CHRISTMAS DAY AND BOXING DAY

Wow that came round quick - 1 year gone already. Colin got the second table out of the shed and had to assemble it, ready for 23 people coming on Boxing Day. 

Our old neighbour Warwick called round to pick George up to go to Blackburn Rovers match with Mark, I stood next to George and said to Warwick now look after my little one at the match with George towering over me for a laugh. They parked at Mark's house and walked to Ewood Park. But they lost!

Then Colin goes and has an accident and fell down the last two stairs and landed heavily on his backside and was in a lot of pain. George thought that I had knocked him out! He slowly got up and we got him sat down. There was a little bruise at first, 2 days later his whole buttock was purple, 1 week in and he is still uncomfortable. If he hasn't shown you his cheeks then you are not in the inner sanctum. Photos available but not for the weak hearted. We got him to the doctors and they did say not to take Ibuprofen because of being on Aspirin. 

Was supposed to go and visit Dad but he is still positive for Covid. 

CHRISTMAS EVE - got the two tables laid with posh table cloths and posh cutlery, extra emergency chairs out of the loft. Candles. 

CHRISTMAS DAY - quiet morning, very relaxing opened our couple of presents and Father Christmas had put George's presents on his bed. He finally got up for a shower and then came downstairs and said thanks for the presents and why is there a black bag of garbage on my bed - that is your big present a big fluffy dressing gown that he said he looked like a pimp but loves it. Then we set off to Janet and Terry's house, Stuart was there for breakfast and we had a fabulous Christmas Dinner with corny jokes from the Christmas Crackers. We took Stuart home and got him settled then set off to see Mark and his children in Blackburn.

BOXING DAY - Nigel's 63rd Birthday. Born on St Stephen's Day why wasn't he called Stephen? 

Chicken Curry cooking, Janet and Terry fetching Chilli and rice, Elaine fetching Chicken Casserole and cakes, Nigel and Tina brought bread rolls, J2O, cakes and we had 15 people arrived because a few couldn't come due to all the flu that is going around and other ailments. 

Tried to do a sing song of Stuart's favourite songs along with his tambourine - Sucker by Jonas Brothers is not the one it is Daddy Cool by Darts. Sophia and Alexa sang a song I've never heard of that has been number 1 for 6 weeks, called Dance Monkey!

500 Miles

28th November 2022 - Really feels like a great achievement - reached 500 miles, taking us from Lands End, England to Aberporth, Wales.

Photo by Morag Holmes

Only managed a couple of walks as Snow hit the region. The temperature has dropped to -7 very cold. Still went out to visit Dad and Stuart. Watched loads of football in the Qatar World Cup matches. Had to take Stuart to the Doctors for a well man check and he showed to have a high temperature even though he didn't feel unwell. He had a blood test as well, very brave. 

8th December - got xmas pots from the market to take to family graves.

Mark took his kids to see Father Christmas at Hoghton Towers and there was a lot of snow. They came here for party tea and went sledging on fairy footsteps in Longridge. 

Went to take 1 of the xmas pots to Mum and forgot to bring it! 

Longton Care Home, Dad's Xmas Fair - I was going to take Stuart on my own but too icy so Colin came to help. Stuart managed to see and talk to Father Christmas and told him his list of what he would like, and had a go on the tombola but didn't win.

George on another follow up appointment for his eyes - even though he feels they are getting worse, his consultant is pleased with the progress and told George this will take a long time, it is not a quick fix. Unfortunately his badminton game didn't go well where he just couldn't see the shuttle and so he has decided to finish going.

Managed to take the xmas pots to Colin's Grandparents and Mum and Dad's grave and to my Grandparents and Great Grandmother's grave - (amazingly last years pot was there). 

19th December - Snow finally gone so went to Blackpool shopping but started raining (Colin hates the rain), so we dived into Harry Ramsden's famous chip shop and had a lovely lunch. When we got home we managed to get the xmas presents wrapped.

