An evening walk

 Whilst the evenings have been balmy, we've been making the most of it and exploring places local, finding new pathways through the countryside on our doorstep and discovering tucked away places. By fields and rivers and along canals as the sun started to dip behind the tree line. Grass tickling legs and gnats trying to have a feast, successfully according to the backs of my knees today - aghhh! Little clouds of biting chaos above the water.  As the end of the day draws in, there is still plenty happening by the canal although at a slower pace. Boats moored for the evening are a light buzz of chatter and clattering dinner plates, folded chairs on the canal side with glasses of wine beside them and dozing dogs.Out on the still water the swan family are eagerly awaiting one of the boat ladies to start throwing some water fowl to them and soon there is a gathering of ducks loking for their share too. A damselfly flitted about but too quick for me and my camera.  Chirping amongst the bulrushes with cotton wound tails and gently movement, an ever so slight breeze to take away the languid stickiness of the day.  For me, the excitement of the canal network are the pathways and adventures that it opens up. You see a secret side of the countryside, passing bridges, farms and it's a whole new area to learn about. I've learnt the names of bridges, discovered goods train lines I didn't know existed, found babbling brooks through parted trees and old disused buildings. 
.   Views across the river valley, rolling fields of greens and yellows. Places that are unknown when sticking to roads. Every so often a boat came chugging down the canal, people relaxing and waving to my little boy.
I really hope we get many more of these sunny evenings to venture out and soak up the golden hour before bedtime, tread through soft grass and waft hands through flower spikes and dancing white umbellifer heads. There's the other direction to explore now into the town's industrial heritage, the remains of a salt industry intermingled with nature and another evening's canalside activity to peek at. 

The friendliest port

 The port of Amble in Northumberland, just up the road from our holiday cottage and the start of our exploration of this beautiful coastline. Amble is on the estuary of the River Coquet and is known as the 'friendliest port'. It's quite a small place but for a stroll to see harbour life I recommend stopping here if ever you are up in Northumberland. On one side there are views across to Warkworth Castle and in the other direction Coquet Island where the lighthouse and puffins reside.  A circular walk on the pier gave us excellent views and a breezy chance to create some space for the gorgeous ice creams we ate later from the harbour village where there are some cute food and gift shops in little wooden pods. A lovely mixture of new development and traditional fishing town. Fishermen were out repairing nets and we passed many crab pots - the dogs enjoying a good sniff and LB looking inquisitively.   One of those great places for photographing bits and bobs with lots of texture which pleased me.  Even the dogs had ice creams - vanilla whilst we had blackberry and licorice, strawberry cheesecake and tiramisu. Actually the best ice cream I've ever had (Spurreli's) and I wish we had been able to go back for another before going back to Cheshire. The town is pleasant with a tourism info/gift shop that I bought some nautical bargains from and the floral town square is a good place to sit and watch awhile.  Lots of interesting things to look at with LB and he was very enamoured with the cheeky seagulls following a couple eating their chips. We missed the Sunday market but I'm told it's a must do for its fresh food and vintage bargains. Fortunately just out of town by the marina was a brilliant antiques shop selling things for the home, books and toys that I recommend having a browse around and then buy scones from their cafe. So that's the first stop of the holiday and being blessed with blue skies was a bonus. Next stop will be Warkworth for the castle......

Cheshire boat marina

 We have driven past the entrance to the boat marina so many times but never ventured in but on a cloudy, wet day just ambling around the area, we thought we would take a look. LB loves boats so it was worth stopping off at to see the rows of pretty canal boats.

There's a cafe/restaurant here that is useful to know for the future as it seems a nice relaxed location just off the Shropshire Union Canal for us to come for lunch one day in the spring/summer when we can sit on the terrace and enjoy the view. 

I love finding these little secret places in my local area when we have our quick trips out, we get so used to travelling further afield that we often forget what's on our doorstep.