Saltburn-by-the-Sea part 1

We've just spent a lovely week on holiday in the North of England. We hadn't exactly planned to go away just now (and don't usually go on holiday in the summer because of Peter's hay fever) but since our friend Hannah kindly offered us to stay in her house for a week, we thought it was too good of an offer to refuse! :-) And since it was only 1 mile from the sea, that would mean good air for an allergy sufferer! So, we headed off on the 6:40am train from here on the 23rd of July. It wasn't a very nice start when we got to Inverness and realised we only had about 5 minutes to catch the train to Newcastle and the conductor quite rudely shouted at us to get on the train *NOW*! Peter had a trolley with the suitcase and 3 car seats and was trying to find a carriage with sufficient luggage space. And I was coming along behind him, big bump, Clement on my hip in a sling, carrying fairly heavy double pushchair in left hand, 2 bags in my right hand, me nearly having an asthma attack, with Abigail & Benjamin in tow!! The conductor popped out of the train to shout at Peter just as we were passing him and *really* upset Benjamin. :-( Then as if that wasn't enough, the man asked me if I had my tickets already paid for, when I told him yes, he then shouted at me to get on the train NOW and disappeared inside the train - not even offering the least bit of help! :-O It was really appalling! I'm used to the local staff on the ScotRail trains being very helpful and kind, even when I hardly need help. And on this occasion, I'm desperate for help and struggling to breathe, and this man frightens my 3 year old son leaving him frantically crying, and then just goes off! So I have to say, I'm really not keen on city life/city people (no offense to friends of mine who live in the city! :-) ) but I'm always encountering rude people in cities! And this was a train bound for London, so he had no time to spare, I guess! When we confronted the man on the train about his behaviour he just continued to be rude and told us it was our fault, we were late, and we should have gotten there sooner! Duh! We had booked a through train from our home town to Newcastle, so it was an "approved" connection - we didn't realise it would be such a struggle to meet it. Now we know better! In any case, it was an unpleasant experience and took a good hour to calm poor Benjamin down afterwards. But thankfully it didn't ruin our holiday and we got to Newcastle around 1pm as planned, and Enterprise Hire Car met us there and we got our car for the week and then set off for Saltburn by the Sea, which is about 10 miles from Middlesbrough.

After a long and tiring day, it was too kind of Hannah to have a warm pot of soup waiting for us, with fresh homemade bread...AND homemade cookies too! We really appreciated it and it was very yummy. :-)

On Saturday morning (24th) the children all woke up by 6:45am - not exactly a welcome sight for tired parents, but at least it means you can't sleep your holiday away! LOL So, we were down at the beach before 10am!

Abigail enjoying the sand - she *loves* the seaside!

Benjamin at the beach

Clement decided he'd gotten up tooo early that morning, so was already having a nap! He didn't manage to play in the sand at all, but that might have been a good thing, as I'm sure it would have ended up in his eyes (like his food often does!).

Collecting sand

Attempting to make a sand castle

We were on the beach for about 1.5 hours before the sun came out. Once it warmed up, it was a bit much for Benjamin (he doesn't cope well with heat - even cool British heat!) and it was getting a bit crowded, so we headed off down the pier seen in an above photo and then up the cliff lift (which I didn't manage a photo of, though you can see it here: http://www.brydene.com/images/clifflift.jpg). Then we walked into town to get sandwich makings, and then had a very long walk downhill to a park where we had lunch. After lunch we took a ride on the miniature railway. Again, I failed to take a photo of it, but can be seen here: http://www.haveyoubeenhere.co.uk/train1.jpg

And then some yummy ice cream!

On the Lord's day (25th) we were in Stockton at church and with our friends the Mohons between services. We had a lovely day and it was very good to fellowship with them again.

On Monday morning we headed off to the Newham Grange Country Farm. Clement is watching the piglets in the above photo. But he got very frightened when the mummy pig opened her mouth *very* widely as she begged us for some food!

Abigail showing "Fluffy" (her favourite stuffed cat) the rare breed chickens

Having fun in the play area at the farm

Relaxing in the big swing

Clement walking up the slide

Having a ride on a tractor

After the farm we went to Guisborough for the afternoon. We got some take-away food from Subway and then ate on a bench. Abigail and Benjamin enjoyed this work of art while they had their sandwiches! :-) And then we had a wander round a number of shops in the town.

