Durham

Just spent an overnight stay in Durham, and I have some thoughts on the city.  Possibly controversial.  I think Durham is overrated.  I've been to lots of cathedral cities over the last few years, and Durham Cathedral was nowhere near the best of them.  And there was very little to see of the castle on the self-guided tour.  With Durham Castle and Cathedral being recognized on the UNESCO World Heritage Site, I really expected so much more.  And beyond the castle and cathedral, there didn't seem to be much to the city.  Apart from enormous crowds of tourists.  I never really considered Durham seriously as somewhere I might have gone to study.  I'm glad I didn't go.  The city center seemed small (much smaller than, say, Bath) and I'm not sure it has much to offer to the student - especially with it's pretensions to be a Northern Oxford or Cambridge (both of which are far superior places).  Of course, maybe my opinion has been soured by visiting over a couple of incredibly hot days - and I've been suffering in the heat, sweating a lot more than I normally would and not really having a good time of it.  But when I compare Durham to somewhere like York, I think York is a much nicer and better place to visit.  

Excursions and Photos

I am falling behind in posting some photos.  I have some from when I went to Fishbourne Roman Palace and Chichester Cathedral a few days ago.  And I arrived in Durham today, so I have a few more photos - though the bulk will come tomorrow when I take tours of the castle and cathedral.  But I've encountered a problem.  My Chromebook is running into issues decoding all the photos when I plug my phone into it.  A known compatibility issue with file types (Chromebooks can't always handle the HEIC format used on the iPhone).  I arrived earlier than I thought today - so while waiting until I could check in, I thought I could sort through some of my photos over a pint.  That is when I encountered the issue, which is extremely frustrating.  So I don't know when I will next post some photos.  I might have to start posting blogs about places I've been, and add photos later.  Maybe very later.

Partial Eclipse

My attempts to photograph the partial eclipse were about as successful as my attempts to keep my body temperature normal during this heatwave.  Not good (the actual reflection of the eclipse that appears in the lens is better!).  I probably should have tried using better settings.

I've been through a partial eclipse before in the US.  And like before, I enjoy the big drop in lighting and ambient noise.  But without the eclipse glasses, which we didn't have, you can't really see much.  And I don't really consider it to be the spectacular once-in-a-generation event that the BBC liked to describe it as.  Just a rare celestial event - of which there are very many.

Sweets

Rhubarb & Custards.  Check.

Mint humbugs.  Check.

Butter mintoes.  Check.

Lemon sherbets.  Check.

Pear drops.  Nope.  Why aren't these readily available?  I think I'm going to have to go to a specialist sweet shop to get these.  What a pain in the ass.

Barratt fruit salad.  Nope, I haven't seen these either.  Where the hell do I go to get these?  Wait, what - there's a chain called Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe.  And they have a shop in Guildford?  I think I know where I need to go.

Clerkenwell

A few photos from the 2 mile walk I did around Clerkenwell.  An area of London that is, according to my guidebook, rich in historical features.  And although it was nice enough to get away from the crowds and wander around the quieter backstreets of London, this was one of the least photogenic walks I've done from this guidebook.  I wouldn't have known the history if I hadn't read it in the book.  And a lot of it was either destroyed during the Blitz or has been built upon beyond recognition.  For example, there is a medieval well called the Clerk's Well (hence Clerkenwell) - but it is inside an office building and you can only see it by peering through an office window.  Not sure I care for that.  But perhaps this would have been a more pleasant walk if it hadn't been so hot and I hadn't overdone it - as proved subsequently as I am apparently suffering from both a heat rash on my arms and Disney rash (look it up) on my legs.  Yikes.  

RAF Museum

As mentioned, I went to the RAF Museum yesterday.  A somewhat bittersweet experience, because it was one of the last places I was supposed to go with my Dad before his mental health deteriorated, but we never did.  And I think he would have liked it.  Lots of airplanes on display from the 1st and 2nd World Wars, up to the modern day.  I'm not sure a visit to the museum alone would justify a trip into London, but it does make a nice detour on a rainy (or hot!) day and you've got a couple of spare hours.  Here are some photos of some of the airplanes - which I guess some (most) of you might find kind of boring...

Heat

Whenever I come back to the UK, I like to do various excursions into London.  It's been a long time since I've come back to the UK in the peak of summer.  And one of the reasons I don't like it is because it's too hot to do much walking.  Especially after 50 plus days without measurable rainfall, or whatever it is.  I did my first excursion into London today, and it was exhausting.  My main aim was to go to the RAF Museum.  But with the cost of an off-peak one day travel card now at an ungodly amount, I felt I had to get my money's worth so I followed up my museum trip with one of the walks from my book.  And it was a struggle.  I probably tried to do too much in one day.  I need to pace myself a bit better, and make better use of drinks and refreshment - after all, this should be something that London is good for.  With no discernible rainfall in the forecast, I don't think conditions are going to get better any time soon....  I'll aim to post some photos in the upcoming days.