Day 19 and Day 20 - two good days.

Day Nineteen:  Tuesday.

 Today I was up and out even earlier than on Sunday morning - this time I was leaving the townhouse at 7 a.m. (who said this was a holiday anyways??)  But I was happy to do so because this was the day I was going to Rothbury!  Buses to Rothbury leave every two hours so if I was going to make this day worthwhile I had to catch the 8:15 out of Newcastle.  

Rothbury is a super-special place for me.  It's where most of my childhood holidays were spent; in a caravan in a farmer's field just outside the village.  When people in their droves were heading for Whitley Bay for their hols, we headed inland - to the beautiful countryside of the area of the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland.  I think Rothbury became "ours" because mum and her parents used to holiday there.

The last time I was in Rothbury was in 2004 when Peter and I scattered some of Mum's ashes at the base of Billberry Hill.  It was time to go back.

from the upper deck of the bus (thru dirty window)

Rolling into Rothbury on a double decker bus was a great experience.  "Back in the day" it would never ever have been a double decker.  But given the opportunity, I braved the upper level and the front seat!  The scenery was brilliant and the many twists and turns still very well remembered.  

Rothbury as a village could be described as a big village.  Way more than the basic pub, church and post office.  It's got an active community and it's high street is still thriving.  

The Vale Cafe in situ

Once off the bus at a little after 9:30 I headed for the Vale Cafe.  While the interior is somewhat different than it was in the 50's/60's it's still the best place to start the day either with breakfast or, as in my case this day, a pot of tea and a toasted teacake.  It's where we always began the Billberry Hill Hike.  

Then basically for the rest of the day I just wandered happily around the village, down by the River Coquet and so on.   Had lunch at the Queen's Head (which Peter will remember) - not as  nice as I had wanted it to be (the place or the food).  A bit tatty now.  Went back to the Vale for afternoonses before catching the 2:55 bus back.

But while wandering I was quite trigger happy with the camera...

Armstrong Cottages.  These are at the entrance to the village and my mother always said that she'd like to retire there.  I had always assumed it was an old folks home but they were built as almshouses in the late 1800's.

This is the old Congregational Church.  Not sure what it is now.  Maybe a private dwelling.  The year my dad was in charge of organizing the Sunday School picnic from Whitley Bay he chose Rothbury of course!  We had our picnic at the church here and then had our games and races and such down by the river.

To finish off I will tell you that while I was waiting at the bus stop to leave Rothbury, the bus came the other way - it's route took it to the next village, Thropton where it would turn around. I dashed across the road and got on it so that I could enjoy the ride.  And enjoy it I did.  The countryside was lovely.  

Day Twenty:  Wednesday.

Well today turned out to be an unexpected treat.  Without over-planning, I decided late morning to go to South Shields.  More than just going to South Shields, this was also going to be my first time on the ferry across the River Tyne from North Shields to South Shields.

In the 20 years I lived in this neck of the woods I never went to South Shields.  I assume there would have been no good reason to do so.  There's a beach there - but we had one of those in Whitley Bay 😉  

Two things drew me this time:  wanting to check out the ferry and the other being a place called The Word - the national centre for the written word which was listed in a tourism brochure.  Sounded interesting so without too much fuss I found out how to get to the ferry and off I went.  

The ferry is very nice and efficient and reliable and takes 7 minutes to cross the River Tyne.  They run twice an hour each way.  There were only a few folks on board and I made some sundry comments to a fellow who gleaned correctly that I was new to all this and pointed places out to me and gave me a bit of a history lesson.  He pointed out a big building just beyond the ferry landing saying this was the library.  I said I was looking for The Word.  He didn't know what that was.  Turns out The Word is actually the library - but as I discovered as soon as I went through the doors - it was a library and so much more.  

This library shot to the top of my library hit parade!  I may have mentioned that so many (most/all) of England's libraries, museums and even cathedrals have nice cafes - and The Word is no different - so in order to just sit and wonder before I went exploring I had lunch in the beautifully appointed cafe.  I'd

been dying to try the Double Ginger ice cream from the Northumbrian Doddington Dairy so thought this was as good a time as any.  It was very nice.  Gingerly good.

What made this library No. 1?  The architecture for starters.  The flow of the space.  The thoughtfulness of the areas for people and themes and displays...

Feeling buoyed by my experience at the library, rather than head back to the ferry I walked through the market square and down a pedestrian only shopping street.  A bit grungy like most high streets these days but one sensed the age and proud history of the area in some of the buildings - and one in particular stood called out not only because it was lovely looking but it was the museum and art gallery and it had a cafe and it was time for afternoon tea and cake.

Tea and a most excellent Victoria sponge was enjoyed before I took myself into the various exhibits on two floors.  It was all a wonderful depiction of the history, ancient and more recent, of the south Tyneside area.  

In the art gallery area this painting got me.  Blackberrying by Harold Harvey 1917.  

Finished off the day by shopping in Morrisons getting in supplies for the Liverpool folks who arrive tomorrow.  

  

My goodness, nearly forgot - in the museum was the Laughing Policeman!!!!  The Laughing Policeman was coin-operated entertainment in fair grounds including the seafront of Whitley Bay in it's heyday.  It cost 6d back then.  I paid 20p for the pleasure of it this afternoon in the museum.  I know you'll be delighted that I'm sharing it with you!  haha.
I tried loading the 20 sec video into the blog but it was taking far too long so it's now on my youtube channel.... https://youtu.be/Aah88CfAJP4