It was sad to put the mountains and lochs of Scotland behind us but homeward we must go and south we must travel. We had a long drive ahead of us, past Perth, skirting round Edinburgh, through the borders and south to Alnwick, home of Hogwarts castle (well a bit of it in the first two movies, anyway).

We broke our journey at Dunbar where there was a huge beach and a perfect place to chill out for a few hours, eating lunch and playing in the sea… well the kids did. Andy and I watched in wonder as they played and laughed in the freezing North Sea. Oliver looked exhilarated as he improved his body boarding skills and managed to travel a reasonable distance on the crest of a wave. Elizabeth meanwhile jumped and chased the waves. It was great fun.

When the tide turned and the waves started to get stronger we packed up and completed our journey to Alnwick. We had planned to free camp, having heard that it was possible to do so next to the castle. However, when we got here we soon found that this was not the case. All the car parks (of which there are several) had the same sign: no cooking, no camping, no sleeping. I guess too many people were doing exactly what we had planned. Thankfully the local rugby club has seized the opportunity by providing camping pitches, and luckily for us had availability.

Buoyed by being in civilisation for the first time since we left home, we parked up and headed straight out to find a pub and supper. The first place we stopped at was fully booked… as was the second, third, fourth… some didn’t do food. Things were not looking promising. Finally we landed in an Indian restaurant, which Andy was pleased about.

Alnwick is a gorgeous town and I can see why it’s so popular. It’s made up of the castle, medieval arches, alley ways and courtyards, surrounded by 2-3 story Georgian stone buildings. I can imagine it’s a lovely place to come for a long weekend, in the way those in the south would go to Lymington or Winchester. Thankfully our search for dinner gave us the opportunity to meander and see the town.

The downside of being in a town is that we can’t appreciate the stars. We are now in Europe’s largest ‘dark sky’ area and are hoping to see the Milky Way. Tonight we saw a red full moon but there’s too much light for us to see more than we would at home. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.