Durham to Worthing

We made our final dash to Durham where we found a B & B for the night.. We had travelled through some glorious countryside and up and over many mountains.
Durham is a university city which is full of students but we were very impressed with it as we drove through looking for a B& B. We went out walking and found a place to eat and then walked around the town with its magnificent cathedral and castle.
We had been attracted to this B &B because there was a Pancake sign outside and then we noticed the B & B sign. It was right in town which was very convenient.
The floors on the building were definitely going downhill. And we wondered how we were going to sleep. We had two pillows to compensate. I am sure the place was at least 150 years old. The cathedral was the oldest one in Britain and I noticed the first clergy started his ministry in 995AD. They had a list of all the clergy starting from him to the present day. We had seen lists in other churches but this beat them all. These buildings are so amazing. I don’t know how long it must have taken to build these structures especially without any modern equipment. We have been amazed at the history everywhere.
The walk we did down along the river was glorious and then we walked up to the cathedral and through the town. It was very pleasant.
We had woken to sunshine and this was the first day in a month that we hadn’t worn our coats. By 11.30 we left Durham and headed for Rutland where my oldest cousin Stan Bruce lives. They have retired now and have a small B & B.
We had to stop for lunch along the way so Trevor pulled off from the motorway. This was really the first time we had spent any time on these major roads as most of the driving had been down country lanes. We thought we were heading for a service centre with petrol etc but found our selves in the middle of a country lane again. Where should we stop for lunch? We came to a cross road and decided this was the place to have our meal. We parked our car and walked across the tiny intersection where there was a seat and a bit of a grassy area. We enjoyed the sunshine again until we had to move to the shade. Strangely the intersection became very busy with every car slowing down to see what on earth were these crazy people doing sitting on the grass. It was quite funny.
Then we were off again to Stan and Gill’s home.
We stopped along the way in Stamford which was again a very attractive character filled town. We spent about 45 minutes here walking through the town.
We arrived in time for dinner. The sun was still out so we enjoyed some time in the garden before we ate. After a sumptuous meal we chatted for ages and Stan gave us more info on our Bruce family tree. It is quite fascinating. There is a French and Irish connection as well as The Isle of Man where Warren’s mothers family comes from. It is quite amazing. Stan has been to India to see where Mum and Granny lived and we are trying to persuade him to go again and take us too.
Friday 3^rd June
We waited until the B & B guests had finished their breakfast before we emerged for breakfast We have been eating far too well with too many English breakfasts so it was good to eat a light breakfast. The sun was out and it was hot!!

Stan and Gill took us to Rutland Water - a great expanse of water with a lot of birdlife. They have two adult osprey with 3 chicks. We went to the centre to see them on the web cam. It was fantastic. They come back to the same place each year. This is a very picturesque place and with the sun out and blue sky it made it quite perfect.
We said goodbye to them and drove another hour to Trevor’s aunt and uncle in Peterborough where we had a lovely meal. We stayed till about 2pm when we left for Jennie’s home.
We had about an hour’s journey left to go when we got stuck in a traffic jam where we crawled for the next hour and a half and didn’t go more than10 miles. It was so hot today too. What a day to get caught in traffic.
We arrived home in Worthing on the south coast of England not far from Brighton around 6pm. It was good to be back and stay put for a week before we take off again for Singapore.