Hayden Bridge to North Queensferry

July 30. Mostly a driving day.  After a short debate we opted for a route that went along the coast of Northumbria, instead of inland past a national park.  We stopped at the seaside town of Amble, to walk along the beach and along its harbor.  It's a vacation destination for Northumbrians, even though it may never get very warm.

Amble coastline with view to St. Coquille Island, a bird refuge; previously monastic cell and lighthouse

Then we drove into Alnwick, in search of a toilet stop and maybe a picnic.  Somehow we got pulled into a major tourist site, Alnwick Garden and Castle, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Northumbria, the Percy's.  We turned into its vast parking lot and the attendants collected 3 pounds before we knew what we were doing.  We followed the hordes across the road and found that the site would have cost us more than 30 pounds to go in.  We did use the toilets, took a quick walk through a woodland park and then ate our picnic in the car.

We drove all the way to Edinburgh, crossing the Firth of Forth to North Queensferry.  Our strategy is to take the train to Edinburgh tomorrow for sightseeing, thereby avoiding the need to drive in and try to find parking.

We checked into the Ferrybridge Hotel, a quaint little pub/hotel/restaurant in the shadow of the two bridges that cross the Forth.  The oldest bridge was opened in 1894, the current bridge was opened in 1964 to motorized traffic while the first bridge was converted to rail use only.  As we approached the Forth, we saw a new stave bridge under construction.  It will replace the bridge opened in 1964 and that bridge will carry public transport.  We completed a short walk around Queensferry seeing a some local historical sights.

Queensferry Crossing, the new bridge; stave

Forth Bridge, built in the 1890s; cantilevered