Day 11 To Amsterdam

We had a not so rushed start at K & J's flat. They took us for a drive to a nice peaceful area along the Tyne River called Newburn. We took a walk along the river and watch some kiddies canoeing or kyaking. As kids do, one ended up the drink. There was a nice looking pub nearby so we stopped and had coffee.

We headed back towards Newcastle and stopped at the cemetery in the West Road where R's brother, who suicided in 1986, is buried. R's parents who both died in the 1990s also had their ashes scattered on a lawn nearby within the cemetery. You want to know why R's bros suicided? I usually want the juicy bits. While he was happily married?, he also very occasionally had sex with men, including being seduced by R's ex when they visited the UK in the mid 1970s. 1986 was perhaps the height of AIDS hysteria and because he was not on the scene at all, his knowledge of HIV was very limited. He thought that because he had had sex with men, he automatically had AIDS. While R was never his father's golden haired boy, this brother was. We think the pressure of both just got too much for him.

Well, that was all very jolly.

We visted J's sister who was at work in a post office and then a mate of J's who was at his home. This bloke was married but is now single. His house is so stunningly decorated and immaculately clean, I can out guess that his wife found out about his sexuality and bolted. He had a great raised gold fish pond in his back yard too. We were hungry and eyeing the larger of the gold fish.

God, we are surrounded by pooftahs.

Back to K and J's flat to pack as we were sailing at 6pm. We headed off in the car about 4pm for a 6pm sailing from North Shields. Finding the car park was hard. Boarding was reasonable straight forward and I will write about the ferry trip separately.

Pub garden at Newburn.
The Newcastle Crematorium Entrance
The King of Scandinavia, our ferry from Newcastle to the Holland port of Ijmuiden.


We started the day with a visit to