On September 20th, we left early from O & Mo in the east of the country to drive west to IJmuiden, on the coast. We visited a cousin of my dad in the morning, which was lovely. As an immigrant, (normal) visits to the home country are always carefully planned trips with as many visits as possible. Some people, who live a little out of our 'circle of family/friends' we do not see often. This trip is one way to finally visit most of them and spend some precious time together. In the late afternoon we boarded the MS King Seaways, which would take us through the night across the North Sea from IJmuiden to Newcastle upon Tyne in Northeast England. After a good night's sleep and a simple breakfast in our cabin we enjoyed the entrance into England, past the Tynemouth Lighthouse and the Tynemouth Priory and Castle.
Our journey into Great Britain and Ireland could not have started with better weather than this sunshine!
We decided to go back to North Shields, where the Tynemouth Lighthouse was. We made a nice walk over the pier, soaking up sunshine and fresh air.
We are excited for the weeks ahead as it is already beautiful here!
We spent the night on a farm campsite. Raija thought of a new way to play shop, where the little window in the back of the campervan was her shop window. That afternoon we bought everything from her, from diaries, to pens, pots, and even kale! ;)
Before driving into Scotland, we stopped at Alnwick Castle. The castle has been founded in the late 11th century and is still as impressive today as it must have been 900 years ago. A fun fact: it was featured as Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter movies.
John and Sisko please have a couple of good drams of Scotch while in Scotland !!! If you visit Ireland don't bring up my family name, I believe my grandfather was run out of the country for sheep rustling. Continue your wonderful adventures and stay safe.