End of Summer and Fall Adventures

We had an absolutely gorgeous Summer and Fall in Helensburgh.

We got out as much as we could with bike rides and walks downtown to enjoy some of our favorite places.

 

We hung out with friends and made some new ones along the way.

We attended a boat show,

and watched fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night.

The garden was also enjoying the abundance of sunshine.

 Quince, Lemon, Blueberries, Grapes, Plums and Blackberries.

We enjoyed canning and baking with our fresh fruits. 

We did get a little bit of travelling in as well. 

We headed south to visit our friends in England for a long weekend.  

We stopped off in Harrogate for the night and met some fellow Americans also living abroad.  We look forward to catching up with them again and comparing notes on our travel adventures.

 We enjoyed 2 fun-filled nights with our friends Tony and Angie, enjoying the sights around The Crown Inn and celebrating Tony's birthday.

Our second trip we hopped the train for the 4 hour ride to Newcastle upon Tyne for the weekend.  We enjoyed walking around town taking in the sights.  Newcastle is a great walking city full of culture, history and great shopping!

We took a stroll down the waterfront and enjoyed the amazing views!

After dinner we met some locals at the pub.  (We were told that we wandered into the best pub in town, imagine that.)  We had a fun night talking about travel adventures with them.  

They recommended that we head to Tynemouth the next day, so we took their advice and hopped the train to see the sights.  (Thanks for the recommendation, it made our trip complete!)

Tynemouth Castle and Priory

 Tynemouth Castle is located on a rocky headland (known as Pen Bal Crag), overlooking The Tynemouth Pier.  The moated Castle, towers, gatehouse and grounds are combined with the ruins of the Benedictine Priory, where early kings of Northumbria were buried.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time spent in Newcastle and look forward to a return trip someday, but for now it was time to hop the train back home.

Well, that's it for our end of Summer and Fall adventures.  The days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler, so it's time to get ready for the Holidays!

   

Look for our next blog featuring our Scotland travels with our weekend house guests, Katelyn and Veronica and a long weekend trip to Northern Ireland with John's cousin Whitney.

"Travel teaches you to celebrate some new holidays, or at least some old ones in some new way."

Wishing love and happiness to all of our family and friends near and far.

Cheers,

John and CJ