The North East Again - May Contain Sculptures

The weather still wasn’t perfect for a trundle from the hotel into Sunderland City Centre but as it’s my last day away needs must. 

From the hotel I made my way along the proms, grabbing a couple of photos on the way, and then round past the marina to the riverbank. There are several sculptures to be seen along here, some of which may feature in a future project, probably the most famous is Molly, the shipyard welder, but the most appropriately situated is Codex Amiatinus since the backdrop includes shelves of books in one of the University buildings.

There were three copies of the original Codex, the world’s oldest surviving Latin vulgate bible, prepared by the monks of the combined  Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Monastery in around 700AD; one copy survives in the Laurentian Library in Florence. 

I stopped at St Peter’s Church to get a cup of coffee from the Bede’s Bakery tearoom and had a look round. Parts of the building are from the earlier monastery but most is a later build, towards the altar is where the scriptorium would have stood and where the Codex, or parts of it,  may have been scribed (some people ascribe the whole of the work to Wearmouth, my view is such a huge work was more likely carried out at both monastic sites). 

The West Door dates back to the 7th Century.

Part of the recent redevelopment of the City Centre included a new footbridge, the Keel Crossing, and leading up to it is the Keel Line, listing all the known ships to have been built on the Wear. I had two targets to spot, one of which was the collier the SS Joseph Swan, launched by S.P.Austin and Son in 1938 for the London Power Co. She was sunk in September 1940 by a torpedo from an S Boat off Harwich; there was one survivor but a family member, the Chief Engineer, William Schofield, was killed. 

Another sculpture is Workers of the Wear, images from the area on a rotating “propellor“, it’s possible my Uncle Fred is in a picture of shipyard plumbers.

A photo of the gentleman in this picture is on the sculpture.

I was starting to tire a bit and decided it was lunchtime so I popped into the Keel Tavern for a pint of their house ale, the beer was nice and the barmaid was very friendly and helpful, before recrossing the river to Sheepfolds Stables. This is another piece of regeneration, in the shadow of the football stadium, where a derelict set of buildings have been turned into a hospitality venue hosting various food and drink options; my target was Si King’s Propa Pies, the Chicken, Bacon and Leek was definitely “propa” served with creamy mash and tasty gravy. 

From there it was very much a case of trundling back to the hotel, taking advantage of the dedicated cycle tracks to wind the scooter up in 8mph Class 3 mode. An oddity in the law means I can do this on a separated cycle track but can’t enter a cycle lane that’s only delineated by a white line! 

I ended the day with rump steak cooked just hire I like it followed by cheese and biscuits - a perfect end to the holiday. 

The North East Again - Bishops, Pitmen and Romans

I’d originally planned to spend time in Bishop Auckland itself on Monday but then found the Wensleydale Railway was operating the full line so plans changed and I went today. Some things I’d visited before, some were new, and some had a different perspective. 

After a coffee in the town hall cafe and buying my pass the first visit was to the Faith Museum (one of the new attractions), this was partly because I was advised it was a good time between school parties. It tells the story of religion in Britain from the prehistoric through to the present day, obviously with a Christian focus but not neglecting other faiths. There are some interesting artefacts and they do a good job bringing things to life. The only area I didn’t really entirely get was the modern art section - a lot of surrealism that defies the stated meaning to me. 

After negotiating my way back to the main entrance I toured round the Castle itself, the former Palace of the Prince Bishops of Durham. 

It’s spectacular in many places but I struggle to see the relevance of much of the artwork. I did have a discussion about this with one of the guides, an art expert, and in the end we agreed there are two sides to the argument but we both couldn’t help thinking the money could have been much better spent elsewhere, on the other hand it’s now bringing in tourists and is instrumental to the regeneration of the town (it was the proposed sale of the art collection by the Church that started the Auckland Project). 

The stained glass windows tell the story of St Cuthbert. His remains were carried from Lindisfarne by the monks after the Vikings sacked the monastery, here they’re planning the building of Durham Cathedral.

