Tea and Cake lots of.....

It was a weekend of tea and cake... Saturday we had visitors who arrived armed with yummy cake and I baked scones so it was a bit of a cake fest... and then Sunday brought more visitors with more cake ... which necessitated a long walk to earn the sugar overload....

lone tree with moon in shot...

We had a fabulous walk taken from a friends Oxfam book find ''100 great walks in the UK ''- or something like that - it was pretty amazing to find such a pleasant varied and quiet peaceful walk just minutes away from Newton Aycliffe and Darlington. The day was a glorious fresh sunny February day hardly a cloud in a fantastic blue sky, and we wandered across fields and through woods. We had a sandwich and cake picnic, sat in the sun by a deserted barn from which we watched a bard owl swoop across the landscape. We meandered back alongside the river and back into Barmpton village, an excellent 8 mile circular walk. Definitely earned cake....

into the wilderness..

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Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful. There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...

Almost last chapter... In which our Go Stargazing team watch Astonishing Aurora Borealis seen from the deck of the Astonishing Borealis!!!

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Planet Ruby Starrs

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