Unbelievable weather for March, the weather forecast promises 21C!
Watching the news this morning, threats of a strike by tanker drivers. The word is do not panic, do not go out and fill up the car with petrol / diesel. So, I dutifully, take the campervan and fill it up with diesel, £100, ouch that hurts!
We decide, we may as well have a ride out in the campervan and use some of the very expensive diesel. I load the bikes on the cycle rack and off we go.
For anyone who wants to make use of this ride, or a variation on it, to find the car park we started from, proceed as follows:
- from A167 at Nevilles Cross, take the A690 toward Crook.
- at the first roundabout (Stonebridge pub on your left), turn right, onto the B6302, toward Broompark.
- After a bridge, crossing the main east coast railway line, watch out for the brown picnic area sign, and "Railway Paths" sign, turn left at these signs for the car park.
From here, you have at least three choices to walk or cycle:
- follow the Deerness Valley trail, towards Esh Winning
- follow the Brandon, Bishop Auckland railway path, towards Bishop Auckland
- follow the Lanchester Valley Railway path, towards Lanchester.
We (well Kathleen) choose the Deerness Valley trail, and go on past Esh Winning. It is uphill all the way (serves her right), and we peddle for 6.5 miles, just beyond Ivesley Cottages.
Here, we are cruelly cheated, there is a pub, we stop for refreshments, but it is closed!
We turn back and head back to the van, we will have to settle for our picnic lunch and a cup of tea.
You can see the abridged journey here.
People born before 1946 are called - The Pre-War Generation.
People born between 1946 and 1964 are called - The Baby Boomers.
People born between 1965 and 1979 are called - Generation X.
And people born between 1980 and 2010 are called - Generation Y.
Why do we call the last group -Generation Y ?
Y should I get a job?
Y should I leave home and find my own place?
Y should I get a car when I can borrow yours?
Y should I clean my room?
Y should I wash and iron my own clothes?
Y should I buy any food?
But perhaps a cartoonist explained it best:
I have not been very active in posting here, but, today, we did something we have been planning to do for quite some time, so I thought it merited a special effort to record it for posterity.
We used our bus passes to go to Durham on the number 50 bus.
We, of course, means, myself and Kathleen.
It was a beautiful morning, sunny, clear blue sky, a little chilly, but nothing to complain about considering it is still March here in North East England.
We caught the 09:45 number 50, (ie the first one after the 09:30 "watershed" for use of your pass), from beside the ASDA (Boldon) supermarket. The journey took approximately one hour, with a little tour of Washington, then on to Chester-le-Street and finally Durham.
First port of call of course is the toilet, we are, after all, two pensioners! Immediate excitement, the Ladies is out of action and a queue of women of a certain age are waiting anxiously to use the single disabled toilet, while discussing the perils of drinking coffee. Being a gentleman, I make use of the Gents, which at that time is under utilised, then offer to stand guard at the door if they wish to make use of the facility. A sigh of relief is heard. I did consider a quick photograph of the queue, but decided that may not be well received.
We arrive at the riverside, I notice this sign, once we have moved a little way along the riverside, confident Kathleen had not seen the sign, I suggested we walk to Seaburn, rather than get the bus back.
The suggestion is not welcomed, so instead it is decided we will walk along the river, for 4 or 5 miles, before resorting to the pensioners favourite pastime, ie a visit to a tea-shop.
Durham is a beautiful place, and the riverside in particular is quite stunning, as the River Wear winds through the city.
The Cathedral has such a prominent position, high on the river bank, it is visible constantly.
On this beautiful sunny March morning, the views are impressive.
Eventually, the path takes us away from the riverbank, past this church, which I do not know the name of.
I cannot resist this shot of the church yard, our next residence I suppose, but not in the immediate future, I hope.
After a brief period of walking through a built up area, we rejoin the riverbank, and continue downstream, on the opposite bank to the University cricket ground.
One of the attractions of walking this route on a Monday morning in March, is that we have the place virtually to ourselves.
We walk on, to the point at which the A177 crosses the river, and make use of the bridge to cross to the opposite bank and make our way back toward Durham city-centre and something to eat!
Soon, Durham is back in view, and, shortly afterwards, we are in Cottons Tea Shop, drinking tea and enjoying bacon sandwiches after our four mile walk.
We are in a city centre, and of course that means shops.
We have a stroll through the covered market, off Market Square, which even an avowed non shopper like me found (almost) interesting. But I cannot see the logic in visiting a tiny version of Marks and Spencer, and an equally tiny version of Next, when we have much more extensive versions in Newcastle, with exactly the same stock. The day is saved by purchasing a newspaper and reading it in the sun, whilst shopping proceeds unhindered.
Back to the Bus Station, and a ride home on the bus, a very enjoyable day.