The next visit was to the Mining Art Gallery which I think has improved and expanded since my last visit. As it’s in what is basically a house getting the scooter round was tricky in places but I managed. Most of the pictures were produced by miners, often painting after work as part of Workers Educational Association classes such as the Ashington Group, known as The Pitmen Painters. The pictures in the gallery are probably the best examples, certainly some I’ve seen elsewhere are much more naive. As I’m changing pictures at home I came away with a print which will be framed and hung when I get back. 

After a sandwich for lunch I loaded the scooter back in the car and drove the short distance to Binchester Roman Fort; this was run by the County Council but was absorbed into the Project this year. The Fort’s claim to fame is that it was substantially larger than both Housesteads and Vindolanda, however a lot less still remains. The bathhouse is the best preserved building, with some fairly intact hypocaust, it was worth going but there’s some repairs and improvement needed. 

Underfloor heating - Roman style!

Throughout the day, and indeed all week, I’ve had a lot of assistance from the staff and volunteers at the various venues - I have sent an email to The Auckland Project saying thank you, I realise my bigger scooter is really on the limits for some places size wise, and I’ve had to get off and lift the back end round a couple of times, but I know I’d have really struggled to do everything with the smaller one.

The North East Again - Not a Lot!

With a dodgy weather forecast I decided today would be a good day to go into Newcastle. The original plan had been to go through on the Metro but whilst I could have done so with the small mobility scooter, which folds, I can’t take the large one on so I had to drive. For simplicity I parked in the Eldon Square multi-storey, and found a disabled space right by the entrance to the shops which made life easy, the only problem was it wasn’t a very long space so I had to park in forwards and unload the scooter in the roadway. 

The two objectives were a revisit to the Discovery Museum and to check out the revamped Grainger Market. Once I actually got into the former (there’s building works going on and it’s not very well signposted) I spent a couple of hours just browsing round the displays starting with Turbinia - I first saw the ship back in 1982 when she was sat in a building on the Town Moor by where we were canoeing. 

This was the first turbine powered steamship, built by Charles Parsons in 1894 as an experiment. She was the fastest ship in the world at the time and was famously demonstrated, without an invite, at the 1897 Spithead Review; by 1905 the Admiralty decided all future Navy ships would be turbine powered, and in 1906 The Dreadnought became the first such warship - the turbine continues to this day driving nuclear submarines. 

It’s not often you see a signal lever frame with the safety locking on view and described on the information board.

The Grainger Market, back in the 1980’s when I shopped there, was a busy, and noisy, retail hub with everything from fresh meat and veg to tools and underwear (it’s got the oldest surviving M&S branch). Last time I visited it was mainly full of vape shops and second hand record stores with just a few of the original stalls left but recently it’s been reinvented as a street food venue, still with a couple of butchers and greengrocers and several other stalls. I ended up having Mac and Cheese Carbonara for lunch but could have chosen food from five continents if I’d wished (there were no kangaroo burgers 😀). 

I was proved right on the weather, it started raining just as I left the museum and stopped just as I drove out of the car park! It was so bad at one point I considered getting the anorak out of the scooter bag but that would have meant admitting to being a southern softy - when in Newcastle…

The North East Again - Lots of Trains

The weather forecast and some places I want to visit not being open some days has prompted a revision of which days I go where, so today I went to Hopetown in Darlington on my journey to Sunderland. 

Last time I visited Darlington it was to the North Road Station Museum but some years ago this was expanded with the addition of the adjacent goods shed and carriage works. I took time on the way to stop off at the Brick Train sculpture so arrived just as things opened. 

My first port of call was the A1 Locomotive Trust’s workshop, this is the other side of the railway but there’s a wheelchair lift to the bridge across; I was having a few problems as the door kept trying to swing closed but one of the site maintenance people came over, held the door for me, then dashed up the stairs and made sure I was ok getting out! I got cannier going down and reversed in but the spring was still making it difficult to fully open the door to exit. Although Tornado wasn’t in residence their second new loco build, P2 - Prince of Wales is underway. This class would have been Britain’s most powerful passenger steam locos but unresolved problems meant they were rebuilt as Pacifics, the hope is that with modern engineering they can fix the issues. 

