Hard to believe but we are already on day 22 of the trip and we only have a little over a week left! Day 22 was filled with travel and diverse sites (with diverse weather to go along!). We drove from Edinburgh to Seahouses to catch a cruise to the Farne Islands. Then we drove to Hadrian's wall for a short visit and finally it was on to Durham for the night. Another great day!
The morning started off with a good breakfast at the Channings Hotel. While a lot of things seemed less than ideal at this hotel the breakfast was good. Zach is enjoying his salmon and eggs
First stop on the way out was starbucks for coffee and some sandwiches for lunch later
The drive took about 2 hours and it was mostly great scenery. Here is part of the northumberland coast as we drove past
There was a surprise castle along the coast pretty close to the Seahouses
And then we arrived at the Seahouses for our 11:45 tour of the Farne Islands by boat. Lincoln is now a pro at the boat rides. He loves them, and the wind especially makes him happy
Stop 1 on the tour was Staple island to see some nesting bird colonies. There are thousands of nesting birds of different types, but many were just heading out to sea for the year
Grey seal colony. It was hard to get their picture because by this time it was raining and they kept diving
Lighthouse. There is some story about a girl named Grace who lived here, but I didn't catch the entire story. I think she helped save some sailors and tragically died young
And then we landed on Inner Farne Island to see some birds. At this point it was raining pretty good, but we only had an hour to see birds so we toughed it out
Baby bird. His nest was right next to the viewing platform
The puffins were mostly gone for the year but we did see a few lonely ones chilling with the other birds
Dinky with his peeps
On the way back we caught a small group of puffins swimming away
Then it was time to say good bye to our boat just as it was getting nice out
Next up was a 2 hour drive south and inland to see Hadrians wall. Again lots of great scenery this time with some sun!
We arrived at the Housestead fort only 40 min before closing. We were told they weren't selling tickets anymore because it was quite the hike. Well not for us. Lincoln got backpacked up we walked the half mile up hill so we had about 30 min to explore the old roman fort built on Hadrians wall
Part of the fort
Family selfie on Hadrians Wall
View from the top of the fort
Again sheep everywhere! They could go on the main ruins but they were on other ruins just checking out the people
An hour drive and we arrived at what is probably our nicest hotel the Radison Blu in Durham. The room was huge and had a nice view of the river
And we got room service! The food was pretty good, reasonably healthy and not very overpriced. Plus that gave Lincoln some needed bouncing time
After dinner we went for a brief swim in the pool
And finally after letting Lincoln scream it out (which only lasted about 15 min!) mom and dad had a chance to drink our beer in peace and relax for while. Lincoln seemed to do much better at sleeping now. He only woke up once and didn't really protest going back in the crib. Lets hope this keeps up so we can cut back to only 1-2 trips to the coffee shop each day!
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