Thursday, 27 August
Got up at 6:30 (yuck!) and caught a train to Newcastle from King's Cross. Spent 3 hours trying to find a spoon so I could eat my breakfast, as well as trying to ignore the noisy child sitting nearby. Went to pick up the car in Newcastle, then had to run around the sitting trying to print out some proof of address that they suddenly needed. Holidays eh? Who needs 'em!
Drove to Durham, and walked up to the castle, which was unfortunately closed for a wedding. Made do with a one hour tour of the Cathedral that was quite interesting. We learned that women (even Queens) were not allowed in the cathedral, so had their own chapel in the rear; that St Cuthbert is buried here, with a King's dismembered head; and that there is a colony of Pipistrelle bats in the cloisters (we saw one doing laps). They also had some interesting modern sculptures, and a painting of an elderly lady who was described as looking as if she had "had a difficult paper route".
Afterwards we drove on to the villgage of Barnard Castle (via another village with the amusing name of Staindrop), where we had a room booked in an eerie old building. (We later learned that our room was a ghosty one, and that there is an ancient well in the basement that has a subterranean reservoir that can be explored in a diving suit!) Had a grand old walk around the town, visiting the ruins of the namesake castle, the river, churchyard, nearby fields, and the grounds of the Bowes Museum, where they were finishing filming of an episode of Antique's Roadshow!
Had a fish pie and ale before turning in.
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