Thu 15 Aug - Berwick-Upon-Tweed, England

Back in England for a day...

We had to leave Edinburgh today, our 1 week in the apartment had passed quickly and it was time to move on. We had tickets heading south to Newcastle on a 10am train. Why south? It turned out that car hire from Newcastle was significantly cheaper than hiring in Edinburgh or Glasgow and for a saving of several hundred pounds we were prepared to catch a train for 90 minutes.

First a breakfast of whatever we had left in the cupboards - a breakfast of champions - baked beans on toast. Di's Boston, MA, born friend, Bev has sometimes said beans are for lunch or dinner, not breakfast, so here is photo evidence for her that Heinz beans are delicious at 7am too.

We were sad to leave our flat, which we liked so much, but it was great that we only had 5-10 minutes walk to Waverley Station with our luggage

Our East Coast train left right on time at 10am and we were on our way. Hans soon had his favourite licorice all-sorts ready for nibbling.

The train was half full (a little more than half empty?) and the journey was smooth. We used the time to read some Scotland tourist and hiking brochures and made a list of lots of things we wanted to see/do. Very useful. What a hiking heaven Scotland is... There is only one thing though.... The weather.

Newcastle was not our intended destination for the end of today and in fact it looked a bit grim so we were glad we had booked elsewhere. For example, and no kidding, there was a queue of perhaps 50 taxicabs waiting for customers to arrive at the railway station.

We found our Hertz car hire and the lovely people there put us in a nice little Ford Astra Turbo for the next month. A completely different experience to the one with Hertz in Hollywood, CA.

Around midday we were on the road heading north near the coast towards Berwick-upon-Tweed and our B&B for tonight which was located right on Spittal (great name!) Promenade.
We arrived at 2pm, not yet having lunch and too early to check in. We were beside the sea side so of course what you have to do is try fish and chips at the beach. Hans ordered these - OK but nothing special. Di had a cheeseburger - a brave move which may not be repeated. The kiosk had somehow managed to cook the beef so it had hard edges (microwave perhaps). Oh dear. A soft serve afterwards helped overcome the taste.
Hans wanted a bite too...

We really liked the seaside feel and also the lack of crowds. Some people were on the beach but no tough souls swimming - just wading.

We checked into our B&B, the Roxburgh - all very casual. We turned up gave them our surname, they said ok and showed us to a room. No checking, no payment yet just chatty. We loved it.

The room had sea views - fantastic - lying in bed you see the sea and hear waves and seagulls.

The room has its own shower. This threw us - no toilet, but a small shower cubicle stuck in a corner and a sink. We share a toilet with the other 3 rooms on our floor.

We loved the mismatched floral designs and the large comfy bed and lots of space. For £50 a night with full English breakfast we think we found a bargain.

The view from the window looking back at where we had our lunch earlier...

We went out shortly afterwards to "promenade" and from there you could see our room - top floor right hand window where the photo above was taken from.
An overview of our short flaneur...

A couple of pics from the promenade.

Nobody does signs like the British. A spade is called a spade and none of that restroom / washroom code for toilet that you find in the US and in Canada. No fouling...?

Yep, we understood this message. Somebody got dogsh*t up their nose perhaps...

Hans found a cute girl along the promenade... :-)

We had a nap in our room after our flaneuring and then we drove across the bridge to BUT (that's Berwick-Upon-Tweed) proper, which is an old walled town. It was hard go navigate with tiny winding roads between buildings which reminded us of Verona. We took a wrong turn and ended up right at the old city wall. Yes, you are supposed to drive through there, which we did. Even with an Astra it was tight.
We found our restaurant, the Meadow House, and found that they offered "small portions" of several dishes, which is what we both had. Roast Chicken for Hans and roast beef for Di, both with "trimmings" which was both roast potatoes and mash as well as veggies and Yorkshire puddings. All for less than £6 per portion. The bill was less than £15 for both of us. Nice.
After dinner we drove back to Roxburgh B&B and spent the rest of the evening watching TV for our first time in the UK. Mich the same as everwhere else - Big Bang Theory and Cops - but with some strange topics too like "How to Get into Council Housing". We skipped that show. Good night.

 

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