From there I visited the carriage works, an exhibition space, which was closed, and the museum’s artefacts store which you can browse around. I did spot this platform sign which must be from Monkwearmouth Station, I suspect dating from around 1925 when Brockley Whins was renamed Boldon Colliery, hence the painted out name. It reverted to the old name in 1991 before being incorporated into the Metro system in 2002. 

The main museum building is a bit tight to get around as the main hall is literally two of the platforms with infilling between the stock. It’s changed a little since my last visit, but not all that much! I was constantly dodging little kids as I think mum’s had taken the chance to visit now the older ones are back at school but I managed to avoid running any of them over. 

Once I’d had a good look round and had a coffee and teacake and another wander I headed off to Sunderland and the Seaburn Inn. There are two signs you’re nearly there when approaching from the South, the first sight of Penshaw Monument and Houghton Cut - the latter, now on the A690, was first dug in around 1815 to provide a road between Sunderland and Houghton Le Spring and has been progressively deepened and widened ever since. 

The North East Again - More Trains

I’m thinking of starting a campaign, PAH! - Pacers Aren’t Heritage! Today was the second one I’ve travelled on this trip, this time on the Weardale Railway. I do understand their reasons for using them, and in this case their heritage DMU is only a single unit so with it being a bank holiday they’ll have wanted the longer two car train, but they’re not great and I believe they could well reduce passenger numbers. 

Most people visit heritage railways for nostalgia, even the older diesels can evoke memories but I’m afraid Pacers were hated from when they were launched. There’s only one reason I’d visit the Weardale again, the delightful old fashioned tea room! It’s nothing fancy but the service is excellent and my lunch, a slice of Weardale Potato Cake, which is actually a bacon and potato pie, was delicious; the coffee came with a proper ginger nut biscuit as well, not one of those fancy Biscoff ones. 😀 As a bonus, the family who were in had come well prepared with felt pens and colouring in books for the kids who were having fun quietly. 

After lunch I indulged in a bit of nostalgia, crossing the watershed between Weardale and Teesdale to Middleton. I stopped for a while to visit the community bookshop, I didn’t buy anything this time but I’ve picked up a railway book or two there in the past. I also had a look round the Kirkcarrion Gallery, a relatively new artists’ collective, as I’m in the process of changing out some of the pictures at home. 

The gallery is in what used to be Bob Raine’s TV shop, back in the 60’s he had three holiday caravans in the back courtyard, one of which we hired twice for a couple of my earliest holidays. I didn’t buy anything in the end, there were a couple of pictures I could have lived with but they didn’t really grab my attention. 

From Middleton I wandered back to the hotel, I might have called in at Barnard Castle but my back had had enough walking for the day (all of a couple of hundred yards) and it wouldn’t have been worth offloading the scooter. 

Looking at the weather forecast for later in the week I might move plans around a bit - rain all day on Wednesday isn’t ideal for a prolonged trundle round Sunderland but would be OK if I go to Newcastle as that will mainly be indoors. 

A quick note on photos in the blog, I don’t edit these in any way, they’re straight off the camera, better versions may appear elsewhere later. 

As a further aside it’s taken three days for my accent to change back to confused North East (a combination of being born in Sunderland and spending three years at Newcastle Uni!) 

The North East Again - It’s a Small World

Today was definitely a bucket list tick off, a visit to Ryhope Engines Museum, near Sunderland, on a steaming day - my previous visits up here have never been at the right time. Getting the scooter round even the lower levels was tricky, they do have a platform lift but the access to that is tight, and I still had to park up for the stairs to the upper levels - it was well worth it though! 