20th December - Quick walk into the village, they have opened up a new entrance through to the new estate which will change our routes from now on. Then we find out that there has been an outbreak of Covid at Dad's care home and he has tested positive. 

Total 40 miles - completed 535 miles. We are now in Aberystwyth, Wales. 

Photo by Mary Aherne

28th November 2022

 Well I needed a bit of a catch up on LEJOG (Lands End to John O Groats) blog. Not been on many walks. Found 5 boxes of 2 brass door handles with locks and hinges in the "Vintage Shop" for £2 each - bargain until Colin realised what a big job that is going to be! Over 2 days he had replaced all downstairs handles and replaced the hinges by taking the doors off - they were a bit heavier than he thought and most of the handles upstairs but ended up with a bad back for a few days. Ooops, but the door handles look good.

Took Charlotte and Thomas to Beacon Fell for a little walk that ended up 3 miles but was lovely. 

Lots of remembrance services on, went to the one in the village on November 11th and watched the London one on Sunday. Such respect. I look after many soldiers memorials on the website 'Find A Grave' ensuring there is as much information on each one that I can find, and eventually transferring them onto families who request them.

Still visiting Dad and Stuart as much as we can. There was a man from the falls team talking to Dad when we got there because since moving into Longton Nursing Home in April, Dad has had 15 falls! The worrying thing is he isn't afraid of falling and could do some serious damage if he isn't careful. Dad's answer to this was 'well you could also fall'. Elaine and Stuart visited Dad for an afternoon tea.

Our Grandson Alfie had his 12th birthday. All 3 of them (Archie, Violet and Alfie) have been visiting us on their bikes and playing Wii games with their Uncle George. 

Reverend Mike called round to see me to see if I am feeling better from Vertigo. Think I troubled him with all the stresses we are going through with family, trying to keep Dad happy and for him to settle in his care home and the worry of finding Stuart somewhere to live that will care for his needs. George and his eye problems. Debbie being so ill. The kids!

I have returned back to being the Verger at St Lawrence Church for Funerals, jumping in with 2 in one day - exhausted. 

World Cup started in Qatar - good 1st England match against Iran 6 - 2.

Friday 25th November 2022 - at last a much awaited night to see 'Strictly Ballroom The Musical' starring Kevin Clifton - WOW fab-u-lous amazing show. Went with Elaine, Tina, Janet and Gina, and we all danced out of the theatre to the song 'Love is in the air'. Then a trip back home through Blackpool Illuminations. Another one ticked off my 60 things to do in a year.

Saturday morning with all the Grandchildren we went to the Church Christmas Fair, the two youngest visiting Father Christmas. All of them given £5 to spend on anything they like, the teddy bear stall seemed to be the best. 

                                                    Pops managed to get into the photo!

Total 28 miles. Completed 495 miles so we are now in Mwnt, Wales ( a good name for hangman).

Photo by Janet Baxter Photography. 

Birthday Couple of Weeks

 A bit of a disappointing couple of weeks, not got out for walks - dreary weather and a bit lazy.

Busy 2nd part of October Birthdays with Colin's Sister Pam and his niece Gail and then my Dad (Donald) who turned 87 years old. Me and Colin arranged to meet Janet and Terry who were bringing Stuart to visit Dad at Longton Care Home.  They arranged for us to use the top lounge which we set up and they brought Dad in to see us, he looked quite bewildered but realised it was his birthday. We put some music on to sing along with 1 of the songs was 'Morning Town Ride' by The Seekers and Stuart played his tambourine right next to Colin's ear!!  This song was a throw back in time to when we used to visit Doreen and Frank in Goosnargh for Sunday dinner (8 of us and 2 of them) and then Doreen played the piano and we sang along. Dad was dressed up and he opened lots of pressies. 

Later that day he had visits from Nigel, Tina, Becky, Rob and baby James who met his Great Grandfather for the first time.

The next day Deborah, Andrew, Jennifer, Ralph and Stephanie visited making it a bumper week of visitors.

 

At the weekend we were looking after Charlotte and Thomas (in Halloween costumes) as Mark was refereeing, but his game got called off due to the amount of rain we had. Halloween pumpkin carving with Charlottes design didn't go too bad.

