Cottingburn House Morpeth

Countries: 1
Miles travelled by Car: 1121
Miles Travelled by bike: Do trips to the supermarket count?
Fond Farewells: Numerous
Declarations of Jealousy: More numerous (because it includes a lot of people I don't even know)
Accusations of insanity: Even more numerous (because many people made more than one)
Bricks Shat: 53
Tasks left incomplete at time of departure: 2
Tasks able to be completed via internet: 2

... but eventually went to see Bruce Willis in 'Surrogates', a weird but quite cool sci-fi which is worth a look if you have no better offers.

Came out of the film around 11, considered going for a drink but decided that there would be plenty of time for that, and without paying through the nose either. Read for a bit and turned out the light. Found myself restless, not surprising really but a better nights sleep would have been handy; ho-hum.

... amp; one off my brothers there to meet me, it brought a tear to my eyes. Like Dorothy in the wizard of Oz said, "there really is no place like home"...thank you all for making my visit so special.

Well my belly is full now after pigging out on a Toby carvery & it's time for bed as we have a long day tomorrow.... and guess what?..... it's just started raining again!

... beach big, sandy and empty. took a few photographs.
Monday 19 got a boat "Serenity" from Seahouses to the Farne islands, about a 1 1/2 hour journey, saw lots of seals and the Longstone lighthouse where Grace Darling lived and rowed out to save the passengers on a stricken vessel which had drifted onto the rocks. no photos because I forgot the camera!

... Once Brewed and to the YHA there. It doesn't open until 4pm so I park up, pop into the visitor centre and pick up a roll and flapjack then get changed it to some walking gear. The walk is fairly short at 3.5 miles each way from the visitor centre to Housestead Fort but is full of steep ascents and descents. Hardian's Wall is very well preserved here and I took loads of photos. I stopped at the sycamore tree that was featured in
Robin Hood ...

... sheets. Let's hope my 3 other room mates don't mind my snoring! At least I got there early and bagged the bottom bunk!

Up early to get some breakfast and to try to work out where to head to tomorrow. Nothing booked yet...let's see what happens. Left the LR tonight with a strange rattle, not sure what it is, sounds serious, lets hope I can work it out tomorrow and it doesn't cost too much :-(

Lonesome George is a tortoise who lives in the Galapogos Islands. The last of his kind he is the rarest creature in the world. Despite having a small hareem of female tortoises for his leisure and earthly pleasures he persists in a state of unnautural abstinence that would make even the most dedicated Buddhist monk envious. That or maybe he just ain't all that attractive to the ladies. Not being a tortoise, I can't comment further, but for the namesake and the fact ...

... dinner was scheduled for 7pm. Our room sucked, we had a double bed and when we went down to sort it out, we were told that the fold our couch was the 2nd bed...oh great. What ****. Our tour director didn't seem at all interested in helping sort out the bed, so we decided just to try the double bed. So when the hotel people came to make up the bed at 6.50pm we told them to forget it. To be honest we paid for 2 beds, twin ones..and later we ...

... of the towns historical sites. We browsed through some leaflets and our spirits rose as we learned that nearby were the fantastic Lindisfarne Priory, Alnwick Castle, and Bamburgh Castle. The pictures of these were just fantastic, and I urge you to "google" these three names just so you can see photos of the amazing places we were looking at, and so you can understand our excitement. Alnwick Castle was where the famous "Flying Lesson" scene was filmed for Harry Potter and ...

... to the bedroom, where it hits the visitor with an intoxicating scent that causes instant pangs of hunger. And in that moment, with the scents, the morning light, and scenery, life just seems very, very good.

We headed down to breakfast. If you haven't read my account of Ratho Hall from my 1997 trip, then you probably won't understand my reference to croissants. But, for those of you that have, I'll just say that the croissants were back on the table at this visit ...