UP UP - DOWN DOWN.

Two things that you never want to hear when you fly is: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am your captain for todays flight to Amsterdam and I want to let you know that we are having significant issues with our landing gear".  The second is: ladies and gentlemen is there a doctor on board? We need a doctor as soon as possible"!

Both of these sound bites come courtesy of a man who if you didn't know better would swear is Mike Myers doing his best GOLDMEMBER voice.  Ah, the Dutch and their natural ability to calm the masses with their soft and reassuring tones.  So fast forward, as you have now concluded as I am still blogging after yesterdays adventure that all is well.  The wheels came down and the patient lived. I write this post from the "comforts" of the Premier Inn in the spectacular city of Durham.  A world Heritage site of unbelievable proportion.  The Castle and Cathedral are epic. 

The City that sits below and around it are likewise spectacular.  Do yourself a favor and google this place.  I can not do it anywhere near justice. So to back up a bit, upon arriving from Amsterdam yesterday at lunch we headed by rental car (that by the way looks remarkably like a bluebird cab) to North Shields.  This is where for hundreds of years the people of the Northeast have come to shop for all things seafood.  We could not resist and bellied up to the counter at the be best fish and chip shop I ever been to.  Two minutes latter we were stuffing our gobs with the golden batter of huge haddock and chips o'plenty.

From that Xanadu moment we drove on to Tynemouth and walked around the village and nearby national heritage site Priory.  Its not often you wander the ruins of a building that is 1400 years old.  From there it was in to Newcastle and a quick pint at the Crown Posada.  Unreal Victorian period pub!  We then turned further into the city and a quick drive to spend a wonderful evening with some old friends for a lovely dinner and wander down memory lane. 

Sadly, my constitution was failing quickly as 36 hours without sleep was now taking its toll. We drove on to Durham and there we are full circle.  Day 1.5 is over and we are alive and well.  Today finds us wandering Durham, Newcastle and parts east a little more before returning "bluebird" to the gender neutral attendant at Europacar. We arrived at Newcastle central station by rapid transit just in time to board the first of our many trains on this trip. We are off to St. Bees on the coast of the Irish Sea and the calm before the storm.  Tomorrow we begin the C2C walk.

Pray for us!

Cheers'

Mark

The mouth of the Tyne