September 22 Durham to Morpeth

We enjoyed a good sleep at the Three Horseshoes as well as a delicious breakfast.  The owners son and daughter in law had stepped in to help them renovate the place.  The land lady said they were pretty much on their knees.  I think that meant they needed help.  The kids have done a wonderful job on our room and have one room left to do as well as the hall ways.  A bit like Monarch of the Glen.  The son comes back to save the family estate sort of thing.

There was frost on the car but it had melted in the sunshine before we were ready to set off for Beamish Museum.  We arrived just at opening and still had to stand in line for tickets.  What a deal - concession tickets were 13 pounds.  The girl wanted to know if we'd like a one year membership.  Well, no.  The memberships was the same price as entry for a day, so if any of our older friends are coming this way....

Beamish is a living museum.  You can walk around in most of the displays.  It is set up as a coal mining village.  There are 3 main areas - the colliery, the farm and the village.  Trams and buses drive you from one site to another.  There is a variety of buses and it would have been neat to ride on them all as some were doing but very time consuming.  The grandchildren would all love the place.  Some had their bikes and there were some strider bikes too.  We've seen a lot of strider bikes on this trip.

First stop was the Colliery.  The school teacher was in the school even though it was Saturday and the students were not there.  There were up to 90 students, ages 6 to 12 in the room st times.  ONE teacher, poor soul. 

RLinda, the dilegent student.    Roy, was naughty. 

Next we visited the chapel.  There were ladies making lace at the back of the church.  It is fascinating to watch them work.  All those bobbins to keep untangled.  There also was a lady making a whole cloth quilt.  Of course I had to spend a little time there.  The whole cloth quilts were wedding quilts only.  Other quilts were made of scraps.                                                                                        

 

You are able to go into a mine shaft and see how it was for the miners.  We donned hard hats and went down into the mahogany drift.  Good thing we had those hard hats.  I banged my head once.  They are very low.  I cannot imagine spending long days down there mining the coal or hauling it out.  All the things I have read about coal mining are true.  You couldn't exagerate how bad it must have been.  next, over to the spot were the coal is brought up.  The lifts are steam operated where we saw the only cable winch operated by steam in the world.  The lift operators job was considered to be a highly skilled job and was a plum job because they never went down in the mine.  The position would pass from father to son.  The lift operator was so important that he was not allowed to leave his post.  There was a comode fitted into his chair so he could take care of everything without leaving his post.  A good lift operator could get the cage within 1/4 inch of each level.

 

The cottages are set up just as they were and you are free to wander through most.  Some have people baking or cooking and one had a lady making a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  Naturally Linda had to have a look.  She invited me to sit and sew awhile but we had miles to go before we slept.

 

Sausage rolls and a pop for lunch.  Sounds bad but tasted pretty good!  The best pop I have ever had.  Elderflower and dandelion.

 

On a quaint old bus for a ride to the village.  The stores are set up as they were in the day and there were quite a few for the miners to spend their wages in.  Dry goods store (sold Hudson's soap), auto and bicycle dealer, dentist, candy store, etc.  It was fun to look around.  We got an ice cream (I had a flake in mine.   It's a stick of what seemed like grated chocolate loosely made into a stick) and headed to the train station.  Roy saw the steam train go by while I bought the ice cream.  That was about it for action at the trains. 

 

The tram took us back to the entrance and we picked up the car and faced it toward Housteads fort on Hadrians wall.  It was later than we had intended as Rick Steeves said to allow 3 hours for Beamish.  Now where near enough!  We will always add time to his estimates in future.

 

Arrived at Housesteads in sunshine and warm weather.  Direct opposite to our visit 4 years ago.  Then it was driving rain and wind.  From the entrance at the road you follow a path down into a sheep filled valley, across a stream, through a gate, up a very, very steep sheep filled hill to get to the fort.  It's a hike!  It was much more enjoyable to visit the fort this time as you weren't being blown into Roman latrines and the pictures will turn out as the camera lens isn't covered in water.  We re toured the ruins.  Amazing people those Romans and then did an sort of no no (we weren't alone).  We climbed up on the wall at the edge of the fort.  Cool.  But people were on the wall further to the east where it was much wider.  How to get there.  We climbed a fence and went down a very steep hill, found our way through an extremely muddy area, went up another hill and it was an easy climb, even for me, up onto the wall.  Got our pictures taken and everything.  Now we have been on the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall.  We felt like World Travellers.  Up the steep, steep hill to the fort, climb the fence and we are back in the fort.  It is amazing how the building foundations have endured.  There is so much more for them to excavte.  Feeling we are content with our visit we head back down the hill.  The sheep are all at one side now as while we were in the fort we saw a sheep dog move them to one area.  Wether it was supposed to happen or some visitors dog couldn't resist we don't know. We did the hike in resverse and back at the car tried to program Andromeda to go to the White Swan a pub we visited when were were here efore.  Frustration reached a high point before we finally got there.  She can be so stubborn about the route she wants to take.

 

The Swan, what can I say.  The best meal we ate in all of Britain was at the Swan.  Would it be as good this time.  Yup!  It has received several awards from us.  Best carvery in the world, best sticky toffee pudding in the world.  Wow, they should be famous.  We left, stuffed with food and happy.

 

Morpeth was only a short drive away and we were there in no time.  Finding our lodging was a diffent matter.   Andromeda didni't tell us to turn when we should have .  We had to driv on and find a place to turn.  When we were back on the correct road she took us down a narrow lane.  So narrow that you had to pull the side mirrors in.  Any way we found Ctingburn House.  Very nice and old.  Our hosts were very welcoming.  Tim had a hip replacement 10 days ago.  His other hip was done 4 1/2 months ago.  He was happy to talk about it and we were happy to listen.  His wife is originally from Russia but says she is English and crosses herself as she says God save the Queen. She told us the history of the house as she aquainted us with our room and the breakfast room.  She brings our luggage in through the kitchen because there are no stairs that way.  We cannot go in the kitche - health rules - but the dog lives there.???

I will have my dog rant later.

God Blesss

 

 

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