July 4, 2018

July 4, 2018

It was very cool spending the night in a room high in Durham Castle overlooking the Cathedral. We heard the great bells tolling the hour all night. A reminder that the Middle Ages, was the Age of Faith, where the church was omnipresent.

Our breakfast was in the Great Hall of the castle. We sat next to an Australian couple with whom we had an interesting conversation about traveling.

We were scheduled to leave after breakfast but changed our plans because Durham looks very appealing. We stopped at the Visitor Center, intending to see two films about Durham but were waylaid by a very talkative docent. It was perfect; he was far more interesting and entertaining than any film could have been. He related the history of the University and how Durham was ruled by a Prince-Bishop, the only one in Britain.

We took the guided castle tour, but it was uninteresting and led by an uninspired docent. I was also distracted by a swarm of tiny beetles who confused my neon-yellow shirt for flowers. We ditched my shirt in the car and took a nice walk down the peninsula of Old Durham and back along the river where we got a nice view of the old mill and the Cathedral.

Our British Adventure is at an end so we drove back to Manchester. I couldn't resist stopping at one last World Heritage site on the way. Saltaire is a well-preserved Victorian textile town built by the enlightened mill owner who thought happy employees would be more productive. The mill closed many years ago. We had an early dinner in the Boat House Pub along the river, one last Fish 'n' Chips. Delicious as usual. Before leaving we walked the remarkably intact town.

At the airport our great holiday came to a screeching halt. Because of construction and poor signage, even with three GPS's, it took us an hour of circling the airport before we found a gas station and the rental car return. Finally at our airport hotel room I fell back in exhaustion. It's the 4th of July and I am celebrating my Independence from the rental car. This is the second year in a row, returning the car has been an unwanted adventure.