Day 14 - Beamish Museum

A genuine 19th century child mine worker

 Friday August 6th 2010

Yes folks in the last few posts on this blog we have taken you back to Roman Times, we have taken you back to a time of knights and dragons and now its time to get into our time machine and take you back to the 19th century. Yes thats right folks we have gone to the Beamish museum. Before we tell you about that, its only fair that we mention that the only cache we did today was right outside the museum....we don't mean literally on the middle of the floor on the road...but as close as you are going to get!

Simple things and all that...

 There are quite a few caches in the woods next to this museum, but thats for another day. The Beamish museum is brilliant. The official linky poo to the museum, check it out...or else. But while we are on the subject of similar museums check out the other websites below which are also great days out even if you have to travel a little further.
This one similar to the Beamish museum is in the Black Country.
This one tells the story of Irish people moving to America...cool.
This one is the swiss equivalent of all the other 3...superb.

Mrs Shiltonpig on the toilet 19th century style

Ok so now that all that blatent advertising has finished...we would like to point out that we are not getting commission for any of the above...however if someone would like to pay us commission then please feel free to contact us!!!! Beamish is split into different areas ...if you have never been to an open air museum then let us explain....the musuem takes genuine buildings, and other artefacts from that period of time and rebuilds them exactly as it was at that time. It makes for literally stepping back in time. Beamish is split into a coal mine village where you get to go into a real coal mine. Another area is a working farm, and you can see rural life at the turn

We want to drive one of these!

 of the 20th century. Another area they have recreated an entire town with loads of shops (including a sweetie shop....totally overpriced though!!!!) the town has trams and buses in full working order and you have to queue up for them. Of course everyone working in the museum is dressed up in period dress, and it is a strange experience as you feel you are the one dressed inappropriately! Finally the last bit of the museum takes you back further in time to the 18th century, there is a rural manor house and they have rebuilt one of the first steam trains ever invented at a top speed of 5 mph. For some reason this was Mr

Choo choo

Shiltonpigs favourite part as this was totally unique. However Mrs Shiltonpig and Josh clearly enjoyed the tram ride the most. It is not a cheap day to get in...£16 a person. However you will not run out of things to do in the day...having Josh meant we missed out on a lot, but if you are in this area check out the caches and check out the museum. These living museums need to be kept alive, as they record our history...(Mr Shiltonpig realises he has gone all serious on his readers!!!)

And so do the shilton kind...so watch out!

Day 13 - Hadrians Wall

Josh as a roman guard

 Thursday 5th August 2010

Please please listen to us...we have travelled all over Europe to see Roman sites, little did we realise one of the best of them all was sitting in our very own country. Housesteads in Northumberland is a fantastic place and even though English Heritage and National Trust seem to be fighting it out as to who owns what don't let that put you off from coming here. For example you park the car in a National trust car park, buy your sandwiches from their cafe and then go to the shop to purchase your tickets, only to be told that you can't buy them from here. You climb to the top of the hill only to find that English Heritage have the smallest shop at the top...crazy...anyway ignore our weird ramblings. So Hadrians wall...surely you have heard it yes? well if not click here on this corporate linky poo.. Earlier this year they set beacons off all along the wall at night and that would have been amazing to see. So lets hone in on this part of

Smile as you are trapped!

 Hadrians wall. Yes another linky poo, but make sure you look at all the photos as they are better than ares! Housesteads has it all...well ok it doesn't have everything, but when you are 2000 years old I hope that you look as good as this place. What amazes us about this place is that you really get a sense of how hard life must have been like all those years ago as a roman soldier. Its so barren, cold and windy in the 21st century...let alone what it would have been like in the 3rd century....and when you take away all the roads you wonder how the heck they got all that rock up there in the first place. I am sure that our roman ancestors would have

Travel bug central

found it intriguing that geocachers would place caches in this area. And what a great selection of caches they are in this area. The caches themselves are easy to hide and easy to find, there are so many rocks around that I would be surprised if these get muggled easily....and as you start walking down the Hadrians wall path you will start to see some glorious views and lovely paths. We had collected a whole stack of travel bugs and geocoins on our 2 week  tour of the UK and it seemed a great place to take a photo of them all...and here is that photo. I can see a tear in your eye already, I know it.

Josh using his mommy to climb

 The ruins themselves show just how advanced a civilisation they were....they had central heating (and I don't mean they had radiators) and they had flushing toilets (no not quite like we had today) and 2000 years later we still can see them. Josh was loving it today, he had small walls to climb up and down and also plenty of hills to climb up and down. He was literally jumping off all the walls which was crazy for a 2 year old. Josh loves climbing and climbing and did we mention climbing? This is the second time we have been here and I would be shocked to think it will be the last...you quickly forget what it is like....plus we didn't do all the

Mr Shiltonpig and his arty photo

caches and lets face it, thats a good enough reason to come back too! The photo to the left is Mr Shiltonpigs attempt at being all arty in a photograph and so please feel free to be shocked, stunned and amazed. Well done to all those people who placed caches here....we thank you!!

