And so we headed off into the sunset, courtesy of GNER. And the trains turned out to be surprisingly nice – clean (apart from the loo), not too crowded (except the luggage rack which had far too little space) and a power point for laptop use. Huzzah! It’s just a shame you need to book at least a week in advance for decent prices and thus this was the only leg via rail.
We arrived at Berwick, met by my most obliging Grandfather, and proceeded to massacre a pub meal. While the food was excellent, there was far, far too much of it and it certainly marked our escape from Scotland (given it wasn’t deep fried). After a brief meander around the walls we headed south to Seahouses, where my Grandfather resides.
Seahouse was full of tourists, which wasn’t hard as there isn’t much of it. It does, however, have lovely views over the Farne islands, beautiful scenery and [apparently] great diving. We settled for eating trifle, exploring Bamburgh and Alnwick and then proceeded to Newcastle 2 days later to bus to London. And we couldn’t find our bus.
Luckily we weren’t alone in this. The coach station was no good and the information centre gifted us with a blank look. Eventually we asked a passing bus driver who directed us to a unremarkable stop where, eventually, our bus pulled up. On the upside it was near empty and we trasnferred to another bus in Leeds which got us to London 30 minutes earlier than expected. And at one fifth the price of the trains too.
Don was overly generous and offered to drive in and pick us up from Victoria and so we were spared the train to Wraysbury (south of Heathrow). And so we’ve now taken over his guestroom (he seems resigned) and have but to find jobs. Cross your fingers for us!
