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NGAIRE: We had beautiful weather for our trip south. A leisurely start, and it really wasn't much before noon that we were away! Late lunch of sandwiches in the sun in a tiny bit of park at Gretna Green, looking at the Old Smithy. Then a quick look around Gretna and an icecream before heading out again. By this stage of the day it was really hot, with clear blue sky - the best day we have had. Quick photo shoot at the Scotland/England border - terribly cheesey of us, but it was just too tempting to do the ultra-touristy thing! We had a look at a mile house on Hadrian's wall - lovely in the early evening sitting on a still sunny slope amongst the old stones, working out what was where. Took a photo of Hamish and Steina sitting in what was the soldiers bed-room! This section of the wall was in a little place called Gilsland.
On to Hexham, and the finding of a bed for the night. Looked at one or two places right in the main street abd ebded up with a real score - great bed and breakfast in a wee pub called the "Tap and Spile" right in the middle of Hexham. Big rooms, with VERY comfy beds, and as it turned out a really nice breakfast and great hosts. Up the street to the Golden Dragon for a yummy chinese meal, then back to our rooms for the night. Was quite tired after having been woken at 5 in the morning by an accidental phone call coming in on my cell phone, so by this time of the day was good and ready for my bed! I was asleep before Hamish was. Do you remember the Chinese Restaurant we ate at Christina? This was it, and still just as good!
HAMISH: Day trip to Alnwick Castle and beyond. Alnwick was really cool. ( by the way, you say this as Ann-ick) It was were they filmed part of the Harry Potter films, the bit where they learned to fly the broomsticks,. They had a Knight's Quest where you had to find the dragon, It was really easy - the dragon at the end was creepy and it gave Mum and Steina a fright when it moved. Steina was also scared by the doorway that shookup and moved on its own, because it started up just behind her, out of her sight. I heard it start up but I had left. There were cool Chandeliers in the State rooms. We had to find tiny owls and dragons hidden in each of the rooms - sometimes it was really hard cos they blended in to things. The owls especially. We found them all, and I got a badge at the end. They had a library with HEAPS of really old books. The oldest one was printed in 1475! They also had one that was either the first book printed in Britain on a Caxton Press, or one of the first prnting. In the dining room, the big table was laid out with candlesticks and bowls and stuff that were made of gold!!!
After Alnwick, we went further north to Holy Island. We had to cross to the Island on a causeway that you can only go over at low tide. That was quite interesting. We got some nice strawberries to eat while we were there.
NGAIRE: It was interesting to have been over to Holy Island, but a little dissapointing in that we werent aware that you couldnt take your cars very far onto the island. Just before the village, there was a large paddock/carpark, and you were to wak from there or hire bicycles. Not enough time for either, so we contented ourselves with a distance view of the castle and a punnet of strawberries to munch on as we carried on towards Bamburgh. Arriving in that wee town was quite sensational - you putter along this narrow road with all its twists and turns and ups and downs, then without warning you turn a corner and there is this ruddy great castle suddenly right in your face! And I mean, right in you face! It seems to jump right up out of no-where - the effect was rather startling! Then, like on the avenue of the disappearing mountain the castle gets smalleras you continue towards it. The rest of the views of it were nice, but nothing had an impact like that first introduction. We parked by the castle, and climbed up onto its outcrop, then through the dunes onto the beach for a play. we were rewarded by a nice time, views fo the castle, and a passing microlight doing manouvres up and down the beach.
HAMISH: Beamish: We went to Beamish Outdoor Museum. Their stuff is all over this little valley, and they have places you could go by walking, or by taking a tram. We went to the 1913 village street. There was a horse pulled double decker tram, so we went on this for 50p each. Of course we went on the top story. It was really unique, the only one of its type in the world. When they got to the end of the street, they had a really unique way of turning it - they put chocks under the wheel, pulled a couple of pins and then they got the horses to walk sideways and it all swung around and clicked back in to the base facing the other way and ready to head back down the street. We visited the lolly shop, and I bought gobstoppers (JOLLY GOOD THING, SAYS MUM!) and sugared almonds. We went down a drift mine in the colliery village. It was dark, and we had to wear hard hats. It got really low, so miners god bad backs. Miners often got scratches on themselves during their work, and the scratches would get coal dust in them. It was impossible to get the coal dust out of the scratches, so they ended up like tattoos - and the miners had blue scars on their faces and bodies. We also looked at the houses the miners lived in - they were in a row all joined together, and called miners cottages. My great grandfather Charlie Spears was a miner from this area, so his family lived in cottages like this, and he worked down a mine like this. So did his eight brothers and his father. We looked at the school too. We wrote some stuff with pens you dipped in ink. Mum said they were still just using pens like these when she learned to write with a pen, and she showed me how they had to practice their linking letters. The teacher marked her work, and she got 9/10. She hadnt done her row of e's neatly enough to get 10/10.
NGAIRE: We also visited the railway and had a ride on a wee steam train, and we went to the 1860's farm. Hens and geese all over, and pigs. The horses were either in use or out in the big paddocks in the centre though. Beamish used to have Pip the last pit pony in the UK too - Christina and I had seen him when we were there two years ago but he died just last year.
An extra for use - there was a big steam expo happening there, so there were steam engines to see all over too. One of the attractions was a tug of war against a traction enginge. The people tugged and pulled the enginge forward a little, the engine tugged and pulled the people back, and back and forth they went with of course humans being victorious in the end! Great fun for all the kids and Dads that lined up on the long rope.
Predictably, we were amongst the last to leave again - Beamish has just so much to be seen and to do that it is easy to spend the whole day there.
We had elected to leave Hexham rather than stay on and return there after our Beamish experience, so we headed into Durham itself, and on the Gilesgate side of the city we found a nice bed in the first we pub we stopped at. We stayed in "The Shoes" - good bed, and a nice cooked brekkie. Will stop there as this is my second attemp to load all this - just lost the lot and had to start again - and now it is late and time for sleep! Nite nite all.
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