George's eye op on Tuesday 1st Nov, 7:30am set off, mega traffic problems and didn't hear my phone in my bag with Mark warning about all the delays - Colin might have mentioned it once or twice again on the way there as we flew down the motorway managing to get to Chorley Hospital at 8:29am. I hate being late and this just stressed me out so much I had palpitations!! (Blood pressure tablets better be working). George texted us to say there was a backlog and it might get to lunchtime. 

We went to visit Dad and talked about all his visitors he had last week for his birthday but sadly he couldn't remember, but he did remember that his new cardigan he was wearing was off Nigel. George sent him a hello photo from the hospital.

Also managed to visit Stuart before we got the message that George was finished and we could pick him up.

We then had another birthday celebration for Mark turning 42, we managed to get (nearly) all the Green's together - Me (Nanny), Colin (Pops) and Uncle George, Uncle Mark, Christine (Grandma Green), Uncle David, and cousins Charlotte and Thomas, Archie, Violet and Alfie but sadly no Aunty Debbie - still unable to visit through ill health. Get well soon Deb. x

We had a Chinese buffet tea and toffee/chocolate apples and then an hour outside watching fireworks with all the kids cheering and jumping around, then birthday cake. We then had a funny round of charades, the winner has to be Thomas who asked Uncle George's help to roll him and then he ran off and the answer was Sonic the Hedgehog. It was lovely to be back together again.

Managed to do 20 miles making the Total Completed 467 miles. We are now in Trefasser, near Goodwick.

Total 447 Miles

 3rd Oct - Well Mark had searched his house for over 3 hours looking for his remote control for the TV - convinced that the kids had hidden it. Could not find it anywhere. We called in at his house while he was at work and after 2 minutes Colin found it! It had actually fallen into his recliner chair and had got lodged in, only because he turned it onto both sides did he hear something and there it was. Drove into Clitheroe for a day out and had a coffee and toasted tea cake and finally got a front door key cut for Colin's car keys.

7th Oct - Tonight is our annual trip taking Stuart to Blackpool Illuminations - this has become quite a tradition since I learned to drive back in 1983, (39 years and counting). Stuart starts asking when are we going to 'The Lights' in August!! George came with us and Stuart gets priority seating in the front. On route we have a game of I-Spy. This year the best one was T from Stuart we tried everything and had to give in - it was Tyres. 

The lights look great at night, but did shock us all into saying ahh how sad with a big picture of a lit up crown for The Queen. (It could have been for her Platinum Jubilee). 

Photo by Eddy Sky                     

We all decide which season we are.                      

Spring for George, Summer for Stuart, Autumn for Penny so Colin has to have Winter.

Photo from Visit Fylde Coast

But the most shocking was the Hawaii (coconut girls that used to bounce up and down) Stuart names his sisters and sister-in-law every time but not sure if it is because of PC that they no longer do the wiggling dancing!!

                                                Photo by Dave Carlos

There are still a lot of old ones but very nostalgic driving through. Further along the front are a lot of new light shows. Another successful night. Just a slight problem getting Stuart out of the car because his legs had ceased up. Made him a light supper of Tea and Toast and made sure he was on his way upstairs and all lights off before we left.

10th Oct - Our niece Aimee's birthday. Had to go to the doctors due to vertigo and to finally arrange a referral for a hearing test as deafness getting worse - old!! Blood-pressure 200 / 100 oops she was not happy and immediately put me onto blood pressure tablets and have to take my own blood pressure for a month. Also arrange to get blood taken. Flipping heck I'm dropping to bits. 

17th Oct - Colin hit a 3 year milestone since having open heart surgery. 

18th Oct - family meeting in Halifax at my sister Deborah's house about Stuart's living arrangements in the upcoming future. Nigel and Tina had to cancel and arrange an emergency appointment at the opticians for Tina who suddenly had a black line across her eye. Good news is that the jelly back of the eye was coming away , but retina was still attached , you just get use to them & the flashes of light , but if more floaters appear have to go back.

