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A week of castles

17 May

17 May 2026.

It started last Sunday with a delightful walk around the periphery of Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland. We walked four miles around Elizabethan-era town walls and on a coastal trail then ended via a nature path and the historic ruins of the eponymous castle, now the domain of sheep.

Sheep safely graze under castle ruins in Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK.

Unusually cold weather with high winds (24mph gusting to 35 or more!) found us at another castle on Monday, Bamburgh (BAM–bruh) on the rugged coast of Northumberland. It just was not the day to walk the coastal trail so we tramped around an enormous and well-restored castle. Thank goodness for a cozy pub in which to retreat after the tour!

The imposing Bamburgh Castle, with history dating back 1400 years, privately owned by the Armstrong family and featured in The Last Kingdom. Rebuilt by the Normans after the conquest.
Yes, it is bloody cold and WINDY here on the North Sea. Not an easy hiker day so good for castle crawling. At least we got out of the wind.
Bamburgh Castle featured costumes and props from the series The Last Kingdom.

Tuesday, it was time for Alnwick (AHN-ick) Castle. Still not easy-hiker weather with high, gusting winds and a moderate threat of rain (which never materialized) we boarded the bus again for a trip down the coast, this time to the village of Alnwick. Much more village than town, dominated by the recognizable stand-in for Hogwarts in a couple of the Harry Potter movies and was also a Downton Abbey filming location. This is a very elegant castle, privately owned by the 12th Duke of Northumberland. His “other” castle is down the road at Warkworth.


Alnwick Castle is exceedingly elegant. The family lives in it during winter, but moves out during high touring season. The St. Cloud University in Minnesota occupies part of the castle for a semester abroad program. Students live and study here.

Wednesday’s weather was dreadful in forecast and actuality as of 7:00AM, so I texted our friends in Edinburgh to see if they were free for lunch. Edinburgh is less than an hour’s train ride north on a lovely LNER train. Castles were not on our mind; having inside places to visit was and museums abound in this historic city. Arriving in Edinburgh at 10:30 AM, the skies were clearing and the city was buzzing so we did what we like to do: we walked. A lot. And of course our route led us past another historic and grand castle, Having visited before we did not make the climb but the views were great, the weather lovely if still cool, and seeing our friends after eight years, a delight! And we walked our socks off!

High above the Princes Street Gardens, perches the castle. We were treated to a noon concert by this talented piper.
Angela and Chris visited us exactly 8 years ago in Lincoln City. We were glad we all recognized each other. :-)

Alas Thursday was a travel day, moving on to Newcastle-on-Tyne so no castle tours. Of course on Friday we had to go see the castle at Newcastle, aka Castle Garth.

The Castle Garth with magnificently maintained and restored keep. We climbed and climbed spiral stone staircases to the upper levels.
The Great Hall of the keep is magnificent Norman architecture. Though the site was earlier used as a Roman fort, the first castle was built by William the Conqueror’s son, Robert Curthose in 1080 as the New Castle upon Tyne. Henry the II built the stone keep.

So we moved on to Ireland Saturday, arriving in Killarney in time for dinner. What should we encounter our first morning, our first outing, our first stop today? A castle!

Ross Castle, Killarney National Park.

Easy-hiking resumed today. We have a week of outings in the national park planned. Weather may be drizzly but we’ve left the cold North Sea and its winds behind so we aren’t going to let the light rain get in the way too much. Plus there are scads of cozy pubs for warming up.

More to come!

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Spring travel

27 Apr

27 April 2025.

It has been quiet on the Girovaga front for many weeks. I see I last posted in February to announce the 2025 editions of our books. Recently I was asked if there was a problem with the blog since a friend hadn’t seen anything lately, so I guess it is time to shake off the dust and revive this thing.

The daffodils have faded and all that remains are the green stems feeding the bulbs for their off-season dormancy and tulips came and went too quickly but in oh-so-stunning display! Flowering trees are giving way to leafy canopies while drifts of pink and white petals color the streets too briefly. The azaleas are gaudily brilliant with rhododendrons coming on strong. Vineyards are in bud, tomato plants cautiously set out, and from gardeners-to-farmers-to-vignerons, fingers are crossed against a late-season frost.

Sleeping with the window open in this rare time when we need neither furnace nor A/C is a treat. Molly and Sven certainly think so. The other night I heard three large flocks of geese passing in the wee hours. Life goes on.

It is mid-spring in the Willamette Valley and the surest sign to me that summer approaches is the appearance of baby waterfowl. We spotted the first ducklings last Monday (could they even have been 24 hours old?) at Fernhill Wetlands and at least three families of geese delighted our walk on Wednesday at Dawson Creek. Makes me smile every time and we take photos of them paddling after dad with mom as rear guard.

Family parade, Dawson Creek
Dad doesn’t like Ric taking a picture so close
Fuzzy Goslings
Ducking no bigger than a lily pad

As to travel, May will find us wandering in Yorkshire and Ireland. You may recall, if you’ve been reading along for some time, that we planned to go to Ireland in 2023 but mid-trip we took a detour (See Why we are in Switzerland and not Ireland). This year we are resurrecting that itinerary with a week in Yorkshire as a pre-amble with a plan to do with some coastal and countryside walking. We’ll meet my brother and SIL in Dublin for a two-week road-trip mid-month.

We hope you’ll follow along the next three weeks and see what we can find to entertain ourselves. Perhaps there will be goslings and ducklings and surely lambs!

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