[June 2026] The minibus tour that departed from Edinburgh, Scotland, crossed the border into England.
You might think it’s strange to call it a “border” since it’s all part of the UK, but the UK is a union of four countries.
There are also sports where each of the four countries represents its nation in competitions.
The Scottish side of the border between Scotland and England is called the Scottish Borders and is a single administrative division.
The English side is Northumberland.
The highlight of this tour was the town of Alnwick in Northumberland.
Alnwick is pronounced ‘a-nick’.
Here stands one of the largest residential castles in England, and it became famous after being used as a filming location for the “Harry Potter” film.
Since the guide didn’t say anything, I looked it up and found out that the castle was built in the 11th century and is still the home of the Duke of Northumberland, a powerful noble family in the region.
However, we generally aren’t that interested in the interiors of castles and palaces, and we’re not particularly fans of “Harry Potter,” so we didn’t feel like paying the entrance fee (£22 per person, approximately €25.70, purchased in advance) and instead focused on exploring the town.
Besides, our itinerary said that we stay here for three hours and we should have our lunch here.
We figured that spending too much time at the castle would prevent us from enjoying a leisurely meal.
As I’ve said several times, for us, skimping on food is unthinkable.
Incidentally, we were the only people on the tour who didn’t enter the castle.
Alnwick was a market town.
That is, it was a town that held regular markets with royal permission since the Middle Ages, and according to online information, a market is still held there today.
Because of this, traces of the old townscape remain, making it perfect for a stroll.
However, the weather was bad throughout the day, and here too, the background was always grey, resulting in uninspiring photos.
We went into a bright and cheerful pub early for lunch, before it got too crowded.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the pub, but it was a place where mothers with children gathered.
We both had a hamburger.
Hamburgers are something we almost only eat in the UK.
And this one was quite high-quality; I was very satisfied.
Ordering house wine was a mistake, though.
After all, you should drink beer at a pub.
