June 27, Newcastle

The most memorable part Newcastle was the people. The over-the-top friendly and helpful hostel manager, Brendan, who knew my name upon arrival, my lovely dormmate, Kristine, who was a seasoned traveler from Australia, and the mix of bored and flirtatious waiters at the nearby Italian restaurant, Santana's. What a great time! Newcastle had its own unique assortment of sights and sounds, including three prominent bridges. The graceful white arch of the Millenium bridge - Kristine told me- was modeled from a bridge in Sydney. On our brief morning sightseeing walk, on yet another gorgeous sunny day, Kristine and I unexpectedly saw a person flying across the Tyne in mid air! What's up?! There was a zipline spanning the river - how fun! We meandered through the streets past old churches and monuments, to the waterfront Quayside market. After perusing for a while, Kristine left for the train and I enjoyed a nice final tour through the city by bike and then onwards to the North Shields ferry terminal. Funny enough, I met many touring cyclists finishing the Coast-to-Coast route, which was only a few miles past the ferry terminal in Tynemouth. The 7 miles to the terminal was along a wonderful quiet, shady path. I reveled in being outside on my trusty bike, knowing I was going to be on a ferry for 15 hours. Getting on the ferry was quite the experience, as I was considered a 'vehicle' and had to follow and lock my bike next to the many motorbikes. Luckily, the ferry ride was without any seasickness, although I was woken up at 4 am with a hollering drunk British guy banging on a cabin door, threatening to 'get his gun' if the woman inside didn't open the door... Not as bad as having this situation on a plane, but definitely not pleasant. At this moment, I realized that the cabins didn't have emergency buttons. After 20 minutes of carrying on, a third person finally did something to dissolve the situation- not sure what happened but I was glad to go back asleep! We arrived in Amsterdam around 10 am and I was surprised to see all the modern windmills extending far into the bay. I was the last 'vehicle' off the ferry and was very glad to get off the hulking, stale-smelling, boredom factory. I thought I had to take a train to Amsterdam, but turned out I was wrong and ended up taking a smaller ferry to the city which was much more fun than expected. Ilana and Dan's place was not easy to find, so with all my confusion, wrong turns, and asking over 8 locals for directions, it took me most of the morning to get to my final destination! But what a treat! The city is amazingly unique, with its canals and cycling culture. Ilana gave me a warm welcome and we started our wonderful visit in Amsterdam :)

June 25 & 26, Alnwick

The adventure continues! Yesterday I biked from Berwick to Alnwick (pronounced Annick), totalling about 45 miles, with no flat tires or mechanical failures! The scenery was the best yet, with dramatic red cliffs and waves crashing down below, sand dunes with large tufts of grass, pastures with countless wildflowers, and gently rolling hills dotted with cows and sheep. Again, it was a wonderful sunny day in the high 60s with a sometimes strong wind since I was near the coast. There were, of course, wrong turns, reroutes across footpaths and pastures, as well as healthy bouts of cursing. I'm so glad I have touring bike and not a skinny road bike- otherwise I wouldn't have survived long on the national cycle routes! I even took pictures at points in the route where I thought incredulously to myself, 'you've got to be kidding!' I opened many gates into pastures filled with cows and sheep where the 'bike path' was simply the ruts made by tractors. The ride certainly gave me a full sensory, up-close-and-personal experience of the English countryside!

To get to the B&B at the end of the day - whose driveway was off the main coastal highway, I was directed by the owners to bike down a slightly less busy road, turn into a lane with a sign that says East Cawledge Park, and walk through several fields along a footpath until I saw a house with a chair on the roof (it doubles as an antique store). Sure enough, no such sign could be found which caused much cursing. I decided to turn down Middle Cawledge Park instead, and a nice farmer at the end of the lane showed me the fields at the back of his property that I had to cross. I can say that I was very happy to see the chair on the roof as I approached!

It was hard to find places to stay in Alnwick since it's a posh little town, so I stayed a bit out of the town center at Alnwick Lodge. Although it's not that expensive, it's a beautiful place and I got my own room with an ensuite bath that has a bathtub! Ah, the simple pleasures :)  I was knackered and went to bed (10 pm) before it was totally dark out.

Breakfast this morning was a lovely traditional English breakfast, with fried eggs, tomatos and mushrooms, as well as sausage and country-style bacon. There was homemade bread and fresh butter and orange marmalade. Yum! So I got off to a good start, knowing that i'd have to hike back through the fields to get on the road to Alnwick. Only this time, the gate at the farm where I got directions the day before was closed with a padlock! I tried to find another way around, but no luck. I ended up hoisting the bike and bags separately over the gate, of course dropping them in a patch of stinging nettle! Ouch! The rest of the day I spent visiting Alnwick castle and gardens- the castle is impressive and where the first Harry Potter film was shot. Alnwick gardens has a section filled entirely with poisonous plants! The first plant pointed out on the tour was stinging nettle :) Romans are said to have rubbed it on their skin in the winter time to feel 'warm'! Now I'm at the Alnmouth train station where I'll catch the train to Newcastle. Cheers for now!