Well, we are back home and sadly I can't say that it was one of our most successful weekends! I think we came to the painful realisation that the children are no longer interested in the things we think they'll like and that they'd much rather be with their friends, watching TV or on the computer. It's natural (I'd be a bit worried if they'd been rapturous about a pile of old stones) but it will make us think twice about where we go in future and whether all four of us can realistically share a hotel room...
Friday 23 April
The journey up to Bishop Auckland was not the best journey we've ever had, but it was Friday night and I suppose the person who turned their car over on the M1 didn't do it on purpose to hold us up! However, we were checking into the Premier Inn at 7.30 and in the bar a short time later, so I'm not going to complain. We had a pleasant meal and the pub emptied out completely by 10pm. As we were tired, we had an early night...which turned out to be a good thing!
Saturday 24 April
Although it was cloudy this morning, the sun soon came out and it was a beautiful day. None of us had slept well but we had a hearty breakfast and then headed over to Northumberland to see Hadrian's Wall. The scenery on the way was amazing and I could only guess at what sort of winter they had up on the high moors. We found a section of the wall in a field and parked the car in a very narrow lane. The children had great fun climbing over the wall but weren't that impressed. I think they imagined it would be like the Berlin Wall...very high and covered in graffitti!
We carried on in the car and saw the beautiful Sycamore Gap where Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was filmed. By now the children were hot and bored so we headed for Hexham where they were celebrating St George's Day in a big way with a Farmers' Market, stalls, face painting and Morris Dancing. We wandered around the pretty town for an hour (photos to follow) and treated the offspring to an ice-cream. The place was very busy with a great atmosphere and I wasn't disappointed - I've always had a hankering to go to Hexham!
As it was such a beautiful day we headed over to the coast as I thought the children would enjoy Spanish City in Whitley Bay. We were amazed to see signs for New York on the outskirts of the town and I told Sophie that at least she could say, very truthfully, that she'd now been to New York!
All the way, Keith and I sang the lines from Dire Straits' Tunnel of Love...
"And girl it looks so pretty to me, just like it always did
Like the Spanish City to me, when we were kids"
The last time we were there was ages ago so we were a bit shocked to see that parts of it had been pulled down for refurbishment. So...no amusement rides there then!
Whitley Bay is a very sad place - lots of the seafront buildings were run down or boarded up but people were enjoying themselves walking and cycling along the promenade and the children went down to the beach to collect some pebbles for the seaside bit in our gravel garden. There was a stiff breeze from the sea and the tide was coming in with lots of crashing waves.
Although I had the idea of walking to Cullercoats (more lines from the song) we drove along the front in the end and made it to Tynemouth which looked a lot more prosperous. The beach looked lovely (with surfers, sws!) and a ruined priory on the headland. The children didn't seem keen on exploring so drove to the outskirts of Newcastle, intending to take the Tyne Tunnel, but we completely lost our way and ended up driving through the city and over the Tyne Bridge which was a bonus. The city is wonderful and I only wish now we'd stopped and explored a bit more.
Our route took us straight past the Angel of the North and I just had to stop and take photos. The children weren't interested so Keith and I wandered around it and read the information on the board that told us it was the largest sculpture in Britain, if not Europe and was situated on top of old mine workings. I actually find it rather eerie and it was certainly imposing as I stood underneath it.
Before returning to the hotel, we stopped off at the Bay Horse in Middridge where Keith used to live. We'd hoped to eat there in the evening but they were fully booked. Undeterred, we drove over to the Park Head hotel where Keith and I stayed 15 years ago (I was pregnant with Sophie) but that looked run down and Keith refused to even have a pint there! The highlight for Michael (of the whole weekend, no doubt) was the sheep in the next field who he fed with handfuls of grass...
We made another stop at The Thinford Inn, a pub that Keith and I used to go to whenever we were in the area, but Michael developed an instant dislike to the place and refused to go back (I had to agree with him) so we were running out of ideas.
Back at the hotel, we had a wee snooze, then showers and baths and headed out to the Bay Horse for a drink. Nothing had changed. We were offered a table straightaway but we declined as it was too early to eat. Michael stated that unless we ate at the hotel he would refuse to eat, which was like a red rag to a bull. Needless to say, Keith became very angry and we left shortly afterwards. One last try was the pretty village of Heighington but both pubs (who did real ale) were full.
So it was a bit of a subdued evening and by 9pm we were back in our room.Not an ideal Saturday night out!
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