Blogs from Durham County, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

The celebrated author, Bill Bryson, described Durham in glowing terms. "I thought it was perfect when I first saw it - I still think so now" were the words he used. "The city of Durham is an intensely beautiful and historic place. There is so much history there but what makes it so special is that it appreciates that history - it looks after it and does positive things with it". Bryson stumbled upon Durham by chance, when writing his Notes From A Small Island book. He went on to become Chancellor of the University between 2005 and 2011. The new University library still bears his name. On a day that saw Dominic Cummings take to the stage once again in pursuit of revenge against TFB, Durham seemed an appropriate place to be. It was after ... read more

From Langley Park To Memphis. I often draw inspiration from music for a blog title. It could be a line in a song or an album title and it doesn't even need to be from a band with whom I have some affinity. The title seemed appropriate for another wander around County Durham. The 1988 vinyl by the Prefab Sprout gang might have fallen off the radar somewhat, but is still credible 30 odd years on. The last County Durham blog on the heels of the "Senior Advisor", saw us pass the milestone of 70,000 hits in total. Thank you to everyone, who has taken the trouble to read, view or even look at the odd photograph. Lockdown has had many negatives, but a lack of time wasn't one. I hear the cries of anguish from ... read more

Where in the world is Gabby the motorhome. She is having well earned rest in the car park of the Masons Arms. Unlike Europe our own small isle does not cater for motorhomers. Caravan and Motorhome Club sites are well out of the way . Suitable for tuggers but not for us in vans. They are expensive . Over £25 a night . Not something you want to pay when you have paid a lot of cash for a lithium battery and do not need electricity. Just a bit of hardstanding. Their members book up the sites for months on end so even if you wanted to get it they would be full . The Camping Club - the friendly one offers cheaper nights of around £15 but even so they are still not what we ... read more

A lot has changed on Teesside in the last three decades. The steel river no longer sees much steel these days and most of what it does, probably arrives on a HGV from Scunthorpe. The plant on the edge of the Tees at Redcar is now mothballed and closed forever and only a few specialist parts of the business remain. Football has changed too. The Ayresome Park gang became the Awesome Park gang and a generation grew up using the words, “The Riverside” and “Stadium”. Big name players came and went, adding to their wealth and skill set by acquiring the ability to throw a dart and refer to their Other Half as “our lass”. There was a buzz about on matchdays back then, but nothing much was stirring for the arrival of Charlton Athletic today ... read more

We arrived at Newcastle airport just before lunch time and after raiding an ATM, we made our way to the Airport Metro Station and caught the first train to Newcastle Central. It was very humid in Newcastle and around 28 degrees. From the metro station below Newcastle Central, we climbed the escalators up into the Railway Station where we were confronted with mayhem. Lightning from a thunderstorm had knocked out a train bunch of signals in Yorkshire so the trains heading south to London were all cancelled. We needed to catch any one of those trains for our 25 minute ride south down to Darlington where our Campervan awaits. Amongst all the bedlam at the station, we talked to some railway customer service people who told us to jump onto the train on platform 2 which ... read more