My Smart Car SOLD!
Event Photos
Soul Jukebox
Reviews
Soul on Ebay
Mrs Nightingale's Big Sister on 
Phil B^) on 
Shane on 
19th February, 2010: Walked Out And Nearly Snowed In!
Spat by Soulgirl at 10:33 pm | Comment here!
We’re back… just!
We’ve (Lottie and I) spent 4 days up in the beauty of Northumberland. Choosing a self catering cottage close to the coast at Lucker. I’m now sat comfortably on my boat staring out at the Winter blackness and a New Moon.
Here follows a brief(ish) account of our midweek break :)
Monday 15 February 2010
Lottie and I headed off up North for a few days. She really wanted to visit the Harry Potter Castle, which is in Alnwick, Northumberland, so I agreed and booked 4 days at The Studio in Lucker.
It was a terribly long journey, made worse due to me not yet having gotten over the Rugby all-nighter at the weekend. Wankered-til-Wednesday is the norm so a 380 mile journey on roads that seem to be entirely bollarded road-works with intermittent rain showers and darkness near the end was enough for anyone!
About one mile from our accommodation we stopped at a garage for basic supplies. You know, tea bags, milk, breakfast supplies. AND A BOTTLE OF WINE! The guy serving had the most fabulous Northumbrian accent ever :D
Lucker is a tiny Village just North of Alnwick and is totally without light. No street lamps at all! Lottie commented that having watched The Blair Witch Project last night her imagination was running a small riot. A slow drive with full-beam found us at our destination… in the middle of no-where… BLISS!
The accommodation appears to be converted farm buildings… stables possibly… and they’re beautiful. Very modern but tastefully so with all mod-cons. Couldn’t get the WIFI to connect so our first evening was spent watching television as were the rest. Se7en was on… a bit of Brad Pitt before bed is just what the doctor ordered. We couldn’t do anything on our first day as we didn’t arrive til 8pm. That’s around 7 hours we’d been driving with a stop for sustenance.
We’re off to Alnwick Castle and Village tomorrow :D
Tuesday 16 February 2010
I woke up at around 9am… cows were mooing when I popped my head out of the door. We’re next to a large cow shed lol. They smell too! Just how the countryside should. Fantastic stuff.
We left the cottage at 10am and headed to Alnwick; our only destination for today. A very quaint olde-world market Town on the banks of the river Aln steeped in history with the famous Alnwick Castle made even more famous by the Harry Potter movies (Hogwarts). Unfortunately the Castle was closed and the Duke in residence but the Alnwick Gardens were open. Quite expensive to get in, especially as there’s not that much to look at in the Winter. However, the water features were stunning and the Tree House restaurant was faultless. Excellent cuisine in a fabulous setting. It really was a tree house! We left there full and tired LOL. Seriously, the food here is top notch and served as a rule for the remainder of our stay which sadly fell extremely short in terms of quality.
Actually, we left via their rather large gift shop lol. Must say though, some gorgeous stuff indeed. Really fancied one of the mugs they had but at £12 I thought it was a tad too expensive to pour tea into so left it there.
We walked all around the Town and down to the Bailiffgate Museum Gallery. Some interesting artefacts and information about days gone by. It was housed in a converted Catholic Church that still had the original piped Church organ in residence that you’re allowed to play if you can! There was a printing exhibition on the top floor with a youngish man waiting for visitors to try out his potato & carrot printing techniques. We declined his invitation to ‘have a go’. It was interesting to see just how complicated printing was as opposed to the way it’s done these days and I don’t mean with tats and carrots lol.
I was bloody annoyed with myself because I left my memory card for the camera slotted in my laptop! What a stupid arse… luckily Lottie had her camera so I used that.
I was knackered by the time we came home. My hips and lower back ached with all the walking which I suspect was exacerbated by all the dancing I did last Saturday night. My poor old bones LOL.
We’re now plonked in front of the TV resting our weary bodies…
It’s the Brits tonight and apart from Kasabian’s singer slipping up and Liam Gallagher behaving like a complete cock it was as shallow and useless as always… long live Northern Soul!
tomorrow is another castle. Should be fantastic!
Wednesday 17 February 2010
Up earlyish again and off, a relatively short distance, to Bamburgh Castle. This one, like Alnwick, is lived in by it’s owners. It’s situated overlooking the North Sea and has stunning views all around over land and sea. It’s very large as well with a quaint tea-room in the Clock Tower. Extensively built up around the original Norman architecture with several state rooms open for public viewing.
We took a drive further North to look at Holy Island but due to time constraints in relation to the tide times we came back without having set foot out of the car so we’re heading back there tomorrow for a proper look around. Spent the evening watching LOTR :D
Further North to Berwick on Tweed. A fine example of a viaduct still carrying trains across it’s span. DO NOT eat at the only Italian there… Verdi… it’s SHIT! Berwick has a very pretty train station though… very Victorian in appearance.
Thursday 18 February 2010
Our last day and I woke up at 9am to see snow falling outside. Very pretty but oh so fucking inconvenient. Hope it stops otherwise we’ll be snowed in! The weather on TV showed the worst to be in Wiltshire LOL. Will we get home tomorrow?
Grrrrr.
Well, the snow didn’t last for too long thank goodness; again driving Northward we aimed for Holy Island (Lindisfarne) once more. I was a bit cross with Lottie for taking so long to get out of bed and get ready. “I’m on holiday” she proclaimed. “I don’t expect to have to get up early and when I do get up I expect to do fuck all” she continued. I explained that I didn’t expect to have to go on holiday and spend a few hundred quid doing fuck all in someone else’s holiday cottage!
The Castle at Holy Island is high above the shores of the North Sea. Another example of a Castle that was lived in until not too long ago, and updated, then having been donated to the National Trust. What would we do without both the Trust and the donations!
We had a saunter around the small island and took lunch at the Ship Inn. Not an establishment I’d recommend for eating in but we didn’t have too much choice in February. I immediately knew it was going to be mediocre due to the overwhelming stench of chip fat. Although they’d tried to pretty up the menu it was still bland and presented with about as much artistry a 5 year old could muster. We also passed on paying a fee to look at the old Priory ruins as we could see them from the road.
Back along the causeway again so’s we weren’t trapped but parking up the far end we were able to witness the tide coming in. I actually fell asleep waiting for it LOL.
Back to the warmth of our accommodation, and homeward tomorrow.
Friday 19 February 2010
It snowed again, fairly hard. Our initial journey was slow in a flurry of snow.
PS: Bernie should have won the Popstar to Operastar! That’s twice today I’ve been officially MUGGED! PPS: I wish Artic Lorries wouldn’t pull out in front of people as quickly as they do… YOU’RE TOO FUCKING BIG AND SLOW!
You can see all my photos >>> HERE <<<
Viewed 15080 times by 2357 viewers
