Northern Run - Coast & Castles at the White Swan Hotel, Alnwick, Friday 6th & Saturday 7th September 2024

Righto, you lot, I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for news on the Northern Gig. Or I hope you have.... !

I've managed to secure rooms in the above-mentioned hotel for us, at a cost of ?350 per room for 2 sharing, for 2 nights on a dinner, bed and brekky basis. Same room on a sole occupancy basis is ?265. Deposit will be ?50 per person at time of booking, so ?100 if there's 2 of ya. They'll expect full payment a month before the event and if there are any probs at our or your end, there are no refunds!
They have their own car park round the back, accessible via a ramp. Bar is cashless so don't forget your cards!

Got an idea for a route incorporating coast, castles and moors so it should be a good 'un. Alnwick is a great town with lots of shops etc, and of course there's the famous castle if you want to live out your Harry Potter fantasies (and innumerable other films). The thing of note about the hotel is the dining room, which incorporates all the wood panelling from the RMS Olympic, Titanic's sister ship, which was purchased upon the scrapping of said ship and the hotel altered to suit its fitting. It's quite the thing, and there's also the Grand Staircase up to the first floor....

To get on board (ho, ho) this Most Excellent Extravaganza, call Reception on 01665 602109 and tell them you're with the Stratos group, or the Briers gang, or you could even quote the code BK92766. And don't forget to update this thread so I know who's going!

More info as things progress, but that should do for now....

Cheers!

Norm

I'll start it off Norm

Lady Helen of Nottingham and myself are booked in........ eventually spoke to Diane who was very helpful

Thanks for organising

Cheers Phil - looks like I'll have someone to talk to after all! :)

Pat has just been in touch with the hotel today, Diane is the contact for our group booking, she is not in the office until Friday this week. So anyone wishing to book Friday will be a good day.

David

It was Diane who's the hotel's group booking person and set us up, but she said we should just ring reception.....but if they're getting all confused then let's play safe and book via her!

David, ta for the info :)

Spoke to Diane today room booked, that makes us six two more people to talk to. Diane is going to brief reception so that they can deal with the bookings.

David

Two more now today.

All booked in Norm, looking forward to it :)

This is sounding so good I might have to book in meself.....

Update on this - if you're intending to come, be aware that the rooms I've reserved will only be available till the 3rd June, when they'll be released back for general sale. Doesn't mean you'll not be able to book after that date, but it's not guaranteed! So get in there soon :)

Just had a rooming list from the hotel, and it looks like we're a a select few this year. Only 7 rooms booked, and 2 of those are a couple of friends, so only 5 SEC bookings, one of which is me :) Can't believe nobody else wants to go!

The date for the hotel holding rooms for us has now passed, so if you try and book from now onwards, there's no guarantee of availabilty (although I'd be surprised if the place was booked out this far in advance). So if you're thinking about it, come on, don't dither and get your names down now! Or don't you love me any more? (boo-hoo....:( )

Norm. Love to, but already booked to a local charity car show all day Saturday.
Sorry Steve

Wee update on the gig - had a wizz round the proposed route today while the weather was good. As part of that I called in at the hotel and they've still got some rooms available, for all you last-minute types out there :) But, it'll be full payment on booking now, and for those who HAVE booked, you'll be getting an email this week reminding you to pay the balance.

As for the run, it's quite a bit shorter than the usual fare - about 80 miles, give or take. Reason for that is cos there are a few places on the route that could tempt you to stop and spend a bit of time, e,g, Seahouses, Bamburgh, Lindisfarne, and Chillingham Castle, reputedly the most haunted castle in Britain....mwahahahahaaaaa, etc. Must say the butties there were quite good, though ;)

Just booked on. A bit late but really looking forward to it.
Thanks for organising Norm
Neil & Debs

Just 17 days till the run, so now's the time to post the route directions, and then you can compare the instructions to a map and see where you're going....or not, if you wanna do yer own thing :)

Info for attendees:

Evening meal is 7:30 on both Friday and Saturday
Breakfast is between 8:30 and 9:00
Entreaties made to the Almighty for decent weather (but a few more voices prob won't hurt)

9 days to go......!!!

Looking forward to catching up with folks again.... hope that you have ordered the sunny weather Normster !

Just a quick reminder regarding the Tyne Tunnel if you are coming via the A19. Payment for the tunnel has to be made on line via their website as there are NO toll booths.

David

And apparently it's the Northern Run (as in, actual running) through Newcastle this weekend so the city and environs will be rammed with various road closures, so plan your route to and from Alnwick accordingly. The A1 should be fine!
See y'all there....

Hi All

Thanks for your company this weekend we both really enjoyed. Thanks also to Chairman Norm for organising another great weekend event.

Cheers
Phil and Helen

Another great weekend which Pat and I throughly enjoyed thank you Norm And Leah.

After strolling through Alnwick Garden we set off for home. Unfortunately we were beset by monsoonal rain and the Great Northern run which caused standing traffic on the A19. Fortunately my new waterproofing for the front windows held up well with only minor water ingress, it was certainly a good test for it.

David and Pat

Thanks Norm for putting together a fab weekend. Deb & I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. (and my smoked kippers) Great route with so much to see and do, the company was pretty good too :cool:
Our early Start home this morning paid dividends, we missed any major traffic, although hit the ?monsoons? which were pretty scary at times. We managed the 200 odd miles home with just a quick splash & dash stop for fuel on the M1 c 35 miles from home. The longest non stop run we?ve done (165miles) #loving the new seats.

All the best
Neil & Debs

Thanks for organising a great weekend again Norm, excellent choice of venue and some new to me sights to see.
I had nice little 280 mile bimble for me and was back by 3, had a bit of rain north of Leeds but nothing too bad.
It was good to catch up with everyone again, already looking forward to the next one;)

Dave

p.s Norm don't forget to pay your parking fine:rolleyes:

David
I'd be interested in seeing your new waterproofing system. In the heavy rain on the last run my "improved" system didn't work and Julie enjoyed an inside shower.

Cheers everyone, great to see y'all, and Big Ta for trusting me to get you to burn loads of petrol :)

Shame about the sea fret making it so you couldn't get to see the sea....the Farne Islands were out there somewhere, honest! Think the more relaxed driving regime went down well, so everyone got to spend time at various places rather than realise that dinner's in an hour and it's still 100 miles back to the hotel :) :)

No idea what next year's gig will hold, but I'll think of summat. I might see if I can hire George the waiter/bartender to dispense insults to all and sundry too....

Oh, and I've saved the non-parking ticket for onward use on some unsuspecting club member or other.....I wonder who that'll be? ...Dave :P

Home now yesterday at about 3.30 after our over night in Carlisle. M6 was surprisingly not a problem and the weather was good all the way except for some very strong winds at times which I was surprised at the effect of.

Thanks Norman for organising, and everybody for your great company, and I was so pleased to see you all. (Note for our table, just caught the right protuberance on the edge of the table whilst doing this, OUCH)