Finding Sea Glass

After travelling for a couple of weeks, its time for a good long walk [not shopping], especially for Mary who is in the habit of a 10km walk almost every day. Today we went for a walk with Bill and a dog called Bow, a black Labrador - well behaved.

We started at the beach - was a bit windy but not cold. As you walk along this beach you can find small pieces of tumbled glass [called, not surprisingly "Sea Glass"] that was orginally thrown from a glass factory that used to make the small medicine bottles. Mary is determined to find these little gems - so not much walking happened.

We them drove to the cliff tops and walked through the fields. This would be an 8.5km walk. The views and the history made this a very pleasant and interesting walk. We dropped down to the beach at the end, under the viaduct that is still used by the speeding trains and onto another beach with sea glass. While we sat there a baby seal came up on the beach to sun him/herself.

Friday night is pub night. Bill and I went out to the Hetton Lyons cricket club to watch the first soccer game of the year between his club Sunderland and Derby. Sunderland has been relegated to division two and expectations were low. However, they did play well and a draw of "one all" was a fitting and somewhat pleasing result. Bill and his drinking mates have this agreement - they have one "round" of drinks, in this case we had a shout of four, then you buy your own. So I had four pints of John Smith Ale while we watched the game. Not sure I understood every word spoken as the night went on, especially trying to understand their very strong geordie accent in the excitement of a football game - but they were lovely blokes and we had a lot of fun.

After the game we went to the Tavern. A tiny pub, full of people and a karaoke machine/operator. I didn't sing - thank goodness. It gave me a fascinating view into the local lifestyle and community friendship built up over decades of knowing each other. Another couple of pints here and then Bill's wife came down to pick us up.

A good day of exercise and pub culture. Tomorrow we go to York for the day.

Cheers.Read more