After me and Colin went off to Shibden Hall, the home of Anne Lister from the TV show 'Gentleman Jack'. Fabulous place, really enjoyed it. Another one off my 60 things to do in my 60th year, ticked off.

19th Oct - Brother-in-law Mick's birthday, also our 26th Wedding Anniversary. Not feeling well enough to going out for a meal so will save it for another day.

20th Oct - Our little Grand daughter (ok not so little) Violet turns 13. Called round with a small present as money already sent to go towards her new phone but only David was up. Later that night Violet and Alfie called round on their bikes and we looked at her photos on her phone from her holiday with her Grandmother to Northumberland. Then we had a quick game of charades.

Violet taken by self timer.

Total 35.2 miles. Completed 447 miles, we are now in  Solva, Haverfordwest.

Spain

 Spain Trip - Saturday 10th September 2022 (Our Deborah's Birthday). 4am at Janet and Terry's house, suitcases in the car (only allowed 20kg which is 44lbs our first weigh in was 77lbs yikes). Manchester airport parking booked as 'meet and greet' and the barrier wouldn't open - pressed the button and a voice said 'you're not booked in mate' re-read the number plate and he thought it was N should be M, ok and we were in section pink. Dropped the keys off, short walk to terminal 3 Ryanair to Corvera (RMU) to Murcia. Janet frisked and shoes taken off her because she bleeped. 

Wow it was hot while we waited for our taxi - straight to the door of the villa No. 40 Eucalypto Drive, Caleia Mar Menor Golf and Spa Resort, Torre Pacheco. Lovely place, settled in and sat with our feet in the pool ready to sort out 1st option for tea. Route 66 American Diner. Very nice.

Sunday - big shop. Stayed by the rather chilly pool,  'it's alright once you're in'. Struggled to get the TV to work so Geoff (the villa owner) arranged for his cousin Christine to come round to sort it plus another guy who was a tech guy. About an hour later they had fixed it and so Colin could watch Formula 1. Terry cooked salmon and fried rice, lovely.

Monday - made arrangements to meet Nigel and Tina in Benidorm. On route Janet not getting any message back from Tina. I made sure Terry had his sunglasses up, lights on going through tunnels and off again once out (this happened in 2004 Spain trip), eventually we had to just say I concur to each other. Arrives in Benidorm to hundreds of cars all looking for somewhere to park, Colin says just pull up behind the police car so that we can get our bearings and Janet calls out of the window 'ola Tina' as they are sat in the cafe we pulled up next to. Janet and Terry found a car park nearby that was free for the day! Janet stood in the space before any one could take it. (Colin's parking Angel came on holiday with us). 

Nigel and Tina had found a lovely place to have lunch, it was a bit of a walk and red hot, but the place was lovely and fabulous food. 

Colin did his heroic act, as an older couple walked out the lady had left her hand bag on the back of her chair and he chased after them to return it to them. Gracias.

Nigel and Tina showed us their hotel and they had got an extra 3 days for £20. The reason Tina didn't message back was because Janet had left our villa when she tried contacting her and had no wifi! Amazing that we found them. When we got back to the villa Terry made us a paella. Fab.

Tuesday - Los Alcazares. We went for a walk along the front and kept seeing seahorse signs, we found out that it meant SOS Mar Menor, in 2019 all the fish in the lagoon died due to contaminated water. It is a unique salt water lagoon that is divided from the Mediterranean by a strip of land known as La Manga. We could see this across the water and we nicknamed it stone henge. My shoes disintegrated! We went onto the small pier for a cocktail and drinks, when Terry ordered a coke the waiter said 'Ahh bambino' which we carried on for the rest of the day. We found a small shop and bought some lemons in order to make a rum punch, when I announced I had never had one before Janet and Terry were shocked as they thought I had talked about it in the past. In 1996 Yvonne and Frank had got married in the June in Barbados and talked about the rum punch out there so I said before I got married I could do with a rum punch!

