Last minute.......................

{Alnmouth beach}

Another week in Alnmouth but as you can see from the photo above, not such good weather this time - though to be fair I only got wet once!

The sea was quite rough at times - a trip to see the puffins on the Farne Islands had to be cancelled. I was rather relieved about that really, sailing is not my thing - it's the smell of the marine diesel........

{The body of a gannet on the beach possibly killed by the strong wind overnight}

One of the walks took me to Wooler where I visited 'Gear for Girls' in the high street. There I couldn't resist the temptation of buying a new pair of boots - Keen Glarus. They're going to become my 'serious' boots - starting with the Challenge in a few days time. The other Keen pair that I have - the Pyrenees - did me good service but the sole is rather worn and they've become generally rather soft. I'm thinking about some of the underfoot conditions I may encounter as I make my way across Scotland!

{Keen Glarus - my new boots}

This will only be a short post as I'm still struggling to pack everything into my rucksack. There is rather a large bag of food (which will diminish as the days pass) and I'm having to take an extra jacket in case it's cold when camping......

{TGO Challenge kit laid out on the spare bed - but will it all go in the rucksack?}

I'm not going to put out a kit list - it's all the usual stuff - as you can see. No matter how hard I try I can't get under 10  kg. Now I'm at the stage of not being able to cut it down any further especially as the weather forecast is not terribly favourable..........