Making the most of the weekends...

I am feeling like crap right now. I have succumbed to a cold that is threatening my ability to go out. However, not to be undone by a bug, I have already been out today any way and now, I am exhausted. So, here I sit, on the couch in my PJs at 6.15pm on Saturday night, with absolutely no intention of going out, or for that matter, standing up. I thought that this might be a good time to update what has been happening in the last few weeks.

Obviously, I am still alive – go me! This might not sound like much of an accomplishment but if you had seen the kids that I have been teaching for the last few weeks, you would be. I have one more day and then I am free of that place – never to return.

But enough of that! No point dwelling on the evils of Stockton. Let’s talk about Roman forts and abbeys.

While I was waiting for a phone call for work, this is pre-Stockton, me and Grandad had a day out at Tynemouth Priory. It was great fun. The priory is a surprisingly soothing place. It had a sort of ‘library’ feel – you know the one where you don’t want to talk to loudly. It was my first time driving through Newcastle and that was a horrifying experience, but being in the priory was a nice way to finish the drive. I will have to go back to the seaside when it is a bit warmer. I would like to have a paddle in the North Sea too. That will be fun/freezing.

Me and Hayley have been making some trips out too on the weekends. It has been great for keeping busy and getting to know the countryside a lot better.

The first place we went to was to Highforce in Teesdale. We headed out across the Pennines. It was a sunny day and despite the slowly warming weather, there was still snow on the tops of the hills. The roads were winding but the views from the top was fantastic. When we arrived at the carpark, we were quick to jump out, grab our ticket and head down to the waterfall. It is very impressive, as you can see. We walked back towards a bridge crossing then made our way up along the cliff top, following the waterfall and river for a bit before heading back.

Last weekend Hayley and I headed out for a good weekend away. I met her in Newcastle on Friday night where we went out. We went to Shearers Bar which is on the outside of St James’ Park. We were going to listen to Andrew (Hayeley’s brother) play the drums for the bands he was in. The music was great and afterwards we headed out to the city centre where we danced the night out. The nightlife is great fun and absolutely buzzing. At the end of the night I got chatted up by a guy at the burger bar with the worst pick-up lines EVER. The guy strolled up and said to me, “So, you like sausage” while I was deciding whether to order a sausage in a bun or burger. I cracked up at that and told him he needed to try harder than that with his pick-ups. So he followed it up with, “Roses are red, violets are blue, I suck at poetry – nice tits.” Oh yeah, he was a winner.

The next morning, we headed out to Hexham Priory a little bit worse for wear. First stop was for breakfast – bacon and sausage butties and coffee. There was also a food festival on and Morris dancing. I dragged Hayley along to watch the Morris dancers despite her vehement protests. They just all look so happy shaking their bells and waving the handkerchiefs. How can you not like them?

After forcing Hayley to watch a good ten minutes I took pity on her, and we headed into the abbey. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the ceilings. I have a thing about walking into churches and abbeys. I think one of the things people forget to do is to look up. It is one of my favourite things. I love looking up and seeing all the hand-made scratches in each stone, each bloke having been hand crafted, shaped and placed. I love the wooden ceilings and arches. Hexham Abbey is no different. It is a grand building. The columns rise up and the arches sprawl out from them.
I loved it so much that we went back today to investigate the crypt underneath the oldest part of the church. The church itself recently celebrated its 1300^th birthday. How crazy is that! The crypt is the oldest part. It survived various raids by Scots and Vikings. What I liked most about it, was that when it was built it was using stones from Chester’s fort along Hadrians wall, so amongst the plain stone are stones with patterns etched in to them that were part of the Roman’s legacy. I am always a little bit hesitant about crypts and catacombs and the like because sometimes I feel a sort of creeping darkness in them, this sort of threatening suffocation, but this one was peaceful.

On my day off on Wednesday me and Grandad went out for a drive to Barnard Castle and I have to say it is such a quaint, oldy-worlde and surprisingly busy town.
We drove across the hills, past the wind farms and the spring flowers and daffodils dotting the roadside, and ended up in the town. The castle ruins are HUGE! I can’t believe how big it would have been in its heyday. It seems to sprawl over so much space. It is steeped in history (shocking – not) and even Richard III (poor and misunderstood, crazy king that he is) owned it at one point. The weather was at the best it was going to be for the 1^st of May, cool but incredibly sunny. We walked around the ruins for a good hour, had some lunch, picked up some hand-made chocs, then began to head back towards Consett.

On the way down to  Barnard we had passed a very intriguing castle called Raby castle. It is a fully formed, fully functioning castle and still lived in by some hobnob. We had made a plan to stop in on the way back, but alas it was closed, so it is now on the to-do list. Instead we stopped off at Whittan Castle. Granddad told me he used to come down all the time to fish. We poked around the castle grounds for a bit but I was aware that I had been dragging granddad around for a few hours now. I sometimes forget that he gets tired. I will have to go back. Maybe I will take granddad, drop him at the lake to fish and go for a walk around the foresty bit. Best of both for both of us.

Today, as I said earlier, Hayley and I went back to Hexham, but before we got there we went to Chester’s Roman Fort. It was really cool. Again, we had another stunning day. The weather is really starting to warm up now. It got to 15 degrees. Woohoo. I am even considering taking a layer out of my jacket! A huge decision and not one to take lightly, I know. The fort was magnificent and it is surprising how much of it there was still in reasonable condition given the age of the place.

When we came to the first set of ruins it was hard to know if we could go in. It was all fenced off but with a gate that could be opened. We didn’t enter that one, but when I came up to the next one, despite Hayley’s unsureness, I decided, ‘Hey, there is no sign up saying do not enter, so I am going in!’ I was the only one who did so, for wee while. Hell, there was even an entire tour bus of people that stood outside the fences while I walked around on the actual grounds. I loved it. I figured if there was some reason why we weren’t allowed in, they would tell us.

After that, I coaxed Hayley into another set of ruins. The bath house was fantastic, with huge sections still standing. We chilled out in the hot house section for a bit, imagining what it would be like to sit here, back in the day. We were sitting where the Romans would have sat, chilling (well, sweating) out, talking about the days politics and the such. As we moved around the site, I climbed in a few holes, hugged a few ruins and rocks and generally had a laugh.

After the Roman fort we headed into Hexham, had some lunch, then it was back to Consett.

It is now 9.20pm. Yes, it has taken me three hours to write this blog. But in fairness, the cold and flu drugs are only just kicking in now, and I have been trying (and failing) to multi-task. I have been watching Dr Who and The Voice.