The station was built in the 1860’s to provide water for domestic and industrial use in the nearby pit villages and in Sunderland. There are two beam engines, with 4 pumps (water is pumped up around 250ft in two stages to keep the system balanced and there are two separate wells), steam is provided by 3 Lancashire type boilers, although only one is normally fired as they’re not actually pumping water so don’t need as much pressure. The engines are two cylinder compound condensing which means they’re very economical to run. 

Not quite what we normally think of as starting handles! They set the various valves manually for starting the engine.

A combination of a lowering water table, which increased the risk of brackish water from the sea entering the system, the hardness of the water and reservoirs such as Derwent and Kielder being built led to the closure in the 1960’s after just on a century of work. 

The small world part of the title comes from a conversation I had with one of the blacksmiths working on site, both he and his father worked at Doxfords Shipyard in Sunderland, as did my Dad and Grandpa. Even more coincidentally his Dad and my Dad both served their time in the engine works and as they’re now 91 and 90 respectively must have been there at the same time. We’re both going to ask our respective parents if they recall the other although after 70 years or so that’s unlikely. 

I ended the visit with a mug of coffee and a slab (and I mean a slab, not a slice) of homemade fruit loaf with butter, for the princely sum of £3! 

The second port of call (pun intended) was Seaham Harbour to visit the East Durham Heritage Centre and photograph a couple of sculptures. Oddly the car park above the harbour, by the Tommy sculpture, has a mixture of free and chargeable spaces, and I was fortunate to get one of the free ones. 

The less well known Coxswain sculpture, also by Ray Lonsdale.

The Heritage Centre’s main attraction is the George Elmy lifeboat, which has a fairly tragic story attached. We hear  quite a lot about the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster of 1981 when 16 people lost their lives after the Solomon Browne tried to rescue the crew of the Union Star but the Seaham Disaster of 1962 is less well known. Five lifeboatmen and four crew of the Coble Economy were drowned with just one of the Coble’s crew surviving after the lifeboat was overwhelmed by a freak wave within yards of reaching safety. 

The restored George Elmy.

The lifeboat itself was washed up, retrieved and after extensive repairs used as a relief boat elsewhere for a number of years before being sold off and converted to a fishing boat. By chance a Seaham local noticed her advertised for sale and the Heritage Group were able to purchase and restore her. Seaham lifeboat station closed in 1979 as larger and faster boats came into service and could better cover the area from elsewhere.

As the hotel I’m stopping at don’t do Sunday evening meals I’d booked a table at a gastro pub the other side of the town (which is basically shut in a Sunday evening!) Sadly it turned out to be very underwhelming as neither the Black Pudding and Chorizo Scotch Egg or the Classic Parmo (breaded chicken in cheese sauce) had a lot of flavour, which takes some skill with those ingredients! Throw in the fact the place was noisy and I was quite happy the service was quick and I could get back to the hotel. 

The North East Again - Wow!

In fact, wow, wow and thrice wow! 

Today was my long awaited visit to Kynren, a fantastic history show, and largely run by volunteers - it stretches further though as it’s an Arts, Education and Conservation charity allied to Auckland Project. I could go on for a long time about this but please look it up if interested. 

The evening show has been running since 2016 but this year the first four daytime shows have opened, Land of the Vikings, The Lost Feather, The Trusty Steed and Legend of the Wear. I won’t go into too many details, and I’ve respected the request to not photograph the shows, as it could spoil things for anyone else who visits. 

The choreography in the Viking show was excellent and the fight scenes were probably a lot more accurate than often portrayed, short, sharp and brutal, with grappling, not the long drawn out fancy swordplay you usually see. Throw in some acrobatics, music, flames and a good story line and it was superb. 

The Feather show is birds, lots and lots of birds, and they’re up close - having a huge great vulture fly a few feet over your head is magnificent, and just a little scary. This is where part of their conservation work comes in, with breeding programmes for rare species. 

The Trusty Steed is, obviously, about horses. This show is set in the Medieval and includes jousting, all with another good backstory. Of course the good peasant triumphs over the evil baron in the end! 

