Thursday 4th May 2023

We had an uncomfortable night in the van, first one ever I think.

Turns out that we really weren’t particularly level, and especially a left-to-right slope, which meant that it was uncomfortable.

It was a cold and windy drive into Alnwick, which is very picturesque, we parked up at the Castle Gardens, good spaces for vans, and wandered into the walled town.

I learned about the Bondagers which was an odd scheme for labouring in the border regions.

We popped into the Market, and it was nice enough, but it was a very cold day, and raining on and off, so we headed to Barter books, which we’d passed on the way in.

Amazing!

I’ve been to the legendary Powell’s and while Barter books isn’t as big, it is probably the closest I’ve seen in the UK.

I could’ve spent a lot of money on books, but I managed to refrain, and we opted to have our elevenses there, a toasted tea-cake and coffe was not bad.

After that, we wandered down to Turnbull’s Northumbrian Food Hall, as Barter Books was to books, Turnbull’s was to food, they had a great range of fresh meats in various forms, reminded me of one of my favourite places, Cranstons in Penrith.

We picked up a couple of tasty chicken breasts, and then popped in to the M&S next door for some essentials.

When we got back, we were a lot more deliberate about levelling the van, for the first time, we had to have the front wheels on different levels.

We had a quiet afternoon, reading and relaxing in the van, and the Turnbull’s chicken breasts went with some potato rostis and veg for dinner.