That night we went to the Shamrock bar and restaurant and Colin shocked us all and ordered a Guinness!! Wish we had a camera ready for our faces. Who is this guy, he doesn't drink. Also during the day he was drinking coffee!

Wednesday - Murcia, quite a large city, we found underground parking. 

Managed to buy a new pair of shoes from Ulanka!

We actually walked 6 miles this day. There was a fish sculpture in the river. Beautiful Cathedral. Fabulous outside bars and cafe's.

Lovely photo of Janet and Terry on the oldest bridge in Murcia. Ahh.

 Me and Colin in a Flower pot. When I showed Stuart our holiday photos he laughed his head off at this photo and called us Bill & Ben the flowerpot men. When we got home Terry mad Pasta Carbonara.

Thursday - Cartagena (we thought this place was off the movie Romancing the Stone but it might have been Mexico). We did lots here we walked along the front naval base area and saw a massive brass sculpture of a naked man (and bits) crouched which represented people dealing with terrorism, when Colin had his photo taken next to it and leant on it it was boiling hot. 

El Zulo Sculpture in Cartagena, Spain

Along the harbor in Plaza Del Puerto de Cartagena is this dramatic bronze sculpture of a man sitting with his head buried between his knees. His nakedness represents everyone’s vulnerability to terrorism. The two ton, 19.5 foot statue is the work of Spanish sculptor Víctor Ochoa. The former architect turned artist specializes in very large monuments like this one dedicated to the victims of terrorism.

 

We booked onto the bus tour which would take us around the roman sites and places of interest also the amphitheatre museum, the panoramic tower and castle all included for 12 euros each.

We could see these spears from miles away not realising how tall they really are seeing Terry next to them shows this. They are on the top of the castle. 

We went up this tower in a lift and along the gantry to get to the castle. Colin said 'where's he going' about a guy at the top of the lift and he turned around a said 'I'm trying to get my Mother down who is in a wheelchair' we didn't realise he was a brit. Oops.

The Amphitheatre was superb, first of all we toured around the museum seeing excavated rocks behind glass. I was corrected by the guide that I thought it was a mosaic it was actually a painted floor that they had found all the parts of it and stuck it back together.  There were columns of inscription that they had recovered and made the parts that were missing. There was a small model of the amphitheatre and Janet said that's it, that's all you are going to see. I thought we would see a bit of a theatre then we walked through a tunnel entrance and then out into this enormous Amphitheatre in the scorching heat it was amazing, me and Colin are on that photo. Terry did his Friends Romans Countrymen bit on the stage.

Even Janet said that was brilliant, Terry nearly fell over. We walked 5 miles on this day.

Friday - decided to have a bit of a quiet day in the pool and sun bathing. Terry and Colin tried to get the BBQ to work but something not working right and they chatted to Geoff (the villa owner) to see if he could help. Never mind the BBQ was cooked indoors and was still fabulous.

Saturday - Cabo de Palos we walked up to the lighthouse and saw divers going out to the wrecks. There was a lady at the top (Alejandra) explaining about the marine ecology and rare sea plants that had restricted areas in the sea that were monitored. Then we drove along La Manga 21 km long and this is what we had seen across from Los Alcazares. We stopped off at a market for a nosy. 

Photo by Alex Kazachok.

Sunday - San Pedro del Pinatar. This is the opposite end of La Manga and was very blustery, there were lots of kite surfers in the sea. We ventured into a bar/restaurant for a drink and was pushed into the bottom corner and not served for quite a while. Then 2 drinks turned up and not the other two! Janet was giving the waiters 'the paddington stare' and eventually we were served. Poor service, we think it was because we didn't order food. We stumbled across a protected wildlife reserve of salt flat water with flamingos in - wow. We loved these kind of adventures where we found things by chance. 

We did miss Las Charcas which I only found when we got back to UK it is the Mud Baths (Banos de lodo) which are good for arthritic joints. 

Monday - Janet and Terry go off on adventure to visit friends Jaci and Ian near Almeria . Me and colin have a quiet day in the pool and then watched all of The Queen's funeral. Sad but fantastic pomp and pageantry only us brits can do.