There’s only really one legend associated with the River Wear that they could tell, although this was a different version it still involved river monsters, a witch and a hero called John! Some of the acrobatics in high places looked a bit iffy to me but a strategically hidden crash mat took care of the deliberate falls and at one point our hero paused to clip on his fall arrest before climbing a lighthouse. 

After a break and some OK food I parked up the scooter in the designated area and found my seat. Unfortunately, whilst the forecast rain had held off most of the day there had been a shower and the seats were somewhat wet. ☹️ Never mind, there’s a heated towel rail in my hotel bathroom so I can dry my shorts out. The evening show is a multimedia spectacular history of England, and particularly of the North East (although they missed out shipbuilding) from Roman times to the end of the Second World War. There were some very dodgy fire arrows from Harold Godwinson’s archers but there was very little to complain about. 😊

I managed a reasonably quick getaway, partly ‘cause I chose a seat right by an exit, and I’ve just about got the knack of stowing the scooter so I’m now sat sitting with a pint in the hotel bar. 

Overall an excellent day - It’s not cheap and there’s quite a bit of time spent hanging around between performances but that’s OK.

And just in case you thought you’d escaped trains…

Locomotion at Kynren Station, which is based on Stanhope where I’ll be on Monday.

The North East Again - Getting There

My last holiday of the year is back to North East England, firstly just outside Bishop Auckland then on to my birthplace of Seaburn. Due to family commitments I’d planned to visit late September but as the bank holiday is as late as it can be I decided to come up earlier which is allowing me to tick off some bucket list items (more on these over the next few days). 

On the way up I revisited the Wensleydale Railway, catching the first train meant an early start from home but I was awake anyway. It’s several years since I last rode the line, my last visit was to a model railway show while I was camping nearby and it was too busy to bother with a journey. Unfortunately they’ve now abandoned steam altogether due to finances which is a shame, I had hoped we’d at least get the Heritage DMU (a designation that encompasses the 1st generation diesel mechanical railcars) but instead it was the Pacer. ☹️ These units were built as a stopgap using bus body and interior parts on a railway chassis, as they were all withdrawn a few years ago I guess they are “heritage” in their own way but they are one of the worst vehicles ever to grace Britain’s railways and are definitely not ideal for back pain sufferers. This one came from the West Wales network - I know ‘cause they haven’t changed the prerecorded announcements. 😀

The Wensleydale Railway has long been one of my favourites, partly because they’re always so friendly. Having arrived a bit early I was given a personal tour of the Station Master’s House, which is attached to the business part of Leeming Bar station, nothing much I haven’t seen before but interesting that it was definitely high status, it even had an attached washroom complete with copper (but still an outside toilet!) Whilst sitting at Leyburn one of the railway staff wandered through offering his services to take pictures of people sitting on the train - no interest to me but a few people handed him their phones.  

More trains followed as I stopped off at Locomotion in Shildon on my way to the hotel. Again I’ve been before but the Flying Scotsman was on show and they were doing rides behind the replica Rocket, although I didn’t bother with either it presented photo opportunities. After a coffee and ginger cake, ostensibly made to Mrs Stevenson’s own recipe, it was time to head to the hotel and check in. The rooms are around a courtyard, shades of the recent trip to Warners, but are well appointed. 

I didn’t take a lot of photos as they’re places I’ve been before but here’s a few:

The Flying Scotsman

The Pacer, the most uncomfortable train to run in Britain…

…since these went out of fashion in the 1800s!

Gunton Hall

The trip was the annual celebration for the TOGs of Sir Terry Wogan’s birthday, TBW, which is really an excuse to get together and enjoy ourselves; for the last few years these have been at various Warner’s hotels around the country. Gunton Hall is near Lowestoft and not all that far from home so a stop on the way seemed a good idea. Although I’ve been to all these events it was the first time for friends Steve and Mandy. 

Sunday - Trains

As it’s quite a few years since I was last at Bressingham Steam and Gardens I was interested to see if much had changed - it hadn’t! There were advantages being there on a summer weekend though with various visiting groups including the local model engineering society and the British Organ Grinders Association putting on displays. 

