Northumberland Trip - Day 4

We left the site after breakfast and drove just a few minutes to Keilder Castle car park. We walked up Deadwater Fell, on a mix of forestry tracks, paths, and mountain bike trails. Fortunately it was quiet.

At the top there are a whole load of antennae, including a spherical one which is a "flight safety navigational aid".

There's also a convenient shelter at the top where we had our lunch.

Note that Oscar is still covered in seeds.

After descending back to the van we drove home. We went via the M6 and M74 to avoid traffic on the Edinburgh bypass.

Northumberland Trip - Day 3

We left Amble and drove inland to Keilder Water. We parked at the car park just north of Bull Crag Peninsula.

It was a bit damp but we set off for a walk round the peninsula.

We had lunch at the water's edge. There are a few roads at the edge that just disappear into the water.

Oscar got his fur absolutely covered in seeds from running through the undergrowth. It takes ages to get them out, and they get everywhere.

After the walk we left the car park and drove to Keilder Campsite where we'd booked in for the night.

For dinner we made ratatouille.

Northumberland Trip - Day 2

We left Bamburgh and drove south towards Amble. Just before there we parked in the car park at Warkworth beach, and went for a walk.

First along the beach towards the Coquet estuary, than back inland beside salt flats.

We then drove to the car park at Amble Yacht Club, and walked to the harbour. It's quite a touristy area with lots of stalls and cafes.

We walked round the harbour area, there's a bit where you can walk round a pier which shelters a beach.

We then walked a long way down the beach. To start with it was quite rocky, but further down it was nice and sandy. Oscar was very good off-lead, no problem walking past all the families with dogs, picnics etc.

There were views out to Coquet island.

We headed inland, into Druridge Bay Country Park, which is a big park with two large lakes. We walked round one of the lakes then out the gate on the other side.

We caught the bus back to Amble, then walked through the town back to the van.

Later we went out for fish and chips. We had planned to go to the Masons Arms pub, but it was closed for some reason. The nearby Blue Bell was very much a locals' place with no decent beer, but the people were friendly.

The cod and chips from Gills Fish Bar was pretty good, we took it back to the van and had it there.

Northumberland Trip - Day 1

We left just before 10am to head south. Northumberland Council have a scheme where you can stay overnight in certain car parks for £12 per night, so we'd booked into Bamburgh Castle car park. We also had to pay for a day ticket while we were out walking though.

After parking we walked past the castle onto the beach, which runs all the way down to Seahouses.

We walked down the beach for a while, Oscar loved being off lead and was pretty well behaved.

We could see out to the Farne Islands.

We turned around and headed north past Bamburgh again, and then round the headland into Budle Bay. It was very pretty, and much quieter than the main beach.

We decided to keep walking towards Belford, then catch a bus back to Bamburgh. The path went away from the bay and inland, along some quiet roads and across fields.

We caught a bus from near the old station, and got dropped off in the centre of town.

We went back to the van. Later we had pizza for dinner.

European Trip - Day 32

We docked about 7am, so only really had time for a coffee in the cabin. Disembarkation went fairly quickly and smoothly, though there was passport control to queue up for.

Once in Hull we stopped to take Oscar for a walk, and to have breakfast in the van.

We drove home up the M62, A1(M), A66, M6 and M74, stopping at one service station on the way for lunch.

We arrived home safely in the early afternoon.

European Trip - Day 31

We left Bruges and headed towards Rotterdam where our ferry was leaving in the evening. Rather than just use the motorway we went through the Westerscheldetunnel, a 6.6km toll tunnel which takes you between Ellewoutsdijk and Terneuzen. It is the longest tunnel for highway traffic in the Netherlands.

The peninsulas and islands on this route have beaches on the north sea coast which we wanted to stop and walk on. The weather wasn't too great however.

After crossing the various bridges we got to Rotterdam, where we did some last shopping before catching the ferry.

We went to KFC for lunch, and made some sandwiches for later.

We had to take Oscar to the P&O offices for pet check-in, but that all went smoothly and we were on board the boat by 6pm for the 8.30pm departure.

We had showers on board and went on deck for a drink as we were departing. Back at the cabin, by the time we'd had something to eat it was quite late, so we went to bed.

European Trip - Day 30

The reason we've come to Bruges is because we discovered on Facebook that a vet here is willing to issue EU pet passports to dogs from the UK. We'd made an appointment with her before we left, and it was today at 11am.

It's only about 20 minutes from the site, so we walked and got there in good time. She gave Oscar a worming tablet, a 3-year rabies jab and issued his pet passport, all for 103 euros. He'll now be able to travel to Europe without needing an Animal Health Certificate at £190 per trip.

So he's an EU citizen, even if we're not!

We went back and had lunch in the van, then left Oscar and walked into the city. It was raining a bit so we sheltered under some trees. We did a brewery tour of the Half Moon Brewery, which was interesting.

It included a beer at the end of course.

We went back to spend a bit of time with Oscar and take him for a walk.

Later we went into town again for drinks and dinner, though we found that a lot of places have opening hours for the tourist trade and close quite early.

We got some speciality beers at the 2be bar.

Then went to Café Rose Red where we some tapas-type snacks and some more drinks.

We were still hungry on the way home though, so bought some frites from a kiosk in the main square.

European Trip - Day 29

After showering in the morning we left the side and drove to Bruges. There's an aire that's very handy for the city and we'd heard that it can get very busy, so we arrived fairly early, about 10am. As it turned out there were loads of spaces, and it didn't actually get full all day.

It's 30 euros including electric, which is probably reasonable given its location. There are no toilets or showers though, the nearest toilet is about half a mile away and costs 1 euro.

We went for a walk round Bruges to see all the old town.

Later we left Oscar in the van and went out for some drinks. First at a local bar we watched some of the football, then went to a nice pub called 't Brugs Beertje.

Back at the van for dinner we had pizza.