Castle to the north, castle to the south

Today our eldest daughter would have been 50 had she not died from cancer. We used to meet her sisters on her birthday for theatre, a film or a meal but now the grandchildren like to be involved we meet up at a weekend for cake.

Today Mr C and I went to the beach as she loved the sea which is where we put her ashes.

We did get a good laugh today though. You know those stickers people put in the car back window -“ keep your distance - baby on board”? Well I spotted one saying “come as close as you like - ex-husband in boot”!

We had not been to Ross Sands before but decided to go as friends said they had seen a lot of seals on the bit opposite Holy Island. It was about a mile from the parking to get over the dunes to the beach. From there we could see Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island to the north, and Bamburgh to the south. It was warm, 22 degrees.

After 1.5 miles up the beach we were stopped by a bird warden who told us we weren’t allowed any further as birds were nesting in the dunes. The only signs further down the beach had highlighted a no dog area so we assumed wrongly we were allowed. Anyway we can go back after 1 September. Despite seal basking place being at least 1.5 miles further on we could get a strong whiff. She said they’d counted 2000 last week.

We have been very touched by the messages from Victoria’s friends. And from ours, some of whom never knew her.