retiredmartin

June 2023. Gateshead to Durham.

We’d exhausted the in-laws in Beamish and Newcastle so had a leisurely cultural day to start June before the 2 hour trip home.

Obviously Newcastle-Gateshead had the Bigg Market and the Tuxedo Royale before the millennium saw the Baltic bring culture to Tyneside, but it’s the old flour mills (and Ouseburn) that really put the city on the middle-class tourist map 20 years ago.

Not only do you get yoghurt for breakfast in the cafe (yoghurt !), but the views from (nearly) the top are what you come for,

and the big scale artworks like Hew Locke‘s Procession are perfect for gentlefolk who don’t “get” modern art.

I particularly enjoyed the Chris Kilip retrospective, and if someone can remind me which album cover this features on I’d be grateful.

We thought about some pub culture near the castle for lunch,

but ended up with sandwiches from the Asda opposite Gateshead Stadium, which is very classy.

Half an hour later in Durham we were admiring the construction of a new Brew Dog on the banks of the Wear,

before heading up to more cerebral pleasures via the alleys.

Sorry, meant this;

My FIL (see MumsNet) had sung in Durham Cathedral; I’d seen a brass band underneath those arches.

While the in-laws rested by the river, I nipped out to complete Durham with a half of Two by Two in the Holy Gr’Ale, a pleasant little craft focused bar with excitingly priced sours.

I know some of you purists will question the choice of the keg when there’s a (lone) cask Allendale, but when you’ve completed the Guide you get a cheat card.

And there it is.

I had promised the in-laws a stop in Barnard Castle to test our eyesight, No. 76 on the Trip Advisor list of things to do in the North-East, but you can only have so much excitement in a day.