It’s Saturday morning as I write this. Yesterday we had an uneventful drive from Blore in Staffordshire to Craster in Northumberland (about four hours). Part of it was on the dreaded British M1 Motorway, often congested with long traffic jams. Clear sailing yesterday though. We made a few stops along the way since we couldn’t check in to our new home until 4:00 PM. We stopped at a rest area on the M1 just to stretch our legs. We stopped at a Costco near Newcastle to pick up a couple of things. Elaine was enticed by a very old olive tree on sale for £399, but we demurred. Tough to check it in for the return flight. And finally we stopped at Sainsbury’s supermarket in Alnwick for groceries.
We arrived in Craster just after 3:00, parked, and went to the Jolly Fisherman for a celebratory beer to mark our return to Craster. We stayed here last year in the same cottage for a week and liked it so much, here we are back again. At 4:00 sharp we parked the car outside Craster Rocks, our cottage. It is located just inside the gate for the one mile walk along the coast to Dunstanburgh Castle, an old ruin administered by the National Trust. As I write this Elaine is off on her morning walk up the castle, a tradition started last year. I will do it once or twice as well.
Dinner last night was at the Jolly Fisherman, booked weeks in advance as it is very popular. Spectacular views here as you eat extremely good food. The wine was a Shiraz from Australia.
- (Elaine) Crab Soup, Shetland Mussels, and a hot brownie with vanilla ice cream
- (Joe) Lindisfarne Oysters, Grilled Local Mackerel, and the same brownie and ice cream.
The oysters are local from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne that we visited last year.
Then it was home to bed under clear skies as the sun was just setting.
I took these as I arose at 5:30 AM. It gets light early here, starting around 4:15 and stays light until well past 10:00 PM.
