Durham Thursday

The train trip here was uneventful. Before I got onto the train I took the time ( about 1 minute!) to pack away the harness on my pack. Once again the luggage space at the end of the compartment was full but I fairly easily was able to put the pack into the overhead rack. Just as well it only weighed 12kg.

To get to the B and B I had booked I walked through part of the old town. I only saw Italian or Indian restaurants. The proprietor said – that’s about all there is , to cater for all the uni students. He did tell me of the only 2 , in his opinion, reasonable ‘modern British’ restaurants, 1 of which I went to after wandering around and finding times of cathedral access, castle tours etc. I think the price of goat’s cheese compared to ordinary cheese must be less than in Australia. For the second time I had a dish which included a huge slab of goats cheese. Yummy. I sat and planned my day and a half here.

I had seen river cruises advertised and went to look at the times – one started in 10 minutes so I went on it. It was really pleasant, lots of anecdotes, folklore, and other information. A very spur-of-the-moment decision for me. The river Wear winds around, forming a loop and it is in this loop that the cathedral and castle are built . There were parts of the cruise where it felt like you were miles from anywhere. I then had a cup of tea in one of the traditional tea rooms in a vennel – or narrow winding passage way/ path.

I went to evensong in the cathedral. There was a visiting choir – students from all over the country in Durham for a week long choral course. They ranged in ages from about 15 to mid 20’s I guess. I enjoyed it – wonderful sense of history. People have worshipped there for 1000 years. I then did a silly thing – one of the old buildings near the cathedral had a restaurant. The room was light and airy but the food was less than average.