Lairds Cottage Rothbury

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

... out on to deck to await departure.

1704 and there was a blast from the ships horn. The ropes were cast off and, slowly but inexorably, the massive ship swung out into the harbour. Over the next hour I watched the lights of Newcastle recede until they were just a thin orange strip, illuminating the darkened horizon.

The 'King of Scandanavia' was as you would expect for a short haul cruise ship - bars, restaurants, and a 2 screen ...

... up the bikes, we all headed off towards Scarborough to pop in and see Nathan aka the "Postman" & "Dot". Nathan rode from Sydney to London on a moped (named Dot) earlier this year and is a really lovely one off character. We all turned up & his Father supplied tea & biscuits for us all. Thanks Nathan & good luck with the book.

I was getting really excited ...

... 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 :-(

... Red Dwarf.

So I have three months to.....

1) Not find myself, I often never know where I actually am and have become quite accostomed to the setup so will make the resolution that if such an unfortunate event occurs to quickly lose myself again.

2) Learn to firedance, it is crazy and beautiful and dangerous and utterly pointless. Then if I ever lose all my money in an opium den or similar haunt I will have a better way to make money that the ...

... then headed up "The Shambles" road and The little shambles road and had a look at the street market. I got a new 4 pound black case for the phone as I managed to crack the last one...I seem to go through them quite quickly, ah well at least the phone is protected.
We walked back towards the church to try and get a 2pm slot to climb up the spire. On the way we stopped at a fudge place where they made fudge in front of you, we got a ...

... church was built and they had his bones for 300 years before a beautiful chapel was built to house his mortal remains. For Bede, life was brief but held the knowledge of the mercy of Christ. He liked the English and wrote the first history of the English speaking people. I love his prayers but he is not in that black stone box; he flew to the light of his Lord long before the first stone was laid for Durham’s great Cathedral.

We got to Durham at 2 pm ...

... was broken. Boy Scout Brian didn't have a spare one of these unfortunately. He worked to true up the wheel and it looked like it might hold.

We tried to negotiate our maps, but they were soaked through and resembled limp lettuce leaves more than paper. Here we were in the middle of the Pennines, hours and hours away from anything resembling a town of significant enough size to have a bike shop.

Trying to decrease the ...

Started out the day with a great big hill to get out of the campground. Good thing there were Highland Cows to make the climb a little easier. Unfortunately, that was not the only one. Rises and falls littered the road as we went along. Already growing weary, I dismayed when the land cleared enough to see the consistent upward rise of the road ahead. A large stretch going up with ...

... with the fresh raspberry preserves. And we didn't even have to ask the Smalls for them. Yet another reason why to go back to Ratho Hall: these people remember the small details to make a stay memorable. Given all the effort they had made, I couldn't resist "the full fry" this morning. After breakfast, we headed up to our rooms and packed. A short while later, we were headed out the driveway toward Edinburgh. There was a strong sense of sadness in the car as we departed ...