Visiting Friends - June 22-23, 2003
Neesham and Yorke
| We wanted to drop in with Barbara Johnson (I worked with her
when I was in Germany and she was in Switzerland) and Peter Phillips (I
worked with both of them when they were in Midland), so we grabbed the
train and traveled to Darlington. Peter picked us up at the station
and 10 minutes later we were at their home (Neesham Abbey).
We wandered out to the river (the lot is right on the Tees), admired the fishing (but not the fish, there were none) and basically got caught up. |
 |
 |
This is potential flooding territory, so as you move into town you can better see the dike that separates the Tees from the village. Just ahead on the left is a little pub that we originally planned to use for a light lunch, but on Sunday they only serve dinners at noon, so Peter made up sandwiches for us, and then we just walked through the village. |
| The weather turned out to be so beautiful that we had dinner
outside. Barbara had planned on a fancy chicken dinner, but got
smart and picked up carry out at the local deli. Very good food, and
much easier to prepare.
So here they are: (left to right) Paul (Charlotte's husband), Charlotte, Peter and Barbara. Jacquie was in taking a nap (too much net-ball) and Georgette was finishing up at Cambridge. |
 |
 |
A very pleasant surprise was that there were visitors
present that I knew. Peter Mullen was there when we arrived, but had
to leave before dinner. On the left, you'll see Ann Dünki (another
lady I worked with when in Germany and she was in Switzerland) and her
husband Richard.
It really was special to make connection with these folk who I had not had contact with since 1985 (when we moved back to Midland). |
 |
We spent the night at the Morritt Arms (Peter and Barbara's
hotel in Greta Bridge). Tuesday morning we took a cab into
Darlington and then took the train to Yorke.
On the right you can see Yorke Minster, the big cathedral in town. On the left you can see the Nave. |
 |
 |
Yorke was a walled city, portions of the wall date back to
Roman times. So we walked about 1/2 of the wall. To the left
you see the "Red Gate", and you can see that they forgot to put
an easy way to get onto the wall there (the pedestrian gate is locked on
this end, but unlocked on the other end, so the fellow is walking around
the lock).
On the right you will see the "white gate". I assume you can figure out why they are so named. |
 |
| The last thing on our (well, all right, on my) agenda was to
visit the National Railway Museum. This really is a pretty neat
museum, but everybody's legs had been walked off, so Marnie and James sat
while I toured most of the museum.
We were planning on meeting Peter and Barbara, but getting Georgette back from Cambridge got in the way, so we went back to the hotel and had a delicious dinner there. |
 |
Wednesday morning we took the train down to Kings Cross, took the tube to Paddington (with some discussion about whether our BritRail pass which is valid all the way through was valid on the tube, which is the only way to get from Kings Cross to Paddington), then took the Heathrow Express out to Heathrow (and had to teach the conductor how to read that our pass was valid in 1st Class). No problem checking in, but James noted that we seemed to spend a lot of time in Queues (once for checking in, then once for Passport control, then once more to get into the gate area, then to get on the plane). The flight home was uneventful. We spent the night in Toronto then took the plane back to Sarnia and drove home.
 |