Organ Grinders at work!

We had a couple of train rides, the narrow gauge lines were diesel hauled due to the recent very hot weather combined with the rising cost of coal, we also wandered round the exhibitions and the engine sheds and had a delicious sausage sandwich for lunch, the sausages were from the estate’s own Gloucester Old Spot and Large Black pigs. 

Small, but sufficient for the train

I have a soft spot for Beyer Garratts

I would like to note the kindness of strangers, after Steve and Mandy had chained up her scooter ready for a ride on the Garden Railway they were sat on the bench by the entrance when the queue suddenly grew. A kind gentleman offered to let them in at the appropriate time, and I joined having locked my scooter up. In the end the half dozen or so people at the front of the queue all kindly held back while we hobbled our way to the first coach (standing for long periods is difficult so queuing can be a problem). 

From Bressingham it was an easy run to the hotel arriving at a good time to get checked in and head to the bar. The only minor irritation was that all the disabled parking was full which meant a longer walk than ideal but I did manage to move the car later. The after dinner entertainment wasn’t too bad, a band and the ents staff who were all competent and doing decent music. 

Monday - Boats

After breakfast I retrieved the new mobility scooter out of the car and trundled the couple of miles down to Lowestoft itself. My aim was to visit the Royal Naval Patrol Service and Maritime museums which are very close to each other. 

The maritime museum is mainly about fishing, in particular herring, at its peak 770 boats were based in the harbour but the last deep water fishing ended in 2002; it’s an interesting museum with plenty of models and other displays. 

Looking out past the Maritime Museum

The Patrol Service museum is located at their former headquarters, HMS Europa, in Sparrow’s Nest Gardens. The Service started mainly with requisitioned trawlers, often with their original skipper and crew who were enlisted into the Naval Reserve. Their main role was in minesweeping, as hauling the cables for that role is similar to the work needed for trawling, although there were also some armed trawlers used against U-Boats which didn’t waste torpedoes on smaller vessels but surfaced and could be taken with gunfire. 

The former HMS Europa, aka Sparrow's Nest

Overall two very interesting museums and well worth the visit. I was interested to see how the scooter ran on a longer trip, as you’d expect it was fine although one hill on the path in the park got a bit too steep and I had to walk. Checking the battery consumption I should have around 19-20 miles on a full charge which was what I expected. 

The rest of the day was spent drinking, talking and eating which is about the norm. 

Tuesday- Not Planes!

There are no planes at the East Anglia Transport Museum so we can't complete the song but there are trams, trolley buses and a railway.

Trams and a Trolley Bus

We’d arranged to meet up with one of Mandy’s friends and her family but having had a coffee at the hotel we just timed it wrong for parking; fortunately I got the last disabled space and Steve parked on the end of a row then by the time the friends arrived someone was just leaving. We caused a fair bit of chaos as we had two mobility scooters, two electric wheelchairs and three other people - even though we were all able to walk short distances the logistics of getting on and off trams and trains and queuing for the disabled loo all took time. It was a really good day out though and we then later found we’d won the weekend’s quiz as well. 

Tewkesbury 2026 - The End

I had an easy drive home via Stow on the Wold and Chipping Norton - a route we used quite often back in the camping and caravanning days. 

The festival itself was fantastic, and I’m really pleased I was in costume for one day, at least. Whether I’ll be back next year remains to be seen but I’ll certainly go again soon. 

The hotel, Tewkesbury Park, was very good, thoughtful touches such as putting a flat sheet in each room so if you wanted to just cover yourself overnight in the heat you could. The genuine friendliness of staff is often an indication, when the KP says good morning as he’s taking out the gash i consider it a good sign. The price wasn’t silly either, someone in the Festival bar reckoned he’d paid around £30 a night more than me in an OK pub, having not booked early enough. There was one down side - the overly strong scented shower gel! 😀

Scooter - I’ve been considering this one on and off all year. Around the town and shops Friday it was perfect and it coped, just, with the festival site. I had to get off a couple of times due to wheel spin and it cut out twice, the heat probably didn’t help, but the real issue is it just isn’t comfortable enough on rough ground for long periods. It does have suspension, which helps a bit, but I reached the point where every bump was painful - a discussion I had with a blacksmith who stands on his scooter to try and cushion the blow. The seat is also flat foam and not really comfortable for sitting on all day so I’ve already looked at options for an addition to the fleet. 

