This is our first proper holiday for more than twelve months. We’ve had weekend breaks but not a whole week off work together, just us and the dog. Will our one year old (today) marriage survive this new experience? Only time will tell.

As this is our first holiday away with Zoly we a) are still in the UK and b) are not on our bikes. However, fear not those of you who are avid followers of our cycling adventures – a dog trailer is imminent. As soon as we can train Zoly to sit or lay still in it we’ll be planning our first adventure on two wheels with four paws in tow!

Until then we’re depending on two feet, busses and the odd train to enjoy this spring break in Northumberland. This will of course be no real hardship as the walks round these parts are fantastic. Miles of golden sands, lovely lanes and more castles for Zoly to pee on than you can wag a vizsla’s tail at.

The Huffy House is on the right, just before the telegraph pole. Alnmouth Station is a stones throw away

This morning we walked Zoly to Alnwick (about four miles away) and then had a mooch around the town before traipsing over to Sainsbury’s on the edge of town to get our weekly supplies. There is a Morrison’s in the town centre but Mike prefers Sainsbury’s as it has a wider variety of vegan-friendly goodies.

Unfortunately we mistimed the bus back, missing one by ten minutes (they’re only hourly on a Sunday). Rather than lug all the shopping home by foot I volunteered to wait for the bus while Mike walked Zoly back to the cottage. Fortunately, the sun has been out most of the time I’d been waiting and it gave me the chance to pen this first holiday blog entry from the Ravensmede bus stop waiting for the X18 to arrive. This blog can surely only get more exciting as the week goes on!

P.S. No sooner had I put my phone in my pocket to make sure I didn’t miss the bus,(I was writing this blog entry on it), than a large black car pulled into the street turning just past the bus stop. A young women ran round the corner and asked if I wanted a lift. I explained the bus was due any minute and that I was only going to Alnmouth. She replied ‘I know, we own the Huffy House’! The driver of the car was Jill who welcomed us yesterday. She’d apparently seen me standing at the bus stop on their way into Alnwick. They’d done their shop in Morrison’s and were on their way home and spotted me still standing there, so kindly stopped to give me a lift. Mike looked a bit perplexed when I can through the garden gate, trying to work out how I’d got back so quickly. It’s good to keep a bit of surprise in a relationship!