Holiday in North Berwick: The Journey Up

We set off from home, leaving my brother, Philip, in charge of the house, Minnow Cat and Connie Chicken. The rain was pouring down, not boding well for the week ahead!

Our first stop was at Alnmouth in Northumberland. It is an attractive village with a long area of sandy beach, with a few small shops, cafes, hotels and pubs. We parked at the beach car park and walked along to the dog-friendly cafe, The Village Tea Rooms. Brock decided to jump into several very deep pools of stagnant sea water for some reason. He doesn't like water normally, so it was quite a surprise to all of us. Although it was misty, the rain had passed over and it was dry for our walk.

Brock running on the beach at Alnmouth

Alnmouth main street

Our next stop was the wonderful Barter Books at Alnwick Station. It has a cafe, and thousands of books: new, second-hand and antiquarian. There is lots of comfy seating scattered about; a train runs around the top of the book shelves in the first room, where there is often an open fire burning; and dogs are allowed in (apart from the buffet area). Parking on site is limited and very busy.

Barter Books - main room

Display of antique childrens' books

Berwick-upon-Tweed was our next stop of the day. We walked all around the city walls, enjoying the views of the sea and town.

 The allotments at Berwick-upon-Tweed

The house that L S Lowry stayed in on his visits to the town

 Views over the Tweed to the railway viaduct

We drove on to the flat we were staying at in North Berwick and were glad to have a rest after our busy first day.

View from the holiday flat's sitting room window: a minute's walk from the sea!

More Autumn Colour - Eaglesfield and Latrigg, Keswick Walks

Here are some photos Rob took on our walk at Eaglesfield today.

And from the day before up Latrigg in the Lake District, near (and looking down over) Keswick. A cold day with some snow still on the mountain tops.

We were glad to get back to the car and off to Abraham's Cafe for lunch!

Holiday In Inverness 2016: 28 - 30 September

Dornoch beach was our first stop on Wednesday. Brock loved it here and met several dogs to play with.

Afterwards, we went into the town and had a very good coffee and cake at the Dornoch Patisserie and Cafe. The staff were very friendly and efficient.

The Jail is an impressive building and now houses a number of craft units, and is interesting to look round. There is also a Co-op for food shopping and other shops, cafes and hotels.

Our next port of call was Tain, where we had lunch in the Sunflower Cafe (all day veggie breakfast for Rob and jacket potato with cheese and coleslaw for me). The food was pretty good and the portions were generous. There was an 'unfortunate incident' in the cafe, when I noticed a young man drop what I thought was a scarf or large handkerchief on the ground - I called out to him and he came back to look at it and said it wasn't his. After he had gone, the staff were cracking up with laughter, as it turned out to be a pair of boxer shorts! I felt rather sorry for inadvertently embarrassing him, but it was quite funny.

I bought more vintage buttons to add to my collection from the charity shop in Tain before we drove on to Cromarty on The Black Isle. Brock got a third walk along the sea front and around the town.

Oil rig seen on the opposite shore at Invergordon (there were a number of them lined up, disappearing into the distance).

The Sutors (flat fingers of land guarding the entrance to the Cromarty Firth).

Cromarty lighthouse.

I think that Wednesday must be a half day in Cromarty, as most of the shops and the cafe were closed. Still, we enjoyed the walk around the town. We made a final stop-off in Rosemarkie where we bought an oil burner and some gem stones in Panacea, a new age shop. The shop owner, Cornelia, is very friendly and helpful.

Thursday was our first wet day! We walked Brock along the seafront and through the town of Nairn, before having an early lunch back at the Bakehouse in Findhorn. We both had the vegetarian black dal which came with nan bread (I forgot to ask for GF, but I'm sure they would have had some), raita and ?rhubarb chutney. It was absolutely delicious! I really wish this cafe was nearby as we would go there often. We also had slices of cake and coffees (yes, we are on a bit of a diet now that we're back at home!). This was the best meal we had on this holiday. Brock had another walk before we decided to relax and watch old films back at Rookery Nook for the rest of the day.