Cameras - a definite cock up on my part. I regret not taking a big camera, especially for the battle where I couldn’t really see the phone screen so it was just point and hope. In costume I could at least have had the small camera and I’ll work on thoughts for the big one. 

The heat was a problem, although the festival organisers had done their best with drinking water taps spread around the site and a couple of shady areas marked out as such. I suspect the most welcome cooling off of all was the paramedic standing at the exit to the battle field holding a hose with spray head! 

Tewkesbury 2026 - A Calmer Day

After the long and busy day yesterday I decided to just absorb the atmosphere of the festival today and was in my usual shorts and t-shirt. The first move after breakfast was to trundle down into the town for the parade, I found a good spot outside the abbey only to find that the route had changed so, along with another scooter user, had to move. The parade is very much a town thing but it does show how they embrace the Festival and honour those who fought in the battle. From there I headed back to the festival site deciding it was probably about beer o’clock. 

One thing I did notice over the weekend was that much of the music and dance was very pagan! I’m not entirely sure how that fits in with a medieval battle fought by two ostensibly Christian forces but it was enjoyable anyway. I was going to make a comment about why should the devil have all the good music but some pedant would only point out that the devil is a Christian concept, not a Pagan one. 😊

 

The Pentacle Drummers were everywhere! After the parade they were drumming people onto the site.

Waytes and Measures balanced things up with some traditional medieval music.

After a wild boar burger for lunch and a trundle around part of the show that I’d missed yesterday I was fortunate to have a chat with Tod of Tod Cutler and Tod’s Workshop YouTube channels about his Chinese OxBow project. I’ve been trying to get my head around the vectors and forces involved in having three bows, two facing forwards and one backwards, that are linked together. The way it’s behaving just doesn’t make sense because so much of the force is coming from the lighter draw bow at the back. We agreed it’ll be interesting to see how it develops but with a caveat of how long it sustains an audience. 

From there I felt dehydration coming on so it was back into the beer tent to listen to Maya and the Bees. 

The B on the left is a Bishop!

That’s about where the day ended, even after a sit in a shady spot and a couple more pain killers I decided my back had had enough, a combination of the scooter seat and the rough ground I suspect (more of that tomorrow). I had a last turn around some of the trade stalls before heading to the hotel and a lie down. 

The stand where I bought the hat had this sign out, generous and I suspect appreciated by people

Dinner in the hotel was a breaded chicken dish - judging by the size they breed some big poultry round here! Very nice but I still wasn’t feeling 100% so skipped any dessert. Sadly it’s off home tomorrow. ☹️

Tewkesbury 2026 - Let Battle Commence

After a decent breakfast and getting changed into my Monk persona, Brother Godrich,  I headed off to the Festival itself. I’d hoped to walk but in the end I’m glad I decided to scoot, I’d never have lasted the day out, nor helped by the fact that although the hotel entrance is right by the show ground it’s nearly half a mile from the hotel itself! Although I was a bit early we actually got let in a bit before official opening time so I was only waiting a few minutes. 

First order of the day was perusing the shopping stalls, one early purchase was a straw hat as I decided the Tilly Hat I’d grabbed out of the car was a bit incongruous. It was very hot so of course hydration was important, and as beer is over 90% water a couple of pints went down well (I did, of course, also drink plenty of actual water), as did the pulled pork roll. One good thing with the heat is that people had sensibly left their dogs at home. 

