake up and decide that we are going to go to Lindisfarne so after a bacon butty made by the fair hands of Mike (told you he is doing all the cooking), we jump in the car and off we go. As we did not look at the tides it could have been a wasted trip but we were really lucky and the tide was out. So we drive over the causeway and park up. I thought I had taken Mike here before and kept telling him he has been here before but it appears last time we were not as lucky with the tide.



We decide that as we have been members of English Heritage for years we might as well use it and yes we did have our membership cards (that’s a first!). So we go into the priory which was amazing - the information about how the monks lived and how it came to be a ruin is really fascinating.



By this time we are getting hungry so what do you do when up in the North East - you have a home made crab butty. We decide that as we have to get back before the tide comes in we will walk to the castle and sit and eat our butties. We sat next to a really nice couple whilst eating our butties looking out to sea and they mention that the weather tomorrow was going to be really windy and wet - my first thoughts are that that is going to put the cat amongst the pigeons for the Open at St Andrews - not thinking what it was going to be like in a tent with gale force winds and rain that sounds like stair rods (will come back to this point later).



So we now have another reason to come back to the North East as a castle visit is definitely on my to do list - and to be honest definitely out of season as there were quite a lot of people around.



We then decide to go Alnwick even though we are aware that they have closed quite a lot of the rooms off due to filming an ITV period drama but the gardens are really lovely and we have never gone around Alnwick town.



We find a car park that says it is FREE all day - now when a car park says it is FREE all day - you think there is a catch. So I am reading the board and reading the board and cannot for the life of me find a catch. Well done Alnwick for not trying to fleece your visitors.



We decide after visiting the town centre to buy two baskets from a lady who imports them direct from a ladies co-operative in Ghana - only Paula could find this stall.



So a visit to the gardens it is and they are special even if you have been before. We take a tour of the poison garden where every plant is poisonous. The tour guide said most poisoning is carried out by women, so Mike keeps a watchful eye on me!



Back at the tent and another BBQ (Thanks Jamie! - if you do not know what this is about you have not read my last blog (shame on you)). We decide that we are going to have an early night.



Now remember when I mentioned the the nice couple told us about the weather - well he was right at 1am I thought the tent was going to be blown into the other field and all I can think of is whether the gaffer tape on the tent pole I mended is going to hold. Lo and behold what do I want to do in the middle of the gales, yes you guessed it go to the toilet. Trying to open a zip door with gale force winds is no easy option - plus when I got out of the tent OMG all the tents were waving around like no ones business and then the rain starts. Trying to sleep in gales with heavy rain is not good - but we did manage a couple of hours. So now waiting for the rain to stop before we can pack the tent up. One tip I would give you is when the rain stops even though your tent is wet pack it up as it looks like we may be having to pack the tent in the rain - not good!





So this is the end of our North East camping adventure - we’ll be back (as Arnie always says).

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Photos

Puffins
Don't you want to take them home ahhhh

More puffins
Want one!