Tuesday - Torrevieja again a lovely town to visit. 

First we walk up to a viewing spot on the edge of a cliff - the drop off! Why not just serve me up with some chips (finding nemo). 

There were water holes in the rocks so the sea gushed out of them for 

Janet to pose next to.

We spotted Instagram girls posing on the beach so Colin had a go next to a palm tree! He was actually standing in the shade of the tree it was that hot.

At Pilar de la Horadada there was a market there. Also some very interesting information about how they quarried the stone here in roman times, after accurate measuring they chiseled out a gap and fit some wood in so that when the tide came in the sea swelled the wood and cracked the stone.   

The best part was of course ordering Grande Beers por favor. 

We also visited Gaurdamar del Segura and ventured into the Mediterranean Sea for a paddle after doing the Dudley Moore run on the hot tiles to the shaded ones.

Wednesday - Today we ventured towards Cartagena to a shopping mall called The Mall Espacio Mediteranio Categinia. But Spain are on an economy drive and the mall was not really as cool as we thought it would be. So we arranged to meet up in an hour for a drink. Unfortunately I had a vertigo issue where I could hardly stand up and was very hot, also very worried. Colin managed to get me to the McDonalds cafe for a coffee and a calm down. Managed to get back to the car and back to the villa. Terry was booked in to play an 18 hole golf course nearby. When he came home he fixed the BBQ and made tea for us all, in the dark.

Thursday - Last day. Finished packing and clearing up the villa. We went back to Los Alcazares to look around the town and a bit of last minute shopping.

Managed to find an SOS Mar Menor T-Shirt and we stopped off for an ice cream and coffees.

                                                                            Sisters

All photos by Penny Green / Colin Green / Terry Daneliuk and Janet Daneliuk

Taxi arrived at 5:30pm back to Corvera Airport.

Total 64.4 Miles Completed 411.8 Miles we are now in Burton Ferry, Milford Haven.

Edinburgh

Booked back in January a 2 night stay at Spylaw Bank House, Colinton - 4.6 miles from Edinburgh Castle. Booked Edinburgh Military Tattoo Friday 26th August 2022 at 9pm.

Friday - Set off from Longridge at 10am, managed to avoid a huge traffic delay at Lancaster, managed to get off the M6 then back on further up - found out later that it was 6 hours before they opened the road.

Stopped off at Moffat for our packed lunch and a walk around the town which we did 2 years ago when we went to Scotland with Janet and Terry. Quick photo outside The Balmoral Hotel!

Arrived at our B&B at 1:50pm. It was a very old house (quirky), the owner David gave us a tour and we had a wonderful bedroom with a very high bed! The key to the room was a massive one which David asked us not to take out of the building as it would cost a couple of hundred pounds to replace.

We had to get the No.44 bus into Edinburgh and advised to get off at the furthest stop on Princes' Street. Raining so another quick photo op of The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh - would have loved to go in but felt scruffy. Sadly the binmen were on strike and there was rubbish everywhere and a slight stink. Such a shame for a beautiful City. We put on our poncho's to try and keep dry, not sure how to describe what we looked like!

Found where the tour buses were and booked on £15 each. Over an hour with a brilliant guide Johnny giving a knowledgeable account of the City and advice for the best places to eat (The Bee Hive) and where to go to get into the Tattoo later that night.

When we got to the castle for entrance into the Tattoo there wasn't too long a queue and a bit of rain (ponchos on again). Very organised, got a programme (£10 a bit steep) and straight to our seats. 

Photo by Penny Green.

Dot on 9:30pm the Typhoon did a fly past over the castle and then The Military Tattoo began. Wow all the Scots Bagpipe Bands marched in together - goose bump moment. Then 50 Highland girl dancers came in all smiling (even though they had already done an earlier show) and one of the dances they spun around and changed the colours of the skirts, amazing to see. 

