Pen Friend Visit

Well my pen friend who I started writing to when I was 12 has been and gone.   She arrived on Friday.  On Saturday we paid a visit to Alnwick Gardens and the castle (seen in the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey too).  The weather was fantastic and both the castle and gardens looks fabulous.  My pen friend was very impressed with both.  My pen friend is on the left of picture and that is me on the right. 

Sunday it was a walk around our village and then on the afternoon we went to Beamish Hall for afternoon tea.  We choose the Tiffin Tea as it was a little more savoury than the cream tea.  It was delicious.

Monday we went to the Roman Wall and visited Housesteads Roman Fort.  Work started on this in AD 122 and it took a decade to build.  We also called in to The Sill - the new visitors centre which has an 86 bedroom Youth Hostel and a wonderful cafe where we had lunch.   It rained a bit that day but it wasn't too bad.

Yesterday morning it was pouring but we went to Newcastle Quayside.  I felt I had to show my pen pal the Tyne Bridge and all our other wonderful bridges.  She is a keen cyclist so we called in to the Cycle Hub Cafe for morning coffee.  

After a walk along the Quayside it was home for lunch and packing and my pen friend then caught a train to Edinburgh.  Her husband was flying in from San Francisco and they are spending six nights there before flying to Portugal for another six nights.  They are spending three days at a beach resort and three days in Lisbon.  After that her husband goes home (he doesn't have as much holiday to take) and then my pen friend is doing an eleven day cycle tour through Portugal into Spain.

Today we've had a relaxing day after our busy weekend.  I have added some extra photos of our weekend.