An unexpected excursion

Well, today was quite an adventure. At around 11 o'clock, I headed out for church, not intending to be gone for the next six hours!!

I went to church at St. Michael's, not far from the castle. Its a Church of England. It was a cross between Catholic mass and Concordia Academy's chapels. I really enjoyed it! We sang mostly contemporary songs, some of which I knew. Also, the bishop of the region was visiting so he gave a nice talk during the service. The building, built by a former Duke of Northumberland, is quite impressive dating back to the Tudor period and beyond. The big stone arches and stained glass create a majestic feel to it. There are grave slabs all over, apart of the floor. You walk right over them in the church. But, the bodies are probably buried elsewhere. While I was there I met a lovely couple, Richard and Carol. Richard leads the informal worship service and Carol is a part of the small music band and choir. Afterward, they invited me to come to their home for Sunday dinner!

It was wonderful. They live south of Alnwick, just a few miles out of town. They live in a old farm house which was renovated into several homes. Their son, about age 35, came up from Newcastle for the meal as well. For dinner, they served pork, potatoes, fried pork skin, and two types of cabbage. It was all very good. For pudding, they had blueberries with vanilla meringue cookies topped with whip cream. Tasty treat with coffee!

Then, after the meal, they took me to Alnmouth, a town along the North Sea, for a stroll along the beach. It was so beautiful, I wish I had my camera. But, again, I wasn't planning for that when I left for church. We walked a good ways along the shore. It was very windy and chilly. Quite a sight with the big rolling and crashing waves. On our way back, we took a higher route along the hills through a golf course. We passed an old cannon fort built by a different former Duke of Northumberland in the 1860s for the Percy Artillery, which no longer exists today. After that, they dropped me off at the barbican gate of the castle at 5 o'clock. What a lovely surprise for my afternoon!

Tonight, I plan to do some studying as well as clarifying some of our travel plans to the Scotland highlands.