On Friday, we drove to Ullapool on the west coast, stopping off for a walk at Rogie Falls. The waterfall was impressive, with plenty of water rushing down.

This image is taken from the suspension bridge. It is a really lovely walk and well worth a visit if you're in the area.

At Ullapool, preparations were underway for a two-day music festival with The Stranglers headlining. We had lunch in the dog-friendly Ceilidh Place (salad and chips for me; scrambled egg on toast and chips for Rob; we both had good, strong coffees). The waitress recommended the An Talla Solais art gallery, so we headed off there for a look round. There was some beautiful work on display.

The weather was pretty good: mainly sunny with just a few light showers on the drive over. We sat by the harbour eating ice cream and taking in the stunning views.

On Saturday, it was time to head home. We stopped off in Dunkeld again as it is about half way home. We had lunch in the Scottish Deli, which allows dogs in. Rob had a hummus and sunblush tomato baguette; I had the same filling with a salad. Excellent! By far the best of the three cafes we have tried there.

A very enjoyable holiday, but it seemed to go by in a flash.

Keswick Walk and Lunch at Treeby's Restaurant

We had a day out on Friday to celebrate Rob's birthday (a day early!). We did a four mile (two hour) walk near Keswick. It is walk number 3 in Countryside Dog Walks: Lake District - North (ISBN 9780957372238).

 The first part of the walk takes you along the shore of Derwentwater, with some great views of the mountains.

The second stage of the walk includes quite an uphill trek through woodland. You get some lovely views of the lake from the top of the hill.

We had lunch afterwards at a new place for us: Treeby's Gallery Cafe. 

Rob had a cheese and tomato omelette with fries; I had the mozzarella salad shown above (Rob has swapped some of the olives for a piece of his omelette!). The food was pretty good (the only minor irritations were that I had to pick over the rocket and remove a couple of brown/mouldy pieces, and that I was unable to have the bread with the salad because they don't stock gluten free). We also had a cup of coffee each, which was a fairly small cup, and standard in taste. The service was reasonably fast and friendly, even though it was very busy. We had to sit at a small high table on high stools. Although we didn't indulge, the cakes looked fabulous. I would recommend it as long as you don't need gluten free food. The bill came to £19.

Views From Latrigg, Near Keswick

Rob, Brock and I had a pleasant walk on Latrigg, a fell near Keswick in the Lake District, yesterday. You can walk from the town centre: see this walk for an example; or park near the summit and do a less steep, circular walk from there. The parking area is extremely busy and the access road is in an appalling state of repair and very steep - so be warned!

I think that this is one of the easiest walks with the best return in lovely views! For that reason, it is very popular, so there are always lots of people about.

Moniaive and Bardennoch Hill Walk

Rob and I are just back from a beautiful (if rather taxing!) walk.

It is found on P88 of this book:-

The book claims that it is a 7.5km walk, but our sat nav tracker made it over 10km, so be warned that it will take more than the two hours stated.

Here are two photos Rob took, of the old School Master's House in Moniaive and a cockerell and young chick that we saw on our walk.

 

The walk takes you out of the picturesque village of Moniaive, up through woodland and over two hills (Bardennoch), back down, skirting some more forest, through farmland and back to a single track road which leads back to Moniaive. There are several steep slopes to negotiate (going up Bardennoch Hill and again when you reach the single track road), but some beautiful views of green fields, trees, hedgerows, streams and the occasional farm building or folly. (See photo collage below. Click for a larger image.)

 The weather was lovely - lots of sun early on, with some white clouds appearing to give some dappled shade later in the walk.

The Green Tea House was our lunch venue, where we ate:- lentil & tomato soup, followed by mango meringue (me) and goats' cheese quiche, potato wedges & salad, followed by pecan tart (Rob). We both had coffee and a cold drink. The bill came to £24.20. The coffee and other drinks were good; the food was quite nice, and the cafe is certainly more spacious than at its old location, with outdoor seating, too.