More photos/details in post 2 below:

Saltburn-by-the-Sea part 2

On Tuesday (27th) we went to Middlesbrough for the day. We started with a picnic in Albert Park, a lovely and huge park fairly near the centre of town.



Abigail having fun on the play equipment after lunch!

Abigail and Benjamin

And Abigail and Clement

After the park we went to the Dorman Museum, which was next to the park. The children really enjoyed looking around at everything inside. Probably their favourite exhibit was the huge collection of stuffed birds and eggs with nests (which were mostly over 100 years old). There were also fossils and other interesting things.

Abigail sitting in some kind of throne/chair that was next to a pretend Pharaoh!

Benjamin looking a bit confused by it all!

After the museum we went to the Transporter Bridge, which we got to ride across on (a sort of hanging basket that takes cars & people from one side to the other). After the bridge we finished the evening with some dinner in Pizza Hut.

On Wednesday (28th) we had a fun day at the Mohons, and the children enjoyed playing with their 3 grandchildren. The above photo shows them digging potatoes in the allotment, where Mrs Mohon grows lots of lovely vegetables!

Potatoes again!

Clement and his daddy :)

Clement and his broad bean

Benjamin with an onion!

After the allotment, we stopped at a park on the way back, where Benjamin enjoyed climbing on things!

and over things

And looked like he was going to climb out of this very high tower!

Clement trying to make friends with Martha's dog Zach!

Caleb and Clement playing together! :)

Thursday (29th) was a quieter day as we got ready for leaving the next day. We did a bit of shopping in Redcar etc.

Friday (30th) we got up early and left Saltburn before 8am in an effort to get to Newcastle without being held up with too much morning traffic. It was good we left early, as we had a bit of a disaster on the way with Benjamin vomiting in the hire car! (Which we now know can be an expensive experience, as we're told there will probably be a fee of about 50 pounds for them to valet it!) So anyway, we had to stop alongside the road to clean up Benjamin and the car, before continuing on to Newcastle. Peter dropped me, children & luggage at the train station and then took the hire car back. We had a quiet and uneventful journey to Edinburgh from there. Once we got to Edinburgh, it was a bit chaotic as they only announced the gate we were to leave from about 8 minutes before the train was due to depart! So there were masses of people trying to rush through the security gates to get to the Inverness train! Clement had a bit of a panic as we were getting onto the train (he seems very claustrophobic and doesn't cope well with small spaces) so he kept trying to climb out of the train as we were arranging the bags! We finally got seated in a *very* hot coach. And we waited for a while before finding out that one of the coaches was out of action due to an electric fault, meaning people mean to be there would have to find seats elsewhere. And due to the coach being "out" the train staff couldn't go from one end of the train to the other, so we travelled for about an hour with NO windows open and everyone was pouring sweat! The crowded train meant there were cyclists with their bikes in the toilets and they were sitting on the floors, etc. Peter managed to find a cyclist who had an Allen key in his bag, and at last, we could open the windows and get a bit of air! Arriving in Perth it was evident that there weren't enough seats for people and there were very hot people standing everywhere in the train! But before it left the station (after a long delay) they decided it was better for people to sit in a train with no lights/toilets/electricity rather than standing everywhere all the way to Inverness! So that at least meant it was less crowded, though I'm thankful we weren't in that coach! We missed our connection in Inverness but a later train to Kyle & Wick (which splits in Dingwall) was held for all of us, and at last, we were home-bound, arriving only 1 hour late! :-) I have to admit, it was very good to be home after that last leg of the journey! But we all came home with colds (and it was a cold that made Benjamin sick in the car, as he vomits very easily when he has a cold and was sick in the train too!), but thankfully he's a lot better now. Clement has been teething since the beginning of last week, has a cold, and also has some sort of tummy upset (which no one else has) so he's quite majorly grumpy for the past week or so, but hopefully he'll be his normal happy self soon!

And that's the end of our holiday! Back to chores at home and plenty of laundry to be done! Well, it's all washed as of Saturday, but piles to be put away! So I must get busy!