Mr Shiltonpig on the toilet

Day 12 - Alnwick and Team Valley

Evil Knight Mr Shiltonpig

 Wednesday 4th August

Once upon a time in a land far far away there lived an evil knight. This evil knight was called Mr Shiltonpig and he lived in a fine castle in Alnwick Northumberland....but what made him evil I hear you ask? He would steal caches and hide them in his castle. The local population could do nothing to stop him and before long he was one of the most feared knights in all the land around him. The land in question was Northumberland and he lived in the castle in Alnwick often referred to as "the Windsor of the North". One day as the evil knight was

The dragon aka Mrs Shiltonpigs mother

 walking around he came across a dragon...what would ne do? slay the dragon? oh no not this evil knight Shiltonpig, he made friends with it and between the two of them they would steal even more caches and terrorise the local village. The villagers one day had, had enough and they secretly went about trying to find out what they could do to solve the problem. Unknown to the local villagers word spread throughout the kingdom and before you knew it in a small corner of Derbyshire, a brave young Shiltonpig got to hear about the story. He knew at once he would have to help. He got on his ye olde tricycle and started the long journey up to

Brave young Knight

 Northumberland. But the evil knight Mr Shiltonpig got to hear of the plan from the dragon, and the dragon went and captured the brave young shiltonpigs mother. Enraged the brave young shiltonpig rode faster than ever. He arrived at the castle called Alnwick and knocked on the gate. The dragon was the first to answer....the dragon huffed and puffed and snorted fire out of his nose...but young brave shiltonpig was not scared...he had a trick up his sleeve...for he had soiled his pants on the long ride up north and took them off...the dragon could not cope with the smell and curled up on the floor trying desparately to get the smell out of his nostrils. Young brave shiltonpig, tippy toed over the dragon and bravely carried on into the castle...he looked all over the castle but then at the top of a long tower he could hear the evil cackles of the evil knight Mr Shiltonpig. He could also hear his mother Mrs Shiltonpig crying. The young knight chucked his dummy on the ground and slowly climbed the steps...shouting up threatening noises such as "choo choo" or "dodo".  The evil knight was more cunning than the dragon and put a peg on his nose But the young knight had more tricks up his sleeve and soon had overcome the evil knight with all his whinging and crying. He then went over to his mother and had a big cuddle and said that all would be ok. The local villagers were thrilled and so through a feast to end all feasts...the young knight just wanted beans and sausage. Sadly the villagers were too scared to put out more caches and to this day only one geocache remains in the village of Alnwick. Its a sad tale, but a true one and we hope that whenever you go this village, you will spare a thought for the people concerned. The dragon retired...and the evil knight was too tortured to do any more damage. The young knight soiled his pants again and again and drove his mother insane....and they all lived happily ever after. Oh we also did a cache at the Angel of the North but that doesn't fit into the story!!!

Mother Shiltonpig

Angel of the North

Day 11 - Northumberland Coast

Its a lighthouse darling....

Tuesday 3rd August 2010

Wow...where do I even begin to start about today...the highlight and lowlight of the holiday occured all in about the same 2 hours and there was plenty of things to discuss in an area of the world where the views can only be described as world class even though it is incredibly geocache light. So the first part of the day we set our sights on going to the Farne Islands. For more information on this place click here. And it is well worth a read. You can only sail to the Farne Islands via Seahouses and

There is a seal on the rocks behind us..no really

about 80 people crammed onto the boat on a 2 hour cruise around the islands. It was here that disaster struck, Josh threw his dummy (he calls it dodo) out the boat and we didn't have a spare. On the way to the island we saw a puffin, then another and soon we saw 100's of them everywhere. The Comorants and gulls were everywhere too, and then the moment team Shiltonpig had been waiting for, we saw our first wild seal, and then another and still another. In fact we saw 10's of them by the time the boat trip finished. We stopped off on one of the islands, which was home to a lighthouse that had

Josh was thrilled to be with his Daddy

once belonged to the Darling family. No not Alistair but Grace. If you have never heard of Grace Darling then I suggest you read here. We have never seen wildlife in the UK like we did on these islands, never seen Britsih water so clear and the sealife so abundant. It really was a great experience, and we are gutted that we didn't fork out more to have a longer cruise. However I doubt Josh would have coped with it. So there was the highlight....on the way back Josh couldn't cope without his dummy and was screaming for over 30 minutes. The entire boat were giving us evil glares, but there was

Josh loves the beach, the sand and the splashing

nothing we could do to shut him up. On and on he cried, by the time we arrived back at the shore, we were ready to kill each other. We walked into Boots grumpily asked where the dummies were and finally after 2 hours Josh got his dodo. And in a split second he was smiling again....we were not amused. Anyway Mrs Shiltonpig went for a sleep in the car while Josh and Mr Shiltonpig attempted a fantastic cache called Bamburgh 360. Truly a contender for top 10 caches of the year. The views were astonishing. Having said that when I first arrived I thought I was going to have to climb down a drain

Beadnell Lime Kiln

to get the cache. Fortunately I didn't have to. Me and Josh found 2 little frogs nearby and were playing them for a while. Bamburgh Castle was in the distance and is quite frankly an astonishing castle on an equally astonishing coastline. Please go and visit that stretch of caostline if you have never been, you will not be disappointed. Josh was now asleep and so we drove to Beadnall to complete another cache while also picking up some fish and chips to eat on the beach....is it just us or do fish and chips on the beach always taste better? Yet again we were blown away by Beadnall, one side of the

Social Services stopped us going all the way

village is rocky cliffs with rockpools, the other is a huge expanse of white sandy beaches. If this coast was in Spain millions would visit it. It really is that good. Josh woke up and Mr Shiltonpig tried to bury him, but Josh wasn't having any of it, he wanted to play in the sea instead. I could write and write about this place as it was so good. In fact I wrote this blog in about 8 minutes simply because there was so much material to choose from. I have hardly mentioned about the cache we did in the equally stunning Budle Bay. Wow...wow...wow...with a heavy heart we had to move on...

The dramatic Bamburgh Castle