After just a few nights back at The Cottage, we were off again on our final trip of ‘the season’ after a flurry of work meetings and training courses. Before we left, I did manage to catch up with John, in Llanberis, who was visiting the area. I got a quick dip in the lake as well on a beautiful evening before we headed to the newly re-opened ‘Pete’s Eats’.

And we enjoyed getting through some of the ‘left overs’ from the weekend party!

By late Friday afternoon, we were driving past the Lake District and heading north…

We rolled out of bed and straight out the door on Saturday with Andy and Cece, who took us to a fantastic bakery in Whitley Bay to get some breakfast.

Freshly baked goodness!

Followed by a dip in the sea. As you can tell, it’s pretty cold in the water up there (much colder than in Wales!). As predicted, a toe was dipped in, then soon enough we dared each other to go for the full dunk! An invigorating start to the weekend!

A weekend of fun and games ensued….

We visited Hamsterly Forest and had a few good walks on the trails there along with a fine picnic.

As well as plenty of full character story time…!

Andy gave me some further cocktail inductions to build on my recent experience with Mom in Paris, and under his guidance I managed to pull together a passable Espresso Martini from the drinks cabinet.

It was the Great North Run on Sunday in Newcastle, so we walked down to the river where food trucks and runners were everywhere and a general good vibe was in the air. Overcast, but still warm enough for shorts.

We had a good range of food and drink down by the river, with the cheers of the crowd above us on the bridge, followed by a walk through the city streets. A top weekend away and our final ‘city break’ of the summer! Back the Wales now to settle into ‘Cottage Life’ (well, for a few weeks at least…).