In addition to our trips to Rome, Liverpool, Jersey. Christchurch this year, we have just returned from a week in the Scottish Borders. Although delayed by 24 hours at Heathrow thanks to the heavy fog last weekend, we finally flew from London City Airport and arrived in Edinburgh on Sunday evening.
Having collected our Enterprise rental Mercedes from their excellent local outlet, we drove to Coldstream and our accommodation for the next five nights, namely the Newcastle Arms in the high street.
We had chosen the small town as a base, as it sat neatly halfway between my sister Janet’s home in Bowden to the west and the Berwick coastline to the east. Monday saw us visit Janet and her family, including my nephew Alex and his son Barnaby, who were visiting from their homes in New Zealand and Australia.
On Tuesday we drove to Berwick and enjoyed the bracing air on the local beaches, plus toured the marvellous Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, before driving south to the county town of Alnwick. We then returned to Coldstream in time to join in the New Year celebrations in the pub.
After a restful day on the 1st, we were aware that the evening is often cause for a greater party than the previous night, and so it proved with a disco and a packed bar. The following day we drove over to Norham, where we met Janet for lunch at the Mason’s Arms and a walk along the Tweed to the Union Chain Bridge.
This Bridge spans the River Tweed between Horncliffe, Northumberland, England and Fishwick, Borders, Scotland. It was designed by Captain (later Sir) Samuel Brown RN, who held patents for the design of the chains, although Brown altered the tower and abutments on the suggestion of John Rennie. When it opened in 1820 it was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world with a span of 137 metres (449 ft), and the first vehicular bridge of its type in the United Kingdom.
On Friday we said goodbye to our superb hosts in the Newcastle Arms and headed for Edinburgh and a couple of hours around the Royal Mile before dropping off the car at the airport and catching our return flight, which happily was on time.
Our thanks to everyone we met this week, especially the locals in Coldstream, who were great fun and gave us a very warm welcome.
Main picture: a great hall in Bamburgh Castle.
