I was looking for batteries. Why are batteries so pesky. You spend most of the year cursing who many batteries you find on shelves, pockets and cupboards. But when you actually need them, the little blighters hide. When you do find them you can guarantee that they are the wrong size. Anyway I was looking for batteries with absolutely no success then ….

An old and forgotten box of old photos. It’s times like this that I am so happy that I had a habit of taking too many pics. This box was from a holiday we had way before our son was born. We arranged a last minute week long trip to Northumberland in the North of England. For those who don’t know England that well – find the most northerly English city (Newcastle). The bit above this city and all the way to the Scottish border is Northumberland. It’s a beautiful and often desolate place. With few large towns, rolling hills, moors and some of the countries finest castles.

For the week we rented an old Gypsy Cottage. The weather was so Northumberland like. Very windy, cold and often exceedingly damp. Today’s photographic memory trip was a day trip we had during that lovely week. A trip to Dunstanburgh Castle.

It’s a stunning castle ruins set right on the windswept North Sea coast. To get to it you park up in a small fishing village and walk along the beach. The walk started wet and basically added increasing amounts of water to the mix. The photos brought the memories flooding back. Wow we got wet.

It was a wonderful day. We had the place to ourselves. Hours spent walking along the coast, scrambling over history and even time for sand castle building. Finally we got back to the fishing village and looked round the local fish smoking business. It would have been rude not to sample the produce and chips. Then it was back to the cottage to a roaring fire and an attempt to dry out. Happy Days.

88 thoughts on “A trip to a castle”

      1. I know. Sometimes memories make us feel happy and sometimes they make us hurt too bad to look. Just depends how we are feeling. I can’t look at ohotos of my mum any more because I wonder what she would be saying to this virus and all this locjdown stuff. She’d have been terrified. I can still see her as a blur in photos but yesterday when I accudentally clicked on one and saw it, it felt unbearable. Now if it had been Scafell Pike, who knows, I might have felt differently ! X

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  12. I thought I recognised the castle when I saw the first picture. We’ve been going to Northumberland for several years and just love it. Supposed to be going again in September…

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  15. So lovely memories … thank you for sharing. I visited Northumberland in 2007. I stayed at The White Swan in Alnwick and visited among other places Alnwick Garden and Castle and also Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle. A very, very, very windy day ….

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  16. I love Northumberland. I think because it’s off the beaten track it has a very unspoilt feel to it. Although we live only about an hour south of there, my wife has never been. You’ve renewed my desire for us to go there again and enjoy a corner of creation that’s almost as beautiful as “God’s own county”! 🙂

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  20. Love finding those old boxes. This week the big kids had a great time moving all the furniture around in their rooms. In the process they found a lot of old things and photos to go through. Your photos are great. What a lovely journey.

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  28. I love discovering old photos. I have to be careful I’m in the right mood for it, but they can bring out so many different lovely emotions. I can lose hours poring through them. Gorgeous pics x

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  31. Thanks for sharing lovely memories. One day I hope to get back to the Newcastle area, as my grandfather was born there in the late 1800’s. My ship docked in South Shields for a quick overnight years ago, but I didn’t get to explore very far.

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