Ain't gonna rain on our parade....

We had an awesome weekend up in the Northumberland/Borders region of the country, even though Mother Nature’s was on a quest to sabotage our journey to the best of her ability. It didn’t work. Despite the atrocious weather, we managed to hike around the hills and cliffs of St. Abbs, a beautiful village just inside the Scottish Border, even with ridiculously high winds we refused to be put off – after spending hours in the car it was just what we needed.

We found this little resevoir along the way...

A short break...

The view of St. Abbs from the clifftop

We found a pub down the road from our B&B that offered warming food at great prices and even allowed Molly to join us quietly under the table (is there ever any other way for our exceedingly well behaved dog to behave?).

We took a drive across the lowest causeway I have ever seen to get to Holy Island, an Island that is only accessible during low tide times:

Whilst on the island we walked a mile to the little castle on a bluff, and on our return journey ended up getting caught in a freak storm that soaked us to the skin and cut short our hope of finding some holiness at the priory – we did however manage to score some of the best fudge I have ever eaten – seriously.

View of the little castle on Holy Island

We visited Bamborough Castle and the gorgeous beach it was built above:

It felt like gale force winds from the castle grounds but we still managed a few quick photos:

The stunning coastline of this region were made even more so by the rolling waves that were crashing in to shore due to the high winds. Molly was full of exuberance and joy throughout most of this trip due to all the outside exploring, but never more so then when we were on the beaches. Many a people stopped to smile at our happy girl, and like one gent said when we were debating letting her go in for one last swim on Sunday night ‘Why not, its her holiday too!’ How right he was. Molly conked out immediately after our return to the BnB both nights and slept her heart out.

(Digging is almost as much fun as riding the waves!)

(Andy was pretty excited over the beaches too)

Late Sunday we explored the town where we were based, Berwick-upon-Tweed and ended up with a walk along the shore of the river on a path that also held remnants of the old castle walls; we meandered under the centuries old bridges that cross the River Tweed and stopped to take a number of photos.

(Stairs leading to the Secret Garden - Molly was fed up with picture taking)

The sun finally came out as we made one last trip down to the local beach that evening and stopped and played for at least an hour with Molly; there was a playground above the cliff of this beach and although Andy and I decided to have a swing and spin on the merry-go-round, Molly was having none of it and wanted us off that dangerous equipment immediately – she made this quite clear in her usuall Molly fashion – barking and trying to drag us off herself. It’s the easiest way to wind our dog up, honestly. I suppose that’s one good reason we don’t have small children to push on the swings, etc. because in Molly’s eyes it’s much too dangerous to play on those horrible things.

(Scenery is always better when the sun is shining)

Monday morning found us trying to negotiate a way around a number of cows and swampland to explore Ross Sands, but it wasn’t to be. The sign that warned of the possibility of the herd surrounding us to get to the dog kind of put me off; Andy tried to find an alternate route but none was to be found. It was disappointing but we made the best of it by hopping back in the car to head down the coast for lunch at Alnwick, another historic town surrounded by castle walls that boasts this beauty of a castle – it might not be built into the side of a cliff, but it was still impressive:

So ended our journey to the north.  We didn't let the weather get our spirits down and carried on with the full intent of having our short break away. I've come back feeling relaxed and revived; I'm still going to sleep at night thinking of the beautiful views that  I will carry with me until the next time.