After I was dressed I took advantage of the roof terrace as the sun emerged before it was time for breakfast. It was wonderful. The breakfast wasn’t quite Fawlty Towers but the service was a little slow and the requested brown sauce arrived after Mr C had eaten his breakfast. The food, however, was excellent.

After breakfast we both enjoyed a short time on the roof terrace and a stroll in the hotel’s garden before taking a walk in Jesmond Dene.

As we were about to enter the parkland a lady was leaving with her dog. The dog was pulling after her on its lead not wanting to go home. The dog came to say “Hello”, and after we walked off towards the parkland we looked back to see that the dog, in an act of defiance, was lying down in the road. The Dene was wonderful and we enjoyed our brief walk before it was time to meet up with JD for lunch and a trip to the coast.

We had a quick chat with JD and a viewing of his gallery where I was presented with the gift of one of his paintings before we set off to Cullercoats. We strolled along the seafront taking in the views of the bay and looking at the architecture.

Next stop was St Mary’s Lighthouse which was a short drive away. We parked the car in the pay and display car park, paid the appropriate amount of money but were unable to display as the machine refused to print a ticket!

As we strolled down the walkway to the lighthouse, we noticed a car having difficulty reversing down a narrow roadway near to the lighthouse. The manoeuvrings caused people to stop so that they weren’t in the way.  Eventually the car was navigated back into relative safety and the owner checked all round to see if it had been damaged during those  maneuvers. It was only then that we noticed that it was a car dealer/salesman trying to do a photoshoot of the car in front of the lighthouse.

Mr C climbed up the lighthouse leaving JD and I to chat with the curator.

After all the excitement it was time for lunch so we made our way back to the car where we spotted a Royal Enfield motorcycle. To be fair I spotted the owner first due to his snazzy (eccentric) attire capturing my attention. We had lunch overlooking Whitley bay in Rendezvous Cafe where I made up for not having had a cake the previous day.

After dropping JD off at his house we picked up some sherry to enjoy on the roof terrace before our evening meal and some wine for later in the evening after we had dined. However instead of the sherry we opted for a glass of wine in the sunshine.

The hotel receptionist ordered a taxi to take us to the Peace & Loaf restaurant and when it arrived, we were surprised to find that it was a lovely Mercedes, a great way to travel to a special meal. The meal didn’t disappoint and I am sure we will be back again in the future. Our journey back to the hotel was in a rather more modest vehicle although the service was just as good.