Oh, I do so much love being at the seaside!
Whitley Bay this time, just for a few days, and the grey mist lifted just in time for us to leave. But what a glorious morning it was! Our room, at the top of the hotel and right on the corner, felt like a lighthouse.
We walked miles, around Newcastle town centre, and along the seafront. We ate well and paddled in the sea.
I was quite taken with our hotel, which was engagingly grand and shabby, with many staircases, and proper old fashioned sheets-and-blankets beds.
(We were slightly less taken with the nightclub on the ground floor of the hotel, mind you).
On the way home (well, if you count a 70 mile detour as being ‘on the way home’) we stopped at Barter Books, a huge and fabulous second hand book shop in an old train station building in Alnwick.
I wanted to move in immediately, but instead settled for eating lunch and buying an armful of books.
We were only away three days, but both feel like we’ve had some kind of seaside rest cure. There’s something about being by the sea which makes everything seem right.
Mind you, the world felt pretty ok sitting in the garden when we got back too.
a cheerful living adventure 