Sixty at Sixty - A Final Accounting

A year ago, to celebrate turning sixty, I set myself a challenge to complete sixty different activities before my sixty-first birthday. Ambitious right?  Too ambitious as it turned out as here I am a year later and I haven't made it to sixty - but I did manage forty-eight, many of them, things I would not have done if it weren't for the challenge. It certainly made me aware of the vast range of activities and opportunities that are out there if you only look. It's too easy to stick to what you know or to find excuses as to why you can't do something, which means it is so easy to miss out on a lot of what life offers. And you don't always have to spend a lot of money to partake, it's amazing how many free events there are if you know where to look!

So what did I get up to?

Historic Sites - Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, UK

Whenever anyone tells me they have been on a tour of the UK it seems that London, the Cotswolds, the Lake District or Edinburgh are the most common destinations on their itinerary. Some might venture into Wales, Cornwall or the Scottish Highlands, but it's rare to hear of the northeast of England being included. Which is a shame, because it offers magnificent scenery and a wealth of history that rivals other more popular tourist areas.

Take Bamburgh Castle for example. One of the largest still-inhabited castles in the country, it is impressive not only for its size but also for its location on a rocky outcrop right beside the sea. I've been to visit it several times but had never appreciated the extent of its history.

the view on approach to the village of Bamburgh 

Historic Sites - Old Sarum, Wiltshire, UK

When I travel I like to visit historic sites. The opportunity to get a glimpse of the history of a place or a building and imagine what it must have been like in its heyday is one I find hard to ignore whether it is fifty years old or centuries ago. On a recent trip to the UK I was fortunate enough to fit in several such visits, including one to Old Sarum in Wiltshire.