Northern England to Scotland. 2011 🇬🇧

After a couple of days in Wildhill with another side trip to London we head north in our hire car.  We have no real plan other than to see as much of Scotland as we can over the next 7 days.  Our Aunties have recommended the A1 rather than the M1 as it passes through or near lots more interesting places.  The A1 in some places is the A1(M), this was a bit confusing until you actually travel the A1.  Some sections are full motorway conditions, other parts are single lane for short distances.  In any case there are lots of speed cameras.

It’s coffee time and we swing off the A1 for Peterborough.  It’s a few miles, but soon enough where looking for a parking spot in the center of town.  There is a lovely park between the car park and the Cathedral, we walk on through onto the Long Causeway and Cafe Nero.  We have become Cafe Nero fans over the past week or so.  The coffee is quite reasonable and the wifi logs in automatically once you’ve become a member.  After coffee we walk through the square, it’s a warm day and children are running through the water feature.  Back to the road trip.

We continue north on the A1 for an hour or so.  The weather has clouded over as we approach the Trent River, a couple of canal boats are passing and we turn off for the Muskham Ferry Hotel.  The fire has just been lit and we lunch on soup and roast dinner.  It’s quite a picturesque spot and several boats are docked near the pub just to add to the atmosphere.

We are now in North England proper, we hit the road and keep heading north on the A1.  We decide Morpeth is far enough and take the exit.  As we drive into Morpeth we see the Castle, I suppose it’s a castle it has battlements, but it looks a bit more like a huge blockhouse.  A quick trip to tourist information and we have checked into the Castleview B&B.

We have dinner and drinks in a local pub, it’s still light when we finish so we go for a drive to the coast.  Our journey ends at Newbiggin-By-The-Sea.  It’s cold and windy, night is falling quickly.  Time for a quick photo and where heading back to Morpeth.

Cannot let our visit to Morpeth go without discussing our B&B the Castleview.  It’s a beautiful old stone terrace both inside and out.  The owners are friendly and helpful and I would happily recommend it, but !  The whole place is on a lean, a bit like the famous tower in Pisa.  Its quite quirky really, as you climb the stairs or sit in a chair you note the slope.  Sitting at breakfast the woman sitting near us commented on turning over in bed and almost rolling out of bed with the slope.

Morpeth straddles the Wansbeck River, the paths along the river through the various parks and right of ways makes a lovely morning walk.

We depart Morpeth and head north again back on the A1, it follows the east coast and crosses into Scotland just north of Berwick-Upon-Tweed.  We plan on Edinburgh today.  We enjoy the scenic drive and soon enough we drive into Edinburgh, or at least try too.  The traffic is diabolical, we ask a bemused Police Officer who informs us there is a festival on this weekend.  An hour passes and we are little closer, we stop at a petrol station and discuss our options.  We decide Edinburgh must wait till another day and continue north over the River Forth.