HEXHAM ABBEY

Had to be up early as I was expecting a  man to come and fix the broken toilet fittings.  He arrived at 9am and it only took him 5 mins to replace the broken parts with new ones.

The weather was nice and sunny and quite warm so I decided to make the most of the day by making a trip to Hexham  which is about 25 miles away from Newcastle.  To get there it takes 2 buses.  First a quick bus ride to The Metrocentre and then on to the Hexham bus which takes just over an hour to get there. It goes the long way through the villages along the Tyne valley.  A very pleasant bus ride.

As the weather was nice Hexham was quite busy.  I had nothing I needed to get so I just mooched around for a couple of hours.

Got back home around 5.30pm.  Neil had a day off so he has been here all day.  " Looking after " the cats.  Which means mostly ignoring them.  However the patio doors were left open all day and they seem to have spent many happy hours outdoors in the sunshine.

My blip shot is of Hexham Abbey.  There has been a church on this site for more than 1,300 years, since Queen Etheldreda made a grant of lands to Wilfrid, Bishop of York c.674. There have been additions made every century since the Abbey was first founded. The oldest part is the Saxon crypt (674). The east end was rebuilt in 1860 and the nave, whose walls incorporate some of the earlier church, was rebuilt in 1908. During 2014, building work was completed on the £3m restoration of the medieval monastery complex at the Abbey to create a major visitor exhibition, function rooms and community meeting spaces. 

Steps today - 10,121