Reluctantly left Scotland today, back past Edinburgh then along the coast with the first stop of Berwick-upon-Tweed. A good place for a cup of coffee, walk along the river to the aquaduct for the trains running north/south. There is an old castle under the bridge which runs up the hill. There is almost nothing left of this poor old building. Had a walk around the old city walls then back to the car to continue our drive.
While we were having coffee I checked my emails and found a penalty notice from Cardiff for driving in a bus lane.....35 pounds!!! Cardiff was a nightmare, not sure how many more I'll get. Got back to the car after our walk around Berwick-on-Tweed and had a parking ticket......25 pounds!!!! I'm sure things come in 3's so I'm just waiting for the next problem.
Headed south towards Bamburgh, little did we know they have the biggest castle on a hill overlooking a beautiful sandy beach. We had a walk around the castle, didn't go in, too far to go today, back in the car and on our way.
Lunch at Craster, just another little fishing village pulling itself up by the bootstraps trying to understand fishing is a dying industry and tourism in these areas are what people want. We stayed at West Wemyss for the last 3 days. After the coal mines were shut down and overfishing killed the fishing industry the town was abandoned in the 1980s. New people coming in, driving to work in nearby cities, renovating the little harbours, looking after the town and opening a Community Pub and breakfast cafe and beautifying the town is bringing people in to stay and spend money (on parking tickets no less...) and renewing the town and the area around it.
Decided to leave the coast and drive through the North Pennines, a National Park with a mountain pass, namely the Killhope Cross, which is the highest paved mountain pass in the UK. Despite the talk it was very benign, there were some nice views. Over the pass there were snow measuring poles about 3 metres high so there must be a little snow in the area.
Next stop the B&B, another 3 hour drive in 10 hours, not bad!!
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| Lots of bridges over the Tweed at Berwick-upon-Tweed |
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| Millionaires Row in Berwick |
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| All those little white dots are white swans, hundreds of them in the river. |
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| Saturday is market day. |
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| One good reason a satnav is essential |
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| Bamburgh Castle |
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| Overlooking the beach |
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| Craster Harbour |
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| Our new B&B |
Did you leave your Crimestoppers sticker at home????? Hope you factored such unexpected costs into your budget, otherwise there are hundreds of coffees, beers and wines you'll have to forego!!
ReplyDeletePam, are you prepared to give up your coffee and wine to keep Vernon out of jail????
At least the amounts of the fines are declining!
Beautiful pics and looks like you've had some nicer weather. Darn those fines! Our scooter was towed away in Amalfi for parking in the wrong spot! Not the easiest place to try and sort that one out that's for sure! So enjoying your blog and being with you in the back seat lol! Enjoy. Love Deb and John
ReplyDeleteso glad your trip has been going so well, despite a couple of fines. Just caught up today with your last few days of travel. Skye looked great. Well, really everywhere has looked great, your photos bring the trip to life for us all. love to you both.
ReplyDeleteMaureen, I never have and never will try to take advantage of my position (past and present!!) Our budget has been bashed about a bit, looks like bread and water when we get home! Deb, it certainly is annoying when the local law takes exception to our ability to provide extra funds to the countries economy. I suppose we better just pay up and suck it up! Karen, happy you are enjoying the blog, we are so busy day to day it will be nice to look at the blog in a couple of months so we can take it all in!!! Love Pam and Vernon xxxxx
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