I’m back at work this morning, and waiting for a process to complete on a remote server - hence writing an entry in this blog.
Last week was absolutely fantastic. Here’s a quick rundown of the week;
Saturday Travelled up, and arrived in Newcastle Upon Tyne for the family reunion (via a Holiday Inn hotel for the night). On a count up there were something like 60 of us in the room, covering 4 generations of one line of W’s family - with a huge family tree on the wall, and photo boards of all members adorning the walls. It was a great evening - capped by a group of the uncles and aunts singing traditional “northern” folk songs. I’m still humming “When the Boat Comes In” now.
Sunday Most of the day was taken up with a picnic in the park in Jarrow, followed by a bus tour of the various places our ancestors had lived and worked in and around the area. We left Newcastle in the afternoon to travel north to our cottage for the week - at Newton By The Sea, about 20 minutes from Alnwick. Settled in, walked on the beach, and went out for dinner together at the local hotel.
Monday We were all out fairly early and walked to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle (via a pub, of course). The walk was around 4 miles, but taking the coastal paths meant it took quite a while - identifying seabirds, plants and so on as we went. The castle was pretty majestic - you could only imagine how big it must have been when it was originally built. Ironically, it turns out it wasn’t used for long - one of the Lords built it during the wars of the roses, and effectively built the castle backwards - meaning he could escape out to sea from a protected inlet. The Lord it question was captured and killed before he ever got a chance to barricade himself in.
Tuesday In the morning we travelled down to Hadrian’s Wall and visited the remains of “Housesteads” - one of the more impressive forts that existed at intervals along the wall. The “star attraction” at HouseSteads was the excavated latreen block - which has remaining largely complete and untouched for over 1000 years.
In the afternoon we visited the remains of the Roman settlement at Vindalanda, where there are still archeological digs going on. You may have heard of Vindalanda in the news; it’s where they have found the wooden tablets with Roman writing on (things like Party invites, childrens homework and so on). The while site was huge and amazing - and they have only uncovered about half of it so far. The most interesting thing for me was the museum holding the artifacts they have uncovered - they have actually found a crest from a roman helmet (the hair bit that goes on an officer’s helmet) - it’s the only one found so far in the world.
Vindalanda gave you a real insight to Roman life - walking through the remains of the high street with shops, guesthouses, and family homes…
Wednesday Wednesday was Harry Potter day. We went to Alnwick Castle. Anybody who has seen the Harry Potter movies, or Robin Hood Price of Thieves, or any number of other movies, will instantly recognise Alnwick Castle (out of interest, the locals pronounce in “Annik”. It was an amazing place, and seemed strangely familiar as we wandered around the quiddich pitch
In the afternoon we wandered around Alnwick, and visited “Barter Books” - quite possibly the best second hand bookshop I have ever seen - the size of a large supermarket. Needless to say I came out feeling a bit poorer than I went in.
Thursday All holidays have to have a “lazy” day, and this was ours. My father in law went off with his relatives to visit a seabird colony on a protected island, while we walked down the coast to a pub for a lazy lunch, and I had quite possibly the biggest ploughmans ever seen by the human eye.
Friday Our last full day in Northumberland was taken up with a visit to “Holy Island”, otherwise known as “Llindesfarne”, and to “Banburgh Castle”. I couldn’t resist buying a couple of bottles of Meade from Llindesfarne - but then they did invent it there, so it was kind or a “requirement”
The castle at Llindesfarne was something of a disappointment (in my opinion) - it was effectively a 16th century castle turned into (internally) an 19th century townhouse - and there was little or no information about how the castle originally looked.
Banburgh Castle was an entirely different proposition - the “Northumberlands” still live there, and it remains largely preserved as it would have looked in the 1400s - complete with halls full or medieval weaponry, and collections of artwork and rugs adorning the walls. I kept expecting the actor Brian Blessed to march around a corner in full chain mail bellowing something or other about “God and King Richard”…
Saturday A final walk along the beach in the early hours of the morning before coming home!