An American Military Gun Precision (USAF Honor Guard Drill Team) were spinning rifles with bayonets on and one man walked through them spinning. The place was silent until they finished, uproar in cheers.

Aztec Warriors / Banda Mexican / New Zealand Kiwi's (only when we watched it on TV a week later did we see that all the members arranged to spell out KIWI that could only be seen from above). Electro Bagpipes and then my favourite Top Secret Swiss Drum Corps, they were fabulous, managed to video a small clip with lit up drum sticks before my phone ran out of battery, amazing. Then fireworks and the finale with all the cast. Brilliant, well worth the money and the wait. We ran for the bus (alright walked quickly) and chatted to a couple from The Netherlands at the bus stop while waiting for the No. 44 back to Colinton. Because it was after midnight we had to look out for our bus stop and got off, so did this couple who had been at the Tattoo, then they walked down the driveway and into our B&B! That means that they booked tickets to the Tattoo and booked into Spylaw Bank House at the same time as us and we had breakfast with them the following morning (a fabulous fry up from David) - what a co-incidence! 

Saturday - We went back into Edinburgh on the No. 44 bus again and went to do part 2 of the bus tour because yesterday it was restricted around the Castle and the Royal Mile due to the Tattoo, and our tickets were for 24 hours. We really did miss quite a lot, a very sunny today and absolutely packed. We decided to do the Portrait Museum (not too busy), as we had heard that there was one of Billy Connelly which we would have liked to see but it was no longer there. We were going to get a cake and a coffee in there but the prices were extortionate. Got a butty and a drink from Sainsbury's and sat in the park. 

Back to the B&B for a rest, kept sliding off the bed trying to get into it and had to clamber up by my knees (very elegant). 

That evening we could use the car to get to Falkirk, first to see the famous Falkirk wheel. Absolutely fabulous piece of engineering, you can watch it operating on youtube. 

Photo by Penny Green

Then we went to see the amazing sculptures called The Kelpies. Both fantastic to see, we waited until dusk to see them light up. Really lovely, so glad we went. Then Colin treated me to a famous Scottish meal - McDonalds (love their coffee). My phone only just had enough battery left to get us back to Colinton on Google Maps. 

Photo by Colin Green

Packed up early and had another fabulous fry up ready for the trip home. The A1 to Berwick-upon-Tweed which is on the border and actually classed as England (not sure if they like that). 

We drove through a gate in the wall but the tide was out and it stunk! So quick exit out of there and we ended up going over a 1 way bridge and back onto the A1 - we checked the tide timetable for Holy Island causeway, safe until 2:30pm. There was a massive pay & display car park but charged £5 for 3 hours (rip off)! Had a lovely walk around and saw Lindisfarne castle ahead but lots of tourists all going that way so we headed for the Abbey. An ambulance came onto the island and up to the castle - some incident! Took some photos and saw the war memorial and will check out on Find A Grave if they are listed. 

                                                                                      Snipped copy from Google Maps

We carried on down the A1 past Bamburgh Castle and down to Alnwick (Harry Potter Castle) but just went into the town and had a scone and a budweiser for one of us! and a tea. Then 'Kerrys' banana ice cream for Colin and Blueberry for me. Lovely.

Now we start to cross the country to get over to the West, this was on small B roads to Rothbury then Otterburn - we were following a small blue car  and couldn't overtake as he/she kept moving into the middle of the road - finally we got a chance and sped off over the moors, they couldn't see us for dust. Next head to Corbridge but the sign said Edinburgh (we've just come from there), turn around but the next sign said Jedburgh which is North (wrong way turn around again), it was the Edinburgh way and then a turn off, back on track - who was in front of us - the little blue car ahhh!!! Anyway we got past them again and we turned off to Haltwhistle and followed Hadrians Wall (what is remaining). We stopped off at the car park known as The Sill and saw an extensive part of the wall.

Photo by Penny Green

Next headed to Brampton an area where Colin's 'Green family' are from and onto Carlisle then M6 home.

Total 16.5 miles Completed 347.4 miles and we are now in Gowerton, Swansea.