Tynemouth Castle and Priory

Today we went to Tynemouth Castle and Priory, right on the beach near Newcastle.  Again, it was windy, but it wasn't raining and we had the place to ourselves for a good while.  Basically the place started out as a monastery and then changed to a castle, then a fort, and then a coast guard station.  It was a strategic place that was attacked a lot - by the Scots, the Norwegians, the Germans, etc.  

Nathan was excited that he could reach across the archway - "like Samson," he said.

Clearly, I fell short of such a feat, but my face communicates that I tried hard.

Naughty Nathan climbing the ruins

Posing in a sepulchre

A graveyard with a lot of "Aslan slabs," we called them

The sea and wind have weathered away the tombstones, so the backs of them look like coral.

A WWI military gun replica

We had to get a treat afterwards to warm up. :)