Bishop Auckland, Binchester Roman Fort, & Kynren

Yesterday was another busy day! According  to Google Fit, I walked 6.97 miles.

I started off by walking to the bus station and again trying to negotiate which one was what I needed. A bus driver helped me pick one with a more direct route to Bishop Auckland, which I had to wait for a little longer. I was the only one on the bus for a while, which was a nice change of pace given that the buses have been pretty full mostly.

The ride to BA took about 35 minutes, but we did make quite a few stops in neighborhoods to drop off and pick up. I got to see a little bit of nice scenery because I sat on the upper deck. I was still worried about not getting off at the right spot, but realized following along on Google Maps is helpful. I was a little concerned we weren't making great time; I was planning to go on the 11:00 Auckland Castle tour. Lo and behold, we arrived at 10:52 and I was let off about a block from the castle. Perfect.

Unfortunately the castle and its grounds are very much under construction. Fortunately I was the only one roaming around. I couldn't find any sort of apparent place where a tour would start, so after about 10 minutes of searching, I decided to enjoy what I had access to, which was a huge courtyard and garden. (Later I did see a sign for a Visitor Centre, but it was completely inaccessible.)

I walked around quite a bit and was super hungry, so set out for a tea room, and there were a few nearby to the castle. I picked one called Fifteas Vintage Tea Room, which was...50s themed. It was very cute in there. Look at this adorable mismatched tea set.

 

I had tea and a scone with cream and jam. The jam must've been homemade because it was so sweet! I am a sweets person, but by the end of this scone, I was getting a sugar high. It was amazing, though!

Next it was time to find the church where my great-great grandparents got married, which is described in more detail in the previous post!

I had no real plan after this and a lot of time to kill because my next scheduled event wasn't until 6:00. It was probably 1:30 at this point. I walked the high street, which had a lot of thrift stores, barber shops, and pubs. (Barber shops are very popular here, which I also noticed in Cambridge. This was not a thing when I was here before. Guess all those scraggly beards need attention.) Thrift shops aren't really my thing, but in the window of one I saw Christmas cards and I like the idea of sending cards I got from England this year. While in the store, there was a decent sized bookshelf, with a section of "collectible" books, all for cheap. I'm sure there was a stupid smile on my face as I pilfered through them. I looked at the spines and opened up most of them, wanting to buy them all. There was a small light blue colored one with no writing on the spine, but I was meant to grab it, because this is what it was.

There are coal miners in my ancestry! I'm not sure there could have been a more perfect book for me to find. I held it close and went to the knick-knack (patty whack) shelf and something caught my attention--that little English cottage. When I was here in 2010, my aunt and some family friends came over for a tour of the UK after my internship was over. Pam (family friend) bought me a similar little cottage on that trip as a memento. I'm not a souvenir person, but these two things are truly meaningful keepsakes. I felt like I hit the jackpot.

After this, I still had hours to kill. I went back to the market square and found a place to hang out and write my previous day's blog on my phone. At one point, a guy came up to me asking where the castle was and I pointed him in the right direction. He laughed and said, "You know this town better than I do and I live here!" We chatted a bit about my trip and things to do around here. He mentioned the Roman fort nearby, which I had planned to walk to. He said it wasn't too impressive, but worth a visit. He was on his way to the castle, but when he walked back through, he offered to take me to the Roman fort so that I wouldn't have to walk. In that moment I was all for it because my feet needed a break. It was like a five minute car ride and a 20 minute walk. After I said yes, I was like, "Oh shit, I just accepted a ride from a stranger in a foreign country." He was super nice, though, and had said he worked for Durham University, and he seemed trustworthy and like he was wanting to help. That's how these stories always start, right? Guess what, it turned out fine haha. I lived to tell the tale of taking a 5 minute car ride from a stranger in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon when there was traffic around. (But I won't do it again haha.)

I still had a bit of a walk to get there with some countryside. Out of nowhere I started hearing "God Save the Queen." I kid you not. I looked around and realized that the stadium where I was seeing a show later was nearby and they must have been testing the audio system or practicing. It was the perfect backdrop music for this walk.

I expected the Binchester Roman Fort to be smaller, actually. I mean, the whole thing is huge but they've only excavating a small amount...but that small amount was pretty impressive. 

This is one of the best preserved Roman sidewalks in the world.

You can't tell how big this is, but it is deep and massive. This was a bath house for soldiers. These structures date back to the year 200.

Even though the site was large, it only took me about 45 minutes to explore it. I was the only soul there besides the person who sold me the ticket.

The walk back into town felt long, it was 22 minutes. The good part is that it was basically in the country with some nice surroundings.

If you can believe it, I still had a while to wait before the shuttle picked me up for the show. I was hungry again, so went into this pub nearby solely because of its name.

They weren't really selling food at 4:00 pm, but had toasties, so I picked a ham and cheese one and a blonde ale. It was a sports bar, so I got to hear the crazy football (soccer) commentary on some sports network. I sat there for quite a while and then set off to the bus station early.

The shuttle was picking me up to take me to Kynren, the epic tale of England. Doesn't that sound like the best thing ever? It does, and it was.

Below is a photo of the stage / set. It is three football (soccer) fields long. The cast is one thousand people. It is a journey through time beginning at the first settlement of Northumbria (the northeast region of England), covering the major progress, conflicts, and historical myths, legends, and facts. It was described as "the story of us" and internally I was shouting, "YES, that's me! I am you guys!" The word "kynren" means where you come from, who you are, and where you're going. Again...me. Cue the wet eyeballs.

That is perhaps the nerdiest 50 pence I've ever spent (Union Jack) and the dorkiest photo I've ever taken, but...worth it! Had to do it.

The show was 1.5 hours of entertainment--actors in every size, shape, and colored wardrobe, live animals, moving sets, lighting, fireworks, dance numbers, fight scenes, jousting...it was amazing. When Queen Victoria came out, everyone started waving their 50 pence British flags and I was smiling and laughing because it was so cute. There could not have been a better show for me to go to on this trip. I have to give the credit to knowing about this from the person hosting my AirBnB here in Durham. She used to be in the show.

I made friends with an older couple waiting for the bus back to Durham. We had about 20 minutes to wait for it and then another 25 to get here, so I learned a lot. They said I was brave for doing this and my heart swelled when they stood up to get off at their stop and the gentleman said, "Who knows, maybe we're cousins!" I really hope so, sir.