Category Great Britain
South by Train
We bid a fond farewell to Toft Hall, to stone walls, to the Tyne bridges, to the Angel, and to Northumberland in general; and boarded our train to London, which was embossed with “Battle of Britain” livery. We whizzed past Durham with its cathedral, then through York, Doncaster and Peterborough, with smooth efficiency. It’s remarkable […]
Angels and Romans
A lazy day. Rain. Eggs on toast for lunch. Eventually we drove to Gateshead to see the Angel of the North, which spreads its wings in welcome. Not everyone loves it but I reckon as far as public art goes, I’ve seen much worse. The dull grey sky made photographing it difficult; however If you […]
Who Do We Think We Are
I blame Michael Portillo. The man has spent years traversing Britain by train, hunting out the quirky and obscure on our behalf. Our second “Portillo” was a visit to Barters Bookshop, in the old Alnwick railway station. One of the walls has a list of all the Alnwick railway workers, and there are several Dodds […]
Hadrians Wall
Hadrian’s Wall. It was hard to believe we’d been in Northumberland for five days, and still hadn’t seen it. We’d seen signs a-plenty, but were yet to lay eyes on the actual Wall. That all changed today, as we drove west. There are stone walls absolutely everywhere here, but The Wall is easy to spot. […]
Trains, Ferries, Tilting Bridges, and Vampire Rabbits
After three days of our own version of Escape to the Country, we decided it was time to have a look at the City. Our accommodation host had advised us, wisely, to drive to a Park & Ride and take the metro train, rather than do battle with the traffic and the one way streets. […]
Border Country
It was Sunday morning, and time for our first ever UK orienteering event. The local club, Newcastle and Tyneside Orienteers (NATO), were staging an urban race in Killingworth, which is an outer suburb of Newcastle. It was very relaxed, with a “choose your own start time and course”. We felt that we’d done our share […]
Across the Country to Carlisle
With a forecast of heavy cloud, showers and a fresh breeze, we turned the itinerary on its head and decided to pursue indoor activities. So it was off to Carlisle, which is on the other side of the country, but only about 75 minutes’ drive away. First stop was the Solway Aviation Museum, which was […]
Roamin’ Amongst the Romans
It’s amazing what 11 hours solid sleep will do to revive you, followed by a leisurely breakfast, a lazy morning, and a lunch of bacon and fresh farm eggs. You may guess that we were not very energetic this morning. We both needed some time out. My ankle no longer looked like an ostrich egg, […]
Germany to England
Transit days are never fun. My watch, Ian’s phone, and the neighbouring church bells, all told us it was 5am and time to get up. We embarked on a major repack, wondering how we’d accumulated so much food! We ate mounds of cornflakes for breakfast, and sloshed down lemonade for morning tea. It was a […]
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