We travelled on the train from Glasgow to Newcastle through stunning countryside, ranging from snow covered mountains to windswept beaches. Newcastle is much prettier than I had imagined with the Tyne River flowing through the centre and a fabulous redeveopment on the riverfront including restaurants, hotels and museums. We stayed at the Malmaisson Hotel with a view straight out onto the very cool Millennium Bridge which changes colour in the evenings. I had a little pang of Sydney homesickness when we first glimpsed the Tyne Bridge which is a miniature version of our very own Harbour Bridge.
An absolute highlight of our visit to Newcastle was meeting the Sayer family; Christine and John and their gorgeous girls Emma and Lily. The girls have been enjoying the Alice-Miranda books with their mum and Christine began following me on Facebook and Twitter. We had chatted several times and when I said we were coming to Newcastle I realised that they didn’t live too far away in Sunderland. So I asked her if they’d like to come up to Newcastle and meet us. It was wonderful. The girls were beautiful – so gorgeous and sweet. I loved meeting them and Christine and John. We were only sad that our visit to Newcastle was so short. We visited two schools the following day which I will write separate blog posts about.
I can’t wait to go back to Newcastle when we’re in the UK again in November and I hope that I’ll be able to visit Emma and Lily’s school.
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