Barcelo Redworth Hall Hotel Newton Aycliffe

Countries: 1
Miles travelled by Car: 1121
Miles Travelled by bike: Do trips to the supermarket count?
Fond Farewells: Numerous
Declarations of Jealousy: More numerous (because it includes a lot of people I don't even know)
Accusations of insanity: Even more numerous (because many people made more than one)
Bricks Shat: 53
Tasks left incomplete at time of departure: 2
Tasks able to be completed via internet: 2

... but eventually went to see Bruce Willis in 'Surrogates', a weird but quite cool sci-fi which is worth a look if you have no better offers.

Came out of the film around 11, considered going for a drink but decided that there would be plenty of time for that, and without paying through the nose either. Read for a bit and turned out the light. Found myself restless, not surprising really but a better nights sleep would have been handy; ho-hum.

... as we were now going to the Freeman Hospital, my home. After riding over the Yorkshire moors & Teeside we came through the Tyne Tunnel & arrived at the Freeman. Well I say we, myself, martyn, David & Lyndsey nearly got lost! we managed to lose the others on the run into Newcastle but we got there in the end.

Wow! there were Nurses, photographers, paparazzi ...

Well this is day one.

Left Haverhill at 10am this morning and was in Newcastle at the Angel of the North by 15:00. Not bad going for an old thing (the car not me!!!) lol. Stopped at the Angel of the North and took a few pictures, just need some wi-fi so that I can upload a few. Then off to my first stop over, Newcastle YHA. Checked in, handed over £20 and and went up to my room with a packet ...

... darned good. So it was worth it :)
We clambered back down and it was super narrow going down. We stopped for a drink at the $1 pound store where you could get 2 Pepsi Max 500ml drinks for $1. We then headed back to the bus where we hopped on bang on time and off we went.
We drove a couple of hours to get to Newcastle, I had a doze with my headphones on and Dan just chilled. We stayed at the Jury's Inn and reached it by 3.30pm ...

... church was built and they had his bones for 300 years before a beautiful chapel was built to house his mortal remains. For Bede, life was brief but held the knowledge of the mercy of Christ. He liked the English and wrote the first history of the English speaking people. I love his prayers but he is not in that black stone box; he flew to the light of his Lord long before the first stone was laid for Durham’s great Cathedral.

We got to Durham at 2 pm ...

... bless him, so we all shivered a little - but it wasn't too cold. I suggested he seek some help, which he did from the friendly guys at Motorhome Facts on the interweb when we got back home - so hopefully no more problems with him controlling the temperature from now on.

I found the site to be quite a good one...nice hard standing, not too ...

... very long time in Thirsk.

On Monday morning we had a very tearful time saying goodbye to my Mum, Dad and Emma. We are hoping Emma was none the wiser as Mum took her out for a walk and we packed and moved out while they were gone.

No one could have prepared us for how it feels to say goodbye to family. I was obviously ...

... takes rice, cooks it, and then adds a weird, sour flavour to it so it tastes absolutely disgusting. Karim had about eight packs of this filth. He ate seven and a half of them. Other dining experiences included Pasta n Sauce, and Super Noodles. Hardly fine dining, but you're limited to what you can cook half way up a hill. Another item that would fall into 'must-pack' essentials is Tabasco Sauce ...

... heading off to the different clubs. I thought that this energy might come from the fact that Durham's home to a major university. However, school was out of session when we were there. So, I guess that the town is just active by itself.

We spent some time at the Silver Street Bridge, admiring the view of the towers of the cathedral looming above the trees and the River Wear. The setting is as dramatic as I had read. We followed a path along the river to the ...