After trundling about a bit I went down to the field where the battle itself is reenacted, getting pointed in the direction of the disabled “viewing area“ on the way. For a while I found some shade from the commentary tower, which was good, but it didn’t last as the sun came round. We’d parked scooters at the back of the area and later it was opened up to others but everyone was very good at staying sat down in front. The first entertainment was a falconry “display” although due to the heat flying was very limited. 

All I can say of the battle itself is wow! It’s actually not too far off the original in both length, at around an hour, and numbers - around 2,000 reenactors, the battle itself is described as being “a few thousand!” The commentary was a double act of Professor Ron Hutton, who is excellent at putting across history in an interesting way, and another former participant - very very good. Photography with just the mobile wasn’t easy so I’ll need to do some sorting and editing before I publish pictures. I know they’re a bit controversial but there were some hydration breaks for the fighting men and women, and even then one or two had to be helped from field. 

After the battle finished I had another pint then trundled down into the town (with a brief interruption to swap scooter batteries) for some food, ending up with fish and chips eaten with my handy dandy medieval brass fork (a Tod Cutler product for those who know). I then continued round to the Abbey for some peace and the service of Compline. After a bit of juggling over exactly where I parked to make sure there was room for people to get out in an emergency* we awaited the arrival of the royal party followed by the ministers and the choir. It was a very traditional and very moving service, with the names of reenactors from past festivals who’ve passed away over the years being read out. 

I finished the Evening trundling back to the hotel, putting the scooter back in the boot after retrieving the flat battery for charging, and having a last pint. Overall an excellent day, going in costume made a difference engendering some conversations and I think a few sly photos, however it was also hot so I think tomorrow may just be t-shirt and shorts. 

*From long experience running fire drills it didn’t matter - they’d always leave the same way as they came in! 

Tewkesbury 2026 - Its Too Hot!

I’m in Tewkesbury for this years Medieval Festival but decided to travel over early and have some time in the town as it’s somewhere I’ve never visited before. Having left early the sat nav went into full on traffic avoidance mode so I’d struggle to say exactly where I went on the way other than that quite a bit of it was on the Fosse Way which is from the wrong era! 

Parking in the town proved remarkably easy and was free with the blue badge (it’s not overly expensive anyway) but getting round was definitely a scooter job. The first port of call was the Abbey Cafe for a much needed coffee followed by visiting the Abbey itself. It’s not huge, and is fairly understated, but very pleasant although I did have to dodge a party of primary school children. 

There was an exhibition of embroidered wall hangings illustrating the life of Jesus of which these are just a few:

Overall worth the visit and it was nice not to be mugged for an entrance fee (although I did make a donation). 

From there I trundled around the town, with a quick call in to Boots as I’d forgotten the SPF50, before ending up back at the Abbey for lunch and a quick browse around their shop - I might have bought a battle t-shirt but I’m not sure if I’m a Yorkist or a Lancastrian! 

I trundled down to the riverside for a short while on my way back to the car and came across a slightly posh ice cream place, I was just after a cone but ended up with a mint chocolate sundae - it was almost too much for me to finish! From there I picked up the car and drove round to the hotel, I was a bit early to check in but a pint of Wye Valley Butty Bach filled in the time nicely. Once in my room I chilled for a while (as much as I could - no air con but a bit of a breeze helped).

I don’t eat posh very often, and frankly it’s sometimes disappointing when I do, but that certainly doesn’t apply to this hotel. I had a delicious goats cheese tartlet with pickled beetroot to start followed by a huge ribeye pork steak in creamy peppercorn sauce and cheese and biscuits to finish - there was even an extra touch with the latter as one of the cheeses was smothered in honeycomb which provided a perfect blend of sweet and savoury. Prices weren’t that ridiculous either, I’ve paid as much for lesser meals before! 

Return to the Lakes - The Rain Came Down!

Considering Cumbria’s reputation for rain and the poor forecast I’ve been very lucky on this trip - there’s been a bit of drizzle a couple of times but the first time I actually got rained on was dashing from the hotel to the car when I left to come home. I had a choice of 3 routes, down the M6 from Penrith or go over to Scotch Corner