Newcastle upon Tyne; Saturday, 26 September, 2015

Breakfast eaten I headed down to the Metro station and headed on into town to the bus station at Haymarket to pick up the bus north to Alnwick.

There were a number of options available with three different routes all going to Alnwick, but given the next one leaving was also the fastest I decided that was probably the best one to go for.

About 90 minutes later the bus pulled into the bus station in Alnwick and I got off for a wander around the town centre.

After a bit of wandering I found my way over to Alnwick castle and gardens to have a look around them, spending quite a bit of the day inside the grounds.

Having exhausted the castle and gardens – though not taking part in the Harry Potter broomstick riding activity (parts of Alnwick Castle was used in the films) – I headed back over to the bus station and picked up the bus onwards to Alnmouth a couple of miles outside of town, and on the coast at, as the name might suggest, the mouth of the river Aln that also runs though Alnwick.

I spent quite a bit of time taking in the beautiful scenery and lovely beach before picking up the bus back into Alnwick, but which point it was starting to get late and I realised I hadn’t had any lunch. I stopped in a café for a very late panini and coffee dinner/lunch before heading back over to the bus station and picking up a different bus for the slightly longer, but possibly more scenic, route back down into Newcastle.

Having had lunch so late, and with it now quite late I decided I wasn’t feeling that hungry and instead headed back to the hotel for a drink in the bar before turning in for the night.