We left North Berwick and headed for Melrose. Only a short drive of just over the hour. The site is in the town of Melrose so I approached it from a different way being in the camper than Nikki in the car.

Melrose is a lovely old fashioned town near the river Tweed and famous for the rugby Sevens. It has a lot of independent shops and some nice pubs and cafes. Of course as usual before I go anywhere I do some research to see what’s in the area.

Within walking distance there is an old abbey, a viaduct and the old road bridge so I was happy that I should be able to get yet more photos. Driving there on the A68 I crossed over a bridge, a modern bridge but to my right I could see what would have been the old road bridge with its arches and beyond that the viaduct which would have been for the trains. These bridges were where I planned to walk to from the town.

After getting set up and chilling for the afternoon after the long drive 😂 The next day we had a walk around the old town and up to the abbey. The abbey was built in 1136 and at the moment has a lot of scaffolding around parts of it. No they are not still building it but checking the structure and doing repairs.

I noticed that in the abbey grounds amongst the gravestones were some big spotlights so thought the abbey must be lit up at darkness. So off I went to the ticket office and asked the question. The reply was I don’t know. My reply was and you work here. The only way to find out was to come back when it was dark. Luckily it’s getting dark earlier now so it would not interrupt my sleep pattern too much. And yes it is lit up at night as the photos show. Maybe I should have gone back to the ticket office and told them.

A short walk the next day took us to Gattonside suspension bridge which crosses over the river tweed. The bridge opened in 1826, was refurbed in 1928 and strengthened in 1991 by Travers Morgan. It’s a lovely old bridge and a sign on it says that no bikes to be ridden across it, no more than eight people to cross it at once and no intentional swinging of the bridge allowed.

We walked across the bridge and back again just because we could. The next day I planned to walk to the viaduct and old road bridge. A bit too far for Nikki to walk there and back so I went off on my own. It’s a lovely walk through the country and on through the village of Hawthorn and then the old road which is now blocked off. About three miles each way. The sun was out and the clouds were doing their best to cover it up but it was dry so life was good.

The Leaderfoot viaduct was opened on 16th November 1863 and carried the railway line. It’s now closed but looks impressive just standing there. It always amazes me how they built these things and they are still standing now.

I really wanted to get a picture of both bridges, I also wanted the sun to be out when taking that photo. To get that photo I had to walk a bit further on and then get myself down the river bank and walk back to the bridges and hope the sun would come out from behind the clouds for a moment. The things I do to get a photo sometimes amazes me. But I did it and hope you like it. I was very happy with the result.

The photo shows Drygrange old road bridge and the Leaderfoot viaduct. The other photo is from a different angle.

Drygrange old bridge would have carried the traffic years ago and is now replaced by the modern bridge on the A68 which I drove over to get to Melrose. Again I love the fact it’s still standing after all those years. It opened in 1779.

The photo above shows the new bridge, the old bridge and the viaduct. A lot of years between them but all still standing. The only one you can’t cross now is the viaduct which is fenced off for safety reasons. I did do a short walk to see if I could get the top of it. But I was stopped by some very serious fencing. I still took a photo through the fencing and imagined the old steam trains passing over it years ago.

My mission was completed and as I walked back, stopping at a bench to sit in the sun and enjoy the peace and quiet overlooking the fields where many years ago would have been a Roman settlement. That evening we went down the pub for a drink and a meal. We prefer to go out early so we can have a drink before our meal. When I say early I mean about 4 pm and eat between 5pm and 6pm. For the record Nikki had salmon with noodles and I had a bloody great big burger and chips. A good nights sleep followed ready for the drive the next day to a site called River Beamish in a place called Powburn.

At river Beamish which means we are back in England now. Or Northumberland to be precise. A lovely site away from the main road so very quiet. Apart from the lakes the other side of the trees which are where all the Canadian geese and grey lagged geese go for the day. But I don’t mind the sound of birds at all. It’s a great sight seeing them fly in every morning and leaving again early evening.

We had a walk around both lakes the other day and there were hundreds of geese and ducks out on the lake. There are a couple of bird hides also so you can sit in and watch them. After walking around the lakes we walked the backroads back to site which included going past an antique / retro shop. We had to go in because we love all the old stuff. Nikki fell in love with a coat which was very unusual. Not hundreds of years old but just very unusual and by a French maker. So yes she had to have it. It’s a very nice coat though and looks good on her.

While we were in the antique shop we got talking to the couple running it and they said the red arrows were flying over later. They told us what time and Nikki looked on an app when we got back to the camper and we hoped they would be visible from where we were. Sure enough at the time we were told 15.48 they flew right over us. I did wave to them but they were too busy looking where they were going to wave back.

After my research of the area I had a short list of things to do. One was to visit Holy island which is reached by driving over a causeway. When the tides out obviously, although some people think they can beat the tide and have to be rescued and their car written off. That was not going to happen to us.

Holy island or Lindisfarne as it’s also known is a small island just off the coast reached by a causeway. There are signs telling you the safe times to cross and it’s also on the internet. So no excuse really to get stuck. You have a window of about six hours and it changes daily because of the tides. There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing cars getting stuck and people having to be rescued. Personally I think these people should be charged if they are stupid enough to ignore all the warnings.

Our window of opportunity was between 9 05am and 16 15pm so plenty of time to get on the island, take some photos and off again. It’s not very big so not a lot to do. A castle and an old abbey being the two main things I wanted to get photos of.

What I never thought about was how busy it would be. I thought in the main summer season it would be packed but we are now into October and the weather is colder and the sun making less of an appearance. We got there at 10 30am so the tide was well away from the causeway and it was so weird driving across the causeway with sand and sea either side of us. I felt a bit like Jesus with the parting of the waves.

We got to the carpark which is big and it was heaving. And at £6.50 for a minimum of three hours I wish I owned that bit of land. I hate paying for parking but in this case I had no choice other than to turn around and go back. Ticket for parking got boots on and a walk towards the castle with the herd of other people. The crowds soon thinned out though.

Lindesfarne castle is a 16th centuary castle that sits on the end of the island perched on top of a huge big rock. I was not interested in going in the castle with all the crowds but wanted to get some photos of the outside. Nikki sat on a bench overlooking the bay while I marched on towards the castle to get my photos.

The weather held out for our visit although the sun was a bit shy in showing itself. The walk back from the castle towards the harbour was nice passing some very unusual sheds. Basically they are upturned boats with a door put on one end. Very unusual but look great. They look like they are covered and then waterproofed to keep out the harsh weather.

After looking around the harbour we walked towards the 12th centuary priory. Another building that has stood for many years. The monks would have settled on Holy island in AD635, that is a very long time ago. And again it amazes me how we know these things. No one is still around to tell us their grandad used to live there.

Back to the car and get back off the island before we are stuck on there for the night. The carpark was still filling up but we had seen what we wanted to see. So that’s us up to date we are here for another ten days and then off to York. It’s pouring with rain today so it will be a day inside.