A Rest Day in Durham, England
Praise the Lord, a rest day. ex-Marine and I had planned to spend the day in Kirkby Stephen doing nothing but didn't realize that when you stay in a B&B, you are booted out after breakfast! Duh... With no place to go, we joined the group for the day trip to Durham, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Durham is a quiet little medieval city known for its Norman Cathedral built in 1093. The gothic cathedral is the final resting place of St. Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede known as the "father of English history" and the greatest scholar of his day. I knew nothing about either. I found the Sanctuary Knocker more interesting. Durham Cathedral had the right of sanctuary through the Middle Ages. A criminal could arrive at the north door and claim protection by using the knocker to draw the watchman's attention. He could then choose between trial or voluntary exile.
We admired and zoomed through the Cathedral and set off to explore the rest of Durham. The University of Durham was in the middle of finals and no visitors were allowed to walk through or around its colleges. That took care of that...
Back and forth across the River Wear via the three old bridges, trying to kill time on another grey, rainy and cool day. The river encloses the center on three sides creating a peninsula with The Cathedral, Market Square and the Palace Green in the middle.
"Rest day" over, it was back to Kirkby Stephen for one last night and a Pub dinner with our new favorite, mixed grill. In those days, you got a huge plate consisting of lamb chops (kidneys, which we always left off), beef steak, Gammon steak, tomato and mushrooms. Very filling. It's back on the Coast to Coast tomorrow morning...
