We are still at River Breamish campsite but nearly left early. Let me explain. The campsite is right next to the river breamish hence the name of the site. It’s actually in a place called Powburn.

The weather had been good until the rain came and it came in force. Two days and two nights of constant rain meant the river levels were higher than normal. The managers of the site knocked on our door at 8.30pm saying the site was on flood alert and the pitch we were on was near the river so would be one of the first to flood.

So the choice was to stay put and risk it or move to another part of the site. They were advising people to move instead of possibly moving in the middle of the night. Not a good idea. I think there were about eight of us that had to move.

Now when we move the camper everything gets packed away and all put back out when we arrive at the next destination. It’s a well planned operation and Nikki has got it off to a fine art now after ten years living in this camper so when I drive off there are no rattles or bangs or even worse cupboards flying open and spilling out the contents all over the camper and with me on the move not able to stop straight away and pick everything up. I do all the outside stuff before moving off.

We decided to move pitch and as it was only around the other side of the site it would not be a full pack up just a basic one and I would drive carefully to another pitch. All done and Nikki took the car around to the other pitch and I drove the camper round. All safe and sound on anther pitch and off to bed.

The next morning Nikki complimented me on my driving telling me that in the rush of having to move and put a few things away she had left a full bottle of tonic water on the edge of a open cupboard and a full glass of water on the kitchen worktop and neither of them had moved luckily.

The next day the river levels went down and life was back to normal, the sun came out and it was a lovely day. As the sun went down and the blinds were put up to shut the world out another knock on the door from the site managers to tell us the northern lights were visible.

Having always wanted to see the northern lights I was outside with my camera and pointing it towards the sky. They were very faint but you could see the different colours. I was happy I had seen them and got some photos. Off to bed.

About half past midnight I woke needing a comfort break as you do when your old, long gone are the days I could drink eight pints and go to bed and sleep until the morning. Now if I look at a glass of water before going to bed, a couple of hours later I need to get up again.

Anyway I got up and had to look out the window to see if the northern light were still visible. WOW just wow I could see them as plain as could be. So shorts and T shirt on, I don’t think other people on site would have liked to see me running around the site naked taking photos at gone midnight. They were so bright and the changing colours were fantastic. I took so many photos, and then went back to bed with a big smile knowing that thousands of people spend hundreds of pounds going to Iceland and other places to see this. And some don’t even see it then. And here I was in Northumberland just stood outside my camper looking at it.

The next day we went off to Craster, a small fishing village on the coast. Another £6.50 to park. But it’s more than just a village in a way. It’s the best place to park and then walk along the coast path to Dunstanburgh castle. You could park further away and save the parking fee but would have to walk at least three miles to the castle. We opted for the £6.50 and walk along the coast path a mile to the castle.

Dunstanburgh castle is an English Heritage property but as we are national trust members it was free to get in once we walked there. The sun was out and it was a lovely walk.

The castle is 14th centuary so it’s been standing there on the north east coast for a while being battered by the winter storms. At least some of it is still there.

There is one part of the castle, the tower which you can walk up and get a view from the top. A stone spiral staircase takes you there. Nikki opted out of this part but I just had to go up the top. The view was fantastic but it was windy up there.

Amazing how these castles were built. The ground around the castle looked like an old quarry and the carpark we parked in was an old quarry so the stone would have been got from the area. But to carry it any distance and get it to those heights is just mind blowing.

We walked back to the car via the small harbour and headed out towards a beach for our lunch stop. The beach we were going to go to was called Sugar sands and looked just what we wanted for a picnic. I also wanted to sit on the beach in the sun with no wind and even go for a swim. But it was October and the sun had gone off somewhere else the wind had picked up and the sea looked cold. So we gave Sugar sands a miss and headed for another free car park at Boulmer beach a bit further down the coast. Parked right in the front row looking out to sea eating our picnic with the wind howling outside we were good.

Yesterday we headed off to Cragside house. Another national trust property only about twenty minutes away. We knew it would be busy being a Sunday and a nice day so we got there early and parked up. And set off to walk to the house through some of the grounds.

The house was home to William and Margaret Armstrong many years ago and they had their dream house built and the grounds landscaped with lakes etc. with experimental technology using hydroelectricity it was the first place in the world to be done like this. Britains original smart home.

The interior of the house was just as impressive. In fact I will go as far to say it was the best national trust property I have been inside. The national trust do a great job restoring and keeping all these old property’s going, it’s our history and should be kept going. They have a lot of volunteers working for them. In all the houses they have people in different rooms who are very knowledgable. Normally these people pounce on you and start telling you everything about every bit of that room. I normally let Nikki go in the room first and then she gets caught while I sneak around and carry on. This property though all the people were there but didn’t pounce on you but if you wanted to know some thing they would answer all your questions. I complimented one of the men in the room for this and he was pleased.

Below are some interior photos.

After walking around the house which seems like hours because it was so interesting we went back out into the grounds to go to the formal gardens and clock tower. The formal gardens would be where all the plants were and the greenhouses to grow fruit etc. The greenhouses had tiered levels so that the small fruit trees did not shade each other. They were also grown in large pots which were on turntables and would have been turned at different times of the day so all the tree was exposed to sunlight. The windows in the large greenhouses were opened by a series of cogs and handles. All very impressive.

By now we were hungry so walked back to the car and ate our picnic in the car again. From the carpark there is a six mile carriage drive which would have been built for the lady of the house to go around in her carriage or on horseback. We opted to do the drive and it was so nice. Passing lots of picnic areas, we will know next time where to have our picnic. Through lots of wooded areas and moorland, and around a lake.

So that’s us up to date. Tomorrow I am going out on my bike up in the hills and then Thursday we leave here to go to York with a couple of days planned in York to see things.