Road trip

It has been my pleasure to undertake several past road trips with R., and we did another Thelma & Louise (without the film's ending) this weekend. There is nothing so fine as to take off without a clear route or itinerary and follow our noses as the mood takes us, valuing the journey as much or more than the destination.

On this adventure we headed south to Northumberland, indulging on our way a mutual love for food, stately homes, ambitious gardens, window-shopping, second-hand book shopping, bird-watching, plant identification, invertebrate encounters and ancient monuments. The intermittent rain, the aristocracy's blinkered views and bad taste, our eccentric B&B host, Eurovision and local accents only added to the experience. I suspect Mein Host's behaviour and ours at the B&B deserve a post all of their own, but this will have to wait for now.