2008: Week 40

From Carlisle we took a bus to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The original plan had been to take the Hadrian's Wall tourist bus, but at the tourist office we were told it was a small bus, and since we would also have had to wait three hours for a connection we decided to take a regular bus. Bad move, the regular bus was slow, still required a connection (which we missed), and didn't give us even a glimpse of the wall. We'll know better next time. Actually, next time we'll probably try a driving holiday, it seems to be the most efficient way to see many of the smaller places we missed this trip.

We finally arrived at Newcastle and made our way to our hostel which turned out to be excellent. Newcastle is of course famous for the Tyne bridge, built around the same time as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and another six bridges which span the Tyne. You can easily see all seven at the same time. Some highlights in Newcastle were a trip to Tynemouth, where we saw a beautiful old castle above the beach, Laing Art Gallery, with a small but excellent collection of local artists, and a trip across the Tyne to Gateshead where my paternal grandmother was born.

An adventurous travel option came next - we caught the overnight ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam. This was quite a journey, with spectacular views as we sailed down the Tyne and on to the North Sea, then lots of waves throughout the night. We were very pleased that we decided to take the budget option and carry our own food as the on-board prices were horrendous (would you pay 5 pounds for a one cup plunger of coffee?). Breakfast was a sad affair though, without even a cup of tea.

We finally landed in Amsterdam (Ijmuiden to be precise), and after a short bus trip we arrived in the heart of Amsterdam. Out accomodation for the first night was a little unconventional, in a houseboat set up as a hostel. I have to admit that I'm not convinced this was a great idea. It was certainly different, but the room was even tinier than I expected, and the gangplang leading on-board was not really ideal for carrying luggage. I was not sorry to leave the next day when we moved to our long term accomodation in the lively area of De Pijp. We have mostly rested since then, with a few outings to buy food and explore the local area. The weather has been poor, but I've enjoyed spending a lot of time at home reading and relaxing after many weeks of travel.

Best of the week
- Visiting Gateshead and getting a feel for the place my great-grandparents lived, then boarding a ship and sailing away (after spending just one night on the ferry, I cannot imagine what it would have been like to sail to Australia). How would you feel as the boat left the place you were born and carried you to an unknown land half a world away?
- Segedunum Roman Fort and Hadrian's Wall. Both only visible after excavation work, but amazing all the same.
- Finally arriving in our Amsterdam apartment, home for the next few weeks.

Worst of the week
- The space between the top and bottom bunk in our houseboat cabin. Much too little head-room for my liking!
- Discovering that the supermarket runs out of bread on Saturday afternoon, and having to wait for Monday for more of the good stuff. Fortunately we could buy the bake at home variety to go with our soup, but I've already developed a habit of eating fantastic dark bread spread with blackcurrant jam - the last few slices have been rationed out today.