My Birthday!!!

Left Newcastle after have a discussion about Travelodge’s billing policy.  They charge the bill twice to your credit card, then recredit one of them some days later!!  I told the person at the desk I was not happy about and she said she knew nothing of the policy!!

Went east to the coast to Cullercoats where a few of the McCutcheons where born and lived.  Quite a pretty area now and was obviously one of the 18^th century holiday beachside.  We drove north from there through several picturesque villages and saw the St Marys Lighthouse at Whitely Bay until we got to Blyth.  This is where my Aunt Rita Stewart (nee McCutcheon) was born.  It seems to be mostly new buildings and industrial areas so we couldn’t really find anything to photograph.

We ambled on up the coast to Amble where we wandered around a Sunday Market on the dock.

Next was Seahouses, where we where told you could take a boat trip out to the islands and see the puffins.  We decided not to go (and we could see any trips being offered) as it was a bit of a bleak day.  From there we could see the Warkworth castle and ended up driving past it so we popped in for a look.  We discovered to our dismay that it was not National Trust because it was building and they are looked after by English Heritage so our Australian National Trust card didn’t help.

A bit further up we saw another castle, a magnificent example on a hill overlooking the ocean.  It was the archetypical castle and dominated the whole area.  It was Banburgh Castle.

There was a bumpity bump as we crossed from England into Scotland!!

On a bit again to Lindisfarne (the Holy Island).  It is said that the first English bible was written here and is now in the British museum in London.  The island is joined by a causeway to the mainland.  The causeway is only above water at low tide, when you can drive across to the island.

From there we drove on to St Abbs where our B&B was.

Tried to book Edinburgh.  It was quite difficult to find anywhere at a reasonable price, but we finally found somewhere.  We then decided to try to book further up in Scotland and found accommodation hard to find and very expensive!