Road Trip

Mrs A decided we needed a break, and as ever she was right, we decided to take a few days in Northumberland staying at a hotel which was an excellent base for exploring the coast. We decided not to use the A66 and continued up to the border and then along the Wall.

Our first stop was in Hexham, the town has a long history and suffered quite a few times from Scottish raids, Wallace burned the place and Bruce demanded £2,000 not to do so. There are several old medieval buildings in the town centre with an imposing Old Gaol and a gatehouse. We met a very friendly old lady who helped us with directions and gave us a parking pass, I don't generally like people but now and again I am proved wrong. The hotel was English country house style and nice enough, sadly the food was not great and after the first evening meal and terrible breakfast we ate elsewhere, I would have been very displeased if I had paid full price for the place. Luckily for us we were spoiled by the many fish restaurants in the immediate area a couple of which we booked.

Hexham.

The first day was a tour of Bamburgh and its castle, not a lot in the town apart from a famous butcher, accolades well deserved. The castle looked very imposing during the drive along the coast but when you get nearer it, to me, it looked a mess, nothing seemed to fit. I found out that during the Wars of the Roses  it had been destroyed and left in ruins, the first castle to be taken due to artillery fire. It ended up in the hands of William Armstrong the engineer who spent oodles of his cash rebuilding the castle, most of it being a Victorian idea of a medieval castle and other parts being put to use as a school and other buildings to help the locals. The best part for me was a small lecture on the Wars of the Roses by one of the guides, he was very animated and did a good job of explaining the politics behind the wars, being a smart arse I forgave him the two mistakes he made and kept quiet, although I did point them out to the Memsahib who didn't care, well done that man. We then took a three mile walk along the sandy beach which was a favourite for Viking raiders, to Craster for fish and chips, I was close to getting a taxi or heaven forbid a bus back, but I manned up and continued the march. 

Scotch pies, mmmmmm.

Food Heroes.

Bamburgh Castle.

Ditto.

And again.

Gateway, at least it is medeival.

The next day was for me, another trip to Flodden, my third I think. I had thought that the placing of the Scots army was wrong, that the line was too long, but this time I realised that they did not come down the two fields which face the monument, but were further along to the left, at least this made more sense to me than opposite the monument where the hill was very steep. As I moved along I noticed that the English ridge was still pretty high right along this route and the dip where the boggy ground lay would have been an exhausting barrier to fight up from. The fly in the ointment is that if my thoughts were correct the Scottish left was almost completely severed from the rest of the army and a long way away on lower ground which did not have a bog, why? Was this because of the two steep fields and the ridge opposite them, who knows. Would this explain why Hume and Huntley did not come to the aid of their comrades further along the hill with nearby English cavalry being a threat and they may not have been able to see the central melee? A sad day for Scotland.

Branxton Hill from the monument. 

 

Scottish left flank, past the tree.

Looking at the English left.

English line on the ridge, from James' position.

Information board.

The day was finished off with a visit to Coldstream and the Guards Museum. This is a very small building with not a lot in it for a Guards regiment, but remember I am very hard to please. In a second room was a Flodden exhibit which consisted of a 10mm diorama of the battle, then a wall and a half of Coldstream local history. I didn't find the caretaker overly friendly or ready to share any knowledge he had.

Flodden diorama.

Glass reflection was bad.

The next day was taken up by a trip to Alnwick, now this is a castle and a very grand one, it also contained a museum to the Northumberland Fusiliers, far better than the Guards museum. There were also state rooms in the keep so Mrs A. was happy as well. While we walked through the town I bumped into a plaque informing the public that the First Class Lounge of the S.S. Olympic, sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic was inside the hotel. This I had to see, and very grand it is too, although back in the day I would have been in steerage and not allowed on such hallowed ground. We finished our visit with a stop at Barter Books the kind of place you could easily spend the whole day browsing in, they also have a nice cafe. And yes I could not leave without picking up a couple of books.

Alnwick Castle.

More castle.

Beautiful.

So there we are, the weather stayed sunny up until the last day, we popped into my son's in Darlington on the way back to drop off a couple of those award winning pies from the Bamburgh butcher, one of Rick Stein's food heroes.