crossing the North Sea

our taxi arrived at 12 to take us to den Haag Central. chatting to the driver on the way, we discovered that he lived not far from where Joe had lived and had been born in the same house where he still lived now. He was only a few years older than Joe so we do believe that their families may have known each other, serendipity at work again!! out of all the taxi drivers in The Hague and we had this one. such a lovely, chatty man.. name of Hofman, he told us. on F, one N.. he shook our hands when he dropped us off

we are now on the ferry... crossing the North Sea. The sea that my great grandfather had fought in during WW1. And as the sea tossed the ferry about, I thought of him, William Truscott and how he must have felt, back then ...I tried to eat some broccoli in the restaurant, but each time I put the fork to the mouth, I felt really queasy, so early to bed for me. I know now, why they call this sea, the Cruel Sea.. it was damn cruel last night. During the night, I had a strong sense of my G.grandfather sitting across from me, telling me to lay on my back.. i was tired and heard myself say 'no'.. next thing, I felt a tug on my shirt making me turn over. I immediately felt so much better.. and a voice that said 'on your back, your stomach stops churning'... I wonder, was it him? Was he looking out for me? I really want to believe so.

finally arriving in the UK! I can honestly say, that even seeing the coast, I felt as if I were coming home.. just a feeling I had.
A taxi took us to get our hire car and another chatty taxi driver gave us a guided tour of Newcastle on the way.
off we go to the A69, taking a wrong turn almost immediately, but it was a lovely mistake as the road took us through a few quaint villages along autumn coloured tree lined roads and hedgerows.  The colours of autumn here are unlike I have ever seen , it is like a deep burnished bronze.

a first glimpse

Gorgeous old villages. A grouse or pheasant nearly became road kill at one moment. Beautiful, beautiful old barns and farm houses, black face sheep dot lush green fields  I want to stop at every village!!
..as we drive into Cumbria, the temperature drops to 5degC.

so, here we are now, in Cumbria, staying in the city of Carlisle

in a gorgeous B&B - HollyTrees for 3 nights while we do some sight seeing of Roman Ruins, see where Daisy lived and meet up with Lydia and Ruth!!

a year later - 2013
I will never, ever forget the emotion that I felt when I first spotted the coast of England. I felt as if I were home. The burnt copper of the autumn leaves, the gorgeous villages as we drove and the feeling of history. Something that I miss so much.