Belford Arts Festival & Cycling in The Netherlands

While I was away on a cycling trip in The Netherlands, my parents showed my work at the Belford Arts Festival.

They were one of 47 stalls featuring artists and makers from the local area and I think they did a superb job of setting up my stall!

Situated between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Alnwick, and not too far from Bamburgh on the coast, the village of Belford is a lovely stop off if you’re in the area. But then again, Northumberland isn’t shy of beautiful places where you can wander and dream, but then perhaps I’m biased, having been born and raised in the county!

Onto our cycling trip, we spent a week touring The Netherlands, from IJmuiden to The Hague, then onto Utrecht and Amsterdam before the journey back to IJmuiden to catch our ferry home.

An absolutely brilliant trip featuring lots of stroopwafel, pedal and chain related scuffs on my legs (any day now I’ll graduate out of the amateur club), Highland Cows (wasn’t expecting that), excellent cycle routes (was expecting that…but didn’t realise QUITE how well equipped The Netherlands is for bike life) and delicious meals cooked up on our stoves for all eleven of us.

We’re currently experiencing a heatwave in the UK so I hope you’re staying cool and taking it easy. For me, that means a cold facecloth on my neck, feet in a basin of water and keeping hydrated whilst I’m indoors working.

I’ll leave you with this captivating sunset from the ferry. There’s something quite special about floating along in the Giant Blue North Sea…