Bamburgh Castle and the tragic princess Bamburgh Castle is currently occupied by the Armstrong family, and it is believed to have been continually inhabited, for at least 1,400 years. Occupied not only by people, but also many ghosts… including the Pink Lady, a Nothumbrian princess who fell in love with a young man disapproved of by her father. Forced to separate for seven years, and after being falsely told he had married another, she is said to have jumped from the battlements wearing a pink dress, and is reported to be seen regularly re-enacting her melancholy demise… Lighten-up dad
To celebrate his 68th birthday, Suffolk-based Audaxer John Thompson, left, put his map-reading skills to the test on a strength-sapping series of rides through the beautiful but challenging landscapes of southern Scotland and Northumbria. Here is his tale of wrong turns, taxing hills, tidal causeways and accidental vodka-swigging in the rugged borderlands…
On the borders of
bewilderment
TO CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY, I decided it was time to finally tick that box – and visit Holy Island on England’s north-east coast. I’d noticed that Dick and Lucy McTaggart were promoting a series of events from Galashiels, which is a comfortable riding distance from the
island. So I decided to kick off my tour by taking part in an Audax – Lucy’s Newcastle ‘Ton’ at the end of July last year. I travelled to Galashiels by train on my birthday and booked into the Watson Lodge guest house – a bike-friendly place which serves breakfast from 7am, which meant I wasn’t going to be rushed getting
to the start line. We set off, and after a few hundred yards hit the first uphill stretch. The route passed a church with a sign which read: “Try praying”. Was somebody trying to tell me something? The scenery, though, was immediately striking – lots of rolling hills, but nothing
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