Views from the Coast to Coast Path, North Yorkshire, England.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Yarm, England.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Bologna, Italy on July 7th!

Monday, June 30, 2025

We spent a couple of hours on the Coast to Coast Path

We had a beautiful day yesterday, and we took the dogs for a walk up at the edge of the North York Moors National Park. This section is part of the Coast to Coast path that runs 192 miles (309 kms) across northern England.

We had actually considered doing the entire walk this summer until we found out how much it would cost in accommodation and meals!

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Wandering the town of Yarm

Our hosts departed around 8am, and we were left in charge of the two doggies. We decided to take them for a long walk into town and around to a path on the other side of the river.

Yarm is a market town known for its busy high street. The area has been settled for over a thousand years, and they even found a 9th century Viking helmet back in the 1950's.

Saturday, June 28, 2025

We are in North Yorkshire, England for the next eight days

On Friday, we arrived at our next house sit. We are in the town of Yarm, on the river Tees in North Yorkshire, England, having driven down from Aberdeen, Scotland over a period of three days. I'll include a map down below for you.

Friday, June 27, 2025

Scotland is where the game of golf originated

And I have family history that involves the game of golf!

Yesterday, we left the amazing Balintore Castle, but not before we had a look at the Great Hall. I was actually surprised and impressed to see the completed condition of it, as I was expecting it to be still under renovation.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Well, we weren't awoken by any ghosts!

Balintore Castle was built in the early 1860's as a hunting lodge for the Victorian elite. Even at the time, it was only occupied during summer and fall. The original owner died ten years after construction, and it went through several owners until the last one used it regularly until the 1960's. 

It was then that it began to deteriorate. 

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Hiking near Balmoral Castle

Scotland's Balmoral Castle is the summer residence of the Royal Family. Queen Elizabeth loved spending time there, and she was there when she passed away in 2022.

Ruth had wanted to do some walking on the estate grounds, however it's very expensive. 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Castles and seaside!

On Monday we took a drive up to the northeast coast of Scotland. We had a couple of castles marked off that we wanted to see as well as some attractions along the coast itself.

It was a really windy day though... glad we weren't driving a motorhome!

Monday, June 23, 2025

Researching our upcoming cruise

For those of you who missed the news a few weeks ago, we are going to be on the Princess Emerald doing a 16 day cruise to Greenland and Iceland departing on July 31st.

Our friends Glen and Steve have done a lot of cruises, and a couple of weeks ago she sent me a few ideas regarding how to make your cruise better.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Quails, chickens, and dogs

We've never had to look after chickens before as part of our house sitting responsibilities, and of course never quails as well!

But our daughter Lindsey and her family have chickens, and so we've kind of seen what's involved... and it's not that difficult!

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Dunnottar Castle and the town of Stonehaven

We have been waiting for a nice day to get to the coast and visit the beach town of Stonehaven, and we finally got one yesterday. And, Stonehaven has several fish and chips places, one of which does gluten free!

And of course we did the walk to Dunnottar Castle...

Friday, June 20, 2025

It's quite the schedule we've got for the next two months!

I'm pretty good at keeping track of our schedule in my head, just knowing what's booked and what's not. But I actually had to make a list this time to make sure I don't forget to book something.

Yesterday, I booked our return flights from Tirana, and managed to figure out how to fly direct into Southampton!

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Booked some more flight tickets!

I got sidetracked yesterday morning while doing more travel research, and then we met up with Helen and Tony in the afternoon and I never got back to doing yesterdays blog post. 

But, I did get our flights booked to Tirana, Albania... with a stopover in Bologna, Italy!

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

The Best Experiences You Can Have In Baja California Sur

Located in the extreme north-west of Mexico, the Baja California Sur peninsular is already firmly on the mainstream tourist map.

Destinations here like Cabo San Lucas are renowned for their water sports, luxurious hotels and endless entertainment options, and as such is one of the most popular vacation spots for tourists heading to Mexico. However there’s much more going on in this region, and those who want other kinds of experiences can find plenty of opportunities which range from deep-sea fishing to flying through canyons on an exhilarating zip-line.

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

We're thinking of a return to Albania!

I finally got through to the dental school that was advertising free treatments, but they weren't interested in my problem. They only deal with minor fillings and such, which seemed odd to me considering they said the students are in their final year of school.

Anyhow, I ended up calling the closest dentist to where we are staying, explained the situation, and was given a 2:00pm appointment.

Monday, June 16, 2025

I have sore tooth!

There are a lot of wooded walking areas within a half hour drive of the house, so we chose one of them and drove over there. 

While we didn't get any rain, we didn't see the sun either...