Murton

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Peter Dane Peter & Mary’s 2017 Holiday
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- Aug 4, 2017, 8:36am
- ⛅ 15 °C
- Altitude: 126 m
- England Murton 54.816127, -1.4073254°48’58” N 1°24’26” W
Day 12
On the road again ....
August 4, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Today we start our road trip around the UK. First challenge is to get the train to Kings Cross and then to Russell Square to pick up the car. The train station platform at Shepherds Bush is on top of a mountainous staircase. Mary said we would be alright. Well I had it planned, like crossing the New River Lagoon in Tassie's South West where you use two boats an cross several times - I had a system ready. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, people [well young men] grabbed our suitcases and carried them up the stairs. Luckily they didn't make off with them - just kind hearted.

We got to Hertz and their computers were down. American tourists were waiting and getting crabby. Anyway, after almost an hour we were upgraded to a larger vehicle with a sat nav [I had already paid $100 for UK maps on my own Garmin]. Still it this bigger car will hold all our bags nicely.

Mary & I were most worried about getting out of London [BTW we had to pay £11.50 congestion tax] through the traffic. As it turned out, the road beside Russell Square ends up on the M1 ... too easy. Our drive to Durham was going to be 4.5 hours but ended up near to 5.5 hours because of road works.

I like driving on the big freeways - in some ways its like a waltz. Cars need to change lanes all the time to keep things moving. You just have to watch your rear view mirrors almost as much as you look forward. It was a good drive.

Arrived at Marie and Bill's (our friends for 34 years) to be welcomed by a magnificent dinner and then we sat down to watch the Women's Soccer - unfortunately England lost. I did mention that Australia won their soccer competition in the USA?

Tomorrow Mary will go hunting for Sea Glass ...

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Peter Dane Peter & Mary’s 2017 Holiday
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- Aug 5, 2017, 10:33am
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 126 m
- England Murton 54.816127, -1.40716654°48’58” N 1°24’26” W
Day 13
Finding Sea Glass
August 5, 2017 in England ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
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.

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Peter Dane Peter & Mary’s 2017 Holiday
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- Aug 7, 2017, 9:21am
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 126 m
- England Murton 54.816071, -1.40723854°48’58” N 1°24’26” W
Day 15
Real Pub - Real Ale
August 7, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Having watched TV shows where people buy treasures at a market or car boot sale and then sell them at auction for a profit, we thought we would see what it was like. The Murton car boot sale had about 200 sellers in a large farm paddock and, judging by the car park about 2000 people looking for bargains. I was surprised at the old and worn out things that people were buying, traders were having a good day. Luckily, Mary only bought one thing, a small magnifying glass - happy me.

Time for lunch and an afternoon drink or two at a local pub. We went to the Smiths Arms, a beaut little pub in a country laneway. They have Sunday roasts, Pork, Beef or Lamb with seven types of vegetables and Yorkshire pudding. A hearty meal indeed. This is where we caught up with Bill and Marie';s son Scott who was dog walking.

We tried a couple of real ales, first a Mole Catcher then the Urban Fox. I liked the Urban Fox and so tasted a few more. You can't order half pints, people look down on you, so pint after pint it was. The bar also allowed dogs - so we had dogs all around us - Mary, though not fully comfortable, didn't mind so much.

Home then for a night in, watching bit of TV, Mary even got to see the last episode of Poldark - happy days.

Tomorrow we have a big drive up the east coast to near Aberdeen in Scotland. A good test of my driving and Mary's navigating.

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