Friday, 28 August
Got up and had a bath (no shower!) and breakfast before returning to the Bowes Museum. It is an impressive French-style building, in many ways too grand for the English countryside. I wasn't quite as impressed with the collection inside, though it is no doubt magnificent to lovers of porcelain. Highlights were a special exhibition of items from classic British children's television (an original Sooty and Sweep, Bagpuss and Basil Brush), some nice Canalettos, and a mechanical silver swan. We bought a fragrant lemon soap and some potential wedding invitation cards in the shop.
Leaving Bowes, we struck north, avoiding the A roads and driving across the beautiful heather-haloed plains of the Northern Pennines. We particularly enjoyed the black-faced sheep with their long tails, wandering freely (including over the roads) and curiously unmoved by the traffic. We stopped for lunch in a little town called Blanchland, site of a former abbey. Then onward to Hexham, and visited the gaol (the first purpose-built prison in England) and abbey (built with repurposed stones from the Roman camp at Corbridge).
After driving through more lovely countryside (spotted a grouse, or some-such bird), we found our way to the remains at Corbridge. Not a lot to see, but there was an excellent audioguide that made sense of the foundations and brought the place to life in the imagination. This was very near the town of Corbridge itself, where we were staying. We had a nice walk through the little town, across the bridge and alongside the River Tyne, where we found the remains of the old Roman bridge that led to the camp. Stopped for a pint of ale on our return, then had dinner and went to bed. Followed by a rough night's sleep, interrupted by a screaming child.
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