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Jan and Paul in Spain 2026

Christmas and New Year in Rothbury

 

We spent Christmas and New Year with the family in Rothbury

There was a Chrismas Eve Box on the kitchen table when we arrived

Michelle always goes to a lot of work to prepare the house for Christmas

And of course the highlight is present opening on Christmas morning

When the children were younger it started very early indeed

But now they are a little older it starts at 0700

Everyone attends in pyjamas, so that they can go back to bed afterwards

Chloe has lots of presents, including these two cuddly toys

Jan and I were not forgotten with lots of wrapped presents, including our Chrismas favourite, a large Toblerone.

One of Jacks presents was t his fur “gangster coat”, apparently quite the thing with young men in and around Newcastle

Georgia always seems to have lots of food treats, though you would never guess as she is so slim

Stuart would rather play with the dogs than open presents

We had a lovely family night out at Little Cosmo, a very popular restaurant in Newcastle

It is self service and you are allowed 90 minutes to select as much as you can eat from a wide variety of foods

Jan and I had six main courses each, but I also visited the dessert area four times

Georgia had the most, but lost track of how many

Stuart and Michelle were on a diet before Christmas, so particularly enjoyed the food

It has a lovely family feel, with lots of children and even one little toddler

The dessert bar has a huge selection, including an ice cream dispenser

It was our second visit, and hopefully we will be back next year

Rothbury is a beautiful and very popular walking area

There is a mile long path along the lovely river Coquet

At this time of year is is particularly popular with local dog owners

It goes from Rothbury to Ladies bridge

Jan and I do this walk most days when we are in Rolthbury

At this time of year it is too cold to linger long enjoying the view

Not sure if this still applies, but the gate is always “shut and fastened”

Lots of wildlife along the river, including a lot of birds, ducks and swans

Our particular favourite at this time of year is the festive looking Robin

This little chap was happy to pose for a lot of photos

And it was quite difficult t weed them down to just four

There are three pubs in Rothbury, so no shortage of choice for a warm after walk drink

15 December 2025 – Jalon to Alcalali

 

Once more the weather forecast caused me to change the planned walk

We had hoped to have a special picnic for our Christmas walk

We planned to do a figure of 8 from Lliber and picnic at the Jalon play area

However the weather forecast soon caused a change of plan

The forecast was pretty grim all week

I changed the walk to Jalon and meet at the tourist information

We could then decide what to do depending on the weather

As the week progressed the forecast did not get any better

With two red warnings for Monday I almost cancelled

But I was reluctant to do so for the last walk of the year

In the worse case we could just go straight to bar Claudia for a drink

It rained on Sunday, but was cloudy but dry Monday morning

I was impressed that 15 turned up at the start

This included Patricia, a Spanish friend of Yolanda

I wanted to avoid any cross country walking because of the earlier rain

So we just set off in the direction of Alcalali

I expected to have our picnic at the Ermita, where there is some shelter

But the weather was so good we went to the mirador instead

Jan had brought some mini stolen for the picnic

Lorraine had also brought some cake

Jim once again provided superior sweets

So we had quite a respectable picnic

Many had worn Christmas hats or sweaters

So we looked the part as well

The weather remained dry as we made our way back to Jalon

And a very enjoyable drink in bar Claudia

Temperature – 14c

Time taken – 3 hours

Distance – 9km