Onwards and ever upwards....

We woke up and made love. I don't like to call it sex, we made love

We had breakfast and then pored over the tourist info leaflets racked up in reception. I hadn't realised how close we were to Lindisfarne Island, I'd wanted to go there since I was a kid a read a book that was set there.

It's an island off the coast of Northumbria (or Northumberland perhaps, my apologies for not knowing exactly), and it's always appealed to me because you can drive or walk there at low tide, but as the tide comes it becomes a proper island and completely inaccessible until the next low tide. Strandings are common and the whole island has been synonymous with solitude in my mind.

I don't think it's inhabited but I know there's ruins of a monastery there. Apparently St Cuthbert lived there. I think he brought Christianity to the UK, or at least these parts. I like ruins, and tt has never seen anything old in her adult life. We decide to try and visit, but we've no idea on tide times.

We also find a leaflet that features a cool looking castle. We head off in eager anticipation. Our first proper day of exploring together.

The castle was first, and it was fantastic. I'm so sorry I can't remember what it was called. I'll check and update. Remind me if I forget. It was right on the coast and had fantastic views of the sea. Lots of cannons defending the coastline.

It also housed a pretty impressive museum and watching tt explore history was uncanny. I've always loved castles, but I've never been to one with anyone that genuinely enjoyed it so much as tt. She looked completely overawed as we looked around the whole place and discussed every nook and cranny. We spent hours there.

We left eventually and headed towards Lindisfarne. Unfortunately we weren't luck enough to catch the tide. We weren't the only ones, there is a car park at the end of a very long and lonely road where you can wait for the tides to change. We didn't have time to wait so we continued up the coast. We were supposed to be in Edinburgh already.

On the way up the coast tt had her first experience of UK weather. It turned from sunny to cloudy, to hail, to sun, to rain. We wound our way up the A1. My neighbour is from Edinburgh and he'd told us to stop at another castle. Again, I'll have to do a rain check on the name.

It was wonderful though. Shame it was covered in scaffolding. I've got pictures and I'll put them in here as soon as I've downloaded them. There is a small island just off the coast and you can see a building on it. tt and I discussed whether it was a lighthouse or church. I'm sure it was a church because it was on the lee side of the island which would make it useless as a lighthouse unless it was to serve as a warning to people trying to swim to Norway....

We then carried on up to Edinburgh. We found a guesthouse and then caught a bus into town.

The bus journey was an adventure for tt. For the first time she overheard what I would call "typical" UK girl behaviour. Some tarty girls, possibly pro's, were shouting to one another about their exploits the night before. And it was only 6pm! I felt ashamed of my country and tt appeared shocked.

The city of Edinburgh was beautiful though, tt seemed to fall in love with the ancient place. We had a beer and talked about things that we'd discussed online years ago.

To be next to her is heavenly. We've chatted for years, but to hear her voice and feel her next to me is amazing.

We go back to the guesthouse and I manage to get some free wireless internet access as tt goes to bed. I use it to check the ski forecasts for the Scottish highlands. It's not looking good, everywhere is reporting no snow. I'm a little depressed. I really want to show my girl proper snow.

I suppose it doesn't matter too much, we're having a wonderful time just exploring together and being together. But I still hope we find snow, I promised her I'd show her snow!

Woke: Morpeth
Bed: Edinburgh
Done: 130 miles ish