It has been a few days since I've stopped to write about what has been happening here. The pace is totally different and I suppose I haven't been bothered, although a lot has happened. The day after our trip to Durham, we picked up a rental car and drove North up the A1 motorway to Holy Island. It took us a while to get out of Newcastle as the road signage requires quite a lot of local knowledge to decipher. I also didn't know what speed to go as everything is still in miles/hr and there are no speed limit signs. So I just guessed for the most part.

Because it was such a nice day we headed straight up to Holy Island as it was only reachable from 8:30am to 3:10pm due to the tidal causeway. If we had missed the crossing or been stuck on the island, the next crossing was at 8:30pm, so we were quite lucky to pick a good day. We got there around 11:30am, the road leading up to it was the first country road I had been down and it was stunning. Very, very narrow roads lined with either stone walls or bramble hedges, rough and potholey - an absolute joy to drive on. Then there's the very likely chance of coming over a rise and seeing a castle, ancient stone bridge, crumbling tower or narrow archway. I'd seriously come up here just to drive the roads.

That is, however, not why we drive up the Northumberland coast. Holy Island is a lovely little sleepy island village, especially this time of the year coming into winter. The place must see quite a few tourists, but there were only a couple dozen visitors when we wandered around the island. The main attraction is, of course, Lindisfarne Castle. The castle sits at one end of the island, looking out onto the rough North Sea and it's old. So, so very old. I don't even know how old, but I'm probably right in thinking I wont see an older construction until I go to Stonehenge.

From there we drove down the country roads along the coast through Bamburgh, which has an incredibly breathtaking castle along the coast as you drive through. We didn't stop and have a look just yet and continued on to Seahouses, where we had booked into a Bed & Breakfast called The Olde Schoolhouse. The place was really nice and warm and comfortable and they cooked breakfast for us each morning - and it was very reasonably priced too. We had Seahouses fish n chips for dinner that night, which have to be the best in the world. No kidding, these were the pinnacle of fish n chips.

The next morning when we awoke we drove up to Alnwick to see the castle and gardens, but it was miserable and rainy and it didn't look like they were open anyway, so we decided to skip that and headed up the back roads to Coldstream which is across the river Tweed, which is the border to Scotland. We stopped there for lunch - I should make a point here that we have eaten more sausages and bacon and eggs and white bread than I dare think about. There are some really healthy and good options for food, but just not at the average restaurant or cafe. Marks & Spencer food hall has some amazing cheap and varied food options and the best ready to eat sandwiches and pastas.

We decided not to go to Edinburgh as time was a bit short and it seemed a bit scary getting through an unfamiliar big city with me driving, so we headed towards the North-East coast via Duns and then down to Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is a really beautiful town on the mouth of the River Tweed. There is a large fortification and wall built around the old town around the year 1500 which we walked around. The views and vistas I've seen over the last few weeks have been the most beautiful I've ever seen. New Zealand just doesn't have that kind of man-made beauty, where you can see a full 360 of bridges and buildings built up over the last 500 years, all jumbled together.

We headed South down the Coastal route once again and this time stopped off in Bamburgh and walked around the castle. There's a kind of feeling that I get in the presence of castles that makes me want to go into a frenzy just thinking about it. As I walked around the base of this perfectly maintained ancient castle I tried to imagine the hopelessness that an attacking army must have felt hundreds of feet below its walls. The castle itself sits atop a natural high outcropping of rock right along the beach and you can walk between the castle and the sea on a stretch of red-ish fine sand. I really must come back here in Summer and get a tour through the inside.

We ended our day back at Seahouses and had dinner at the Olde Ship which is a nautical themed pub cluttered with shipping paraphenalia. I had the Steak and Ale pie and Kristen had the 'eak (Hake) which was fresh and tasty. We went back to the B&B and had snack and TV times on the giant bed of life.

Next day we headed back to Newcastle via the coast via Beadnell and Crastor to the mouth of the river Tyne. Driving in Newcastle is pretty scary expecially when you don't know where anything is. We eventually got to the Metro Centre with the help of Kristen's father which was packed with people doing early Christmas shopping. It's definitely the biggest shopping mall I've ever been to, not that I've ever really been excited by malls, but the ones here are amazing. There is just so much exciting choice for men in every shop.

We've spent the last couple of days hanging out in Gateshead/Newcastle starting to think about what we're going to do when we get to London from Tuesday onwards.