23 June 2014

Berwick on Tweed

Despite the light rain, today we ventured into Berwick upon Tweed; henceforth to be called Berwick, and pronounced "Berrick". A guided tour of the town stated at 10 o'clock, and we were on it, for the princely sum of 5 pounds each. Our guide was Norma, a Berwick local who was born and raised here. She had good reason to be proud of the place - it's been here since 1482.

The main street of Berwick

She showed us the ramparts that Queen Elizabeth (the first) spent a fortune to build. I'm glad she did though; we parked our car in a flat space just beside them. Norma told us that this used to be the moat. Berwick really is an interesting old town, and has a fantastic rail bridge across the Tweed river.

When the tour finished, all those who were on it (Robyn and me !) went for smoko at the same café as our guide. She recommended the border tart. I had it - very nice it was too. Mine had sultanas in it, but I think the locals in olden times would have used fruits and berries in season. It is really nice trying local foods (and beers !).

Robyn's great grandmother lived in Berwick a long time ago. That meant that we just had to look around the local church and graveyard. There were no dead relatives to be found, so we moved on to the army barracks. This place is now two museums and an art gallery. The Berwick museum was OK, but only one room. The art gallery only had local landscapes and portraits.

The army museum was huge. It had 15 rooms, telling the story of the British army from its beginnings up until the first world war. It was very well done. I spent a good hour looking at it all.

Domestic duties called us home, to do the washing. While that was happening, I jumped into the car and drove to Scotland. Sounds grand, but the border is only 5 miles away. As soon as I got there, I turned around and headed back to a beach near Berwick for a look. It was pretty similar to any Australian beach - sand and water. This is not typical of The English coast though. there are lots of cliffs on the exposed parts, as well as shell and pebble beaches.

Well, that's about all that happened. A quiet day really. Maybe tomorrow will be more exciting.

Til then...

Lex and Robyn