Day 1

What is it with holidays? You spend all year dragging yourself out of bed for work or daily chores. The idea of a holiday is to relax, maybe have a wee lie in and wham, there you are up at 6am bright as a button!
So up we were. The sky was bright and the day looked promising.

These views were what greeted us. Stunning tranquillity.

After coffee we ventured out again and met the neighbours.

They seemed quite affable and were curious of us until Skye caught the scent and began to bark. Then they were off across the field. Now this was quite amusing to us as Skye could not see over the wall so had no idea what it was she was smelling and likewise the cattle could not see her, only hear her.

Back indoors we settled down to a relaxing morning when oh my goodness disaster struck. I am well into knitting a Swirl Jacket which at this point had over 400 stitches on the needle when horrors the needle tip snapped right off. Argh!! Quickly I grabbed a couple of stitch holders which were in my wee kit and managed to rescue the stitches.
This picture shows roughly where I was when the needle snapped

So what was I to do? The only other knitting I have with me are some socks on 2.5mm needles and this was a 3.75mm. I am so addicted to this project that I have touched nothing else since I cast it on on the 6th Sept. My plan this holiday was to hopefully get it finished so I will have a cosy cardi for the autumn and winter. I packed light when it came to knitting this year, (totally unlike me, just ask himself). 
Darling hubby to the rescue. He says well we would just have to go find a wool shop and buy a new one.
A little research later and we discover there is a shop in Alnwick. Off in the car we go. Now we have been to Alnwick before and loved it. It was on our list of places to visit this trip, but not quite so soon. Upon arrival we discovered that the annual Food & Beer Festival was in full swing in the marketplace. Wow, what glorious things we were offered to taste and drool over. The needle was almost forgotten about. Unfortunately I had not brought my camera, nor had we brought our bank cards so looking and the odd tasting were all we could do. Mind you we were handed a free bag of tatties by one stall and we are looking forward to trying them out soon.
The other thing of note which happened as we were making our way back to the car was I am pretty sure I almost literally bumped into the celebrity chef Jean Cristophe Novelli. I am certain it was him. He was surrounded by folk and had whites on under his jacket.

Anyway back to the cottage we came to discover we had a visitor

What a beauty we were entranced. 

Then after the excitement of the morning we both fell asleep!

Once we awoke we lit the fire and settled back to relax at last. I made more progress on my swirl and we watched Foyle's War and Midsomer Murders on ITV3. 

A last look outside showed the clouds had lifted and the moon was lighting up the sky almost like the sun.

It is so dark here with no light pollution I wish I could take night photos to show it, but here for you is my best effort.

Night night for now!

Stay safe and happy crafting

Mary

Getting There

All Packed Up

So Friday dawns and it is time for the hols to begin. Only one problem, not packed yet. A few frantic hours later and we are ready to load the car. A few trips later and it is done, or is it? I pop into the bedroom to cuddle the sleeping kitties and tell them to be good and, horrors the large bag holding all, and I mean all, of our clothes is still sitting on the bed! Oh lordy, thank goodness the kitties decided to have their afternoon nap on the bed.

A little huffing and puffing and shoogling of stuff around the car we are finally ready for the off.

Here we go! The journey begins quite uneventfully I pull us into the garage for petrol. Holy crap, what is that guy buying? The whole shop? He is in there forever and his car is blocking access to both the pumps which dispense fuel to the drivers side. Only one thing for it, the fuel line will just have to stretch. A few good pulls later and it is in. Fuel is duly pumped into the tank and we go in to pay. He is still there, holding everyone up! What is it with some folk? Never mind, we are on holiday let us smile and be happy. 

On the Way

On the road at last. I pull out onto the A1 and we are off. Nothing much of note here except I am sure the speed limit if you are towing a caravan is not over 70mph. I mean 70mph is the maximum speed limit in the country and that is only for motorway style roads. Yet here  am being chased along by a car towing a caravan. Now I refuse to speed. The speed limits are there for safety. Yet he continually gets right up behind me. Eventually on a dual carriageway stretch south of Grantshouse he overtakes. I am doing 60mph at this point which is the max for this stretch of road. His caravan is swinging around wildly and other vehicles are hesitating to get too close. I have eased off slightly by this point for safety.

Anyway on we go and cross the border into England! Oh my we have left our beloved nation behind. A little later we veer off the main road and suddenly things become much more relaxed. A quick stop for Skye to pee and us to have a leg stretch and we are off again. One B class road, one A class road and one unclassified road later and we spot the cottages. Wow, from up here they sure look grand.

A left turn and down the hill we go to the entrance to the steadings. This looks great!

It took us just under two hours to get here and it felt as if we had hardly left yet. That kind of drive I like.

Getting In

So here we are! We follow the instructions in the e-mail and find our key. Then we open the door. Holy cow this place is lovely. A quick lookie through the rooms, must find the loo!, and then it is time to put the kettle on. Ah bliss a hot drink. Now to unpack the car. This is done with amazing speed and it is time to settle in. Eek disaster! Guess who knocked half a dozen eggs off the counter and onto the floor? Yep it was me. What a start. Ach well we have some more. Finally all the food and clothes are put away and it is time to relax. Yep, time to relax. Yee ha! 

We lit the fire, yes it has a lovely log burner and we settled back. I don't even think I will manage much knitting tonight as I am bushed. 

I will take some photos tomorrow and share our 1st day until then, I just want to enjoy the darkness and sleep the sleep of the dead.

Time to do just that methinks.

Stay safe and happy crafting.

Mary