Abandoned in . . .

. . . Durham. But at least today I had my daughter for company. The menfolk went to the cricket in Chester-le-Street and we had a day in the lovely city of Durham (another World Heritage Site incidentally).

We visited the Cathedral, explored the old winding streets, walked by the river and crossed many bridges. However, the highlight was a visit to an exhibition of the Lindisfarne Gospels. We had not intended going to this and came upon it by accident, but we are so glad we found it. The exhibition is the story about this beautiful illuminated volume, which was created around the year 700AD by monks on Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland. One of the greatest books in the world, it is kept in the British Museum, but is currently on loan to Durham University for this exhibition. An excellent event and well worth a visit if you are in the area in the next few months.

Daughter then decided she wanted to climb the 355 steps to the top of the tower of the Cathedral, the one you can see at the back in the picture. I chose instead to go to a talk by the author, Max Adams, of a book about King Oswald of Northumbria. Sounds unlikely, but this was brilliant. It was a lively, fascinating talk by an incredibly knowledgeable enthusiast. An archaeologist of some repute, he threw a lot of light on seventh-century Britain, a time we know as the Dark Ages, as he described the life and times of this king, who was the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkein’s Aragorn. Of course, I now have a huge book (signed obviously!) to read. But if the author writes only half as well as he talks, it should be a great book.

Apparently it was a brilliant day’s cricket, so everyone was happy as we met up for pasta in the evening. Then they caught the train back down to London and we returned to Cumbria.

(The building by the river below the Cathedral is a medieval water mill.)

Two full-on days and two late nights. Thank you for all your comments. I will catch up with everyone tomorrow.