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If it weren't for visitors...
Aug. 24th, 2009 09:12 pm...we'd never get round to being tourists in our own region. For some visitors, this means organising ourselves on day excursions to see the major sights; for others - like this weekend's guests, it's an excuse to drift around gently, taking the time to do smaller scale exploring.
So we drove up Weardale to see the steam railway - which had, yet again, problems with its engine and was not steaming. Nothing daunted, we nosed around the platform at Wolsingham, lunched at the Black Bull (opposite Frosterley station), patronised the shop at Stanhope, drove home over heather covered moors (a noticeably brighter purple than a week ago).
We took the ferry from South Shields to North Shields (I've lived here nearly forty years, and this is the first time I've actually taken the Shields ferry, so it's a real achievement), ate fish and chips at Kristians (another first, as they're usually either closed or packed out; it was good, but not quite as superlative as their reputation suggests), admired the lighthouses and the view from the Wooden Doll and the drove home down the coast, with a brief stop at St Peter's in Monkwearmouth, where a new feature is the outline on the ground (in paving blocks and blue glass chips - this sounds unpromising, but it works) of the original seventh century monastery.
And in between times we wandered round Durham, paid our respects to Bede and Cuthbert, checked out a few charity shops, drank large quantities of tea and coffee, read the papers, gossiped and generally had a good time.
So we drove up Weardale to see the steam railway - which had, yet again, problems with its engine and was not steaming. Nothing daunted, we nosed around the platform at Wolsingham, lunched at the Black Bull (opposite Frosterley station), patronised the shop at Stanhope, drove home over heather covered moors (a noticeably brighter purple than a week ago).
We took the ferry from South Shields to North Shields (I've lived here nearly forty years, and this is the first time I've actually taken the Shields ferry, so it's a real achievement), ate fish and chips at Kristians (another first, as they're usually either closed or packed out; it was good, but not quite as superlative as their reputation suggests), admired the lighthouses and the view from the Wooden Doll and the drove home down the coast, with a brief stop at St Peter's in Monkwearmouth, where a new feature is the outline on the ground (in paving blocks and blue glass chips - this sounds unpromising, but it works) of the original seventh century monastery.
And in between times we wandered round Durham, paid our respects to Bede and Cuthbert, checked out a few charity shops, drank large quantities of tea and coffee, read the papers, gossiped and generally had a good time.
