We left York in the morning and made the trip back up to Hartlepool where the Land Rover restoration shop is located.

Our car is not yet ready to turn over to us, so as a partial consolation for this considerable inconvenience, they loaned us a smaller Defender 90 to use in the interim.

The most excitement yesterday was then driving up from Hartlepool to the Newcastle airport, where we had to return the rental car we first picked up at Heathrow. With two cars, means we needed two drivers. Brenda got her first experience driving in England, not only on the wrong side of the road, but using a stick shift. She was quite nervous about the process, but all went well and we successfully turned over the rental, shifted all of the gear and crew into the Land Rover and we were off to more adventures.

We decided to spend the afternoon and evening in Newcastle and had a chance to see the town, the waterfront along the River Tyne, and the ancient gate keep and tower, first constructed by William the Conqueror’s son.

I tried to get economical with the hotel- I found a hostel that would take the five of us for under $100 a night, breakfast included.  The place was clean but European small.  We all had bunk beds and had to stay in them because there wasn’t enough floor space to accommodate more than 2 at a time. It was fun in a new, unpleasant kind of way which makes for great stories and memories but not in a desire to repeat.

In general, the kids just love any form of hardship – anything out of ordinary is terribly entertaining and they seem to draw energy for it, which keeps the adult spirits up as well.

Restaurant where we had dinner, and finally convinced Isabella of the value of Indian food. We had to drag her in, and afterwards she wants to eat Indian every night.

Isabella and Holden were playing Ninjas, walking along the castle’s walls.

Haggis! We’re close enough to Scotland to affect their food choices. I ordered this as an appetizer (Haggis balls in red sauce) and could not get anyone else to join in with me. Not bad, but not something I will seek out other than to gross out my kids.