 |
| Clifford Tower |
Hot on the heels of Easter we took a sneaky road trip oop
North in the Astra to use up our British Airways points. We booked a convenient
and comfortable apartment at Staycity in York and spent the afternoon getting a
taster for a city we need to return to in order to do it justice. We walked
past Dick Turpin’s grave, up the Clifford Tower in and around the Castle Museum
which exhibits a good selection of York and general history, strolled around The Shambles (which allegedly
inspired JK Rowling’s Diagon Alley), the outside of York Minster before
enjoying a mini pub crawl. This included the King’s Head which floods every
time the River Ouse breaks its banks. We also had a nice meal at the French
restaurant Rustique.
 |
| York Minster |
The next morning we got back on the A1 which took us up to
Newcastle via the Angel of the North to the Crowne Plaza which is in the up and
coming Stephenson Quarter by the Tyne where we had a very nice room. As it was
the best day forecast for sunshine we immediately drove another 10 miles to
Tynemouth to enjoy a pleasant walk along the sea front and past the Priory and
Castle before enjoying some of the best fish and chips we’ve ever had at
Marshalls. There was a lovely church conversion divided into shops and little
bars and Tynemouth railway station, recently restored to its beautiful
Victorian state making me mourn the loss of Bedford’s station even more. We had
a drive to Whitley Bay which was not quite as nice and by this time we had lost
the sun for the day.
 |
| Angel of the North |
Out on the Toon that evening, the pubs were busy. We visited
the Head of Steam and Those Who Know before eating a delicious and unusual
pizza at Pizza Punks. Moving on we found the new Stack, which is an assortment
of bars made out of shipping containers with an outside courtyard and a good
atmosphere. Having clambered up and down Grey Street in my high heels my feet
were killing me so we had one more drink in the Centurion, a beautifully
restored bar originally built in 1893 using tiles that are worth nearly £4
million today. It used to be a first
class lounge for the passengers at the Central train station.
Next morning after eating a very underwhelming breakfast at
The Quayside (Weatherspoon’s) we walked along the quay taking photos of the
impressive Tyne bridges, the Sage and the Baltic – the Northern equivalent of
the Tate Modern. Unbelievably the displays were even weirder than those found
in the Tate. Dave was particularly unimpressed and chose an empty plinth as his
favourite exhibit. A friend unkindly referred to this as NUFC’s trophy stand.
Newcastle’s city centre is lovely especially around the Grey
St area and has a vibrant atmosphere about it. Saturday evening was teeming
with people of all ages having a good time. We met up with my school friend
Jane and her partner Tony for a meal at Banyan’s next to Grey’s Monument. It
proved to be an eventful evening. The food was fabulous, the staff were great
but there was a leak in the ceiling which involved moving us twice and they
cleared the bill for our trouble!
The last morning we walked around the Metro Centre, past
NUFC before spending an interesting few hours at the Discovery Museum learning
about Newcastle’s history. We broke the 4 hour journey home up by stopping off
at the Chequers in Ranby for a delicious carvery and a couple of drinks.
 |
| Grey Monument |
 |
| Central Arcade |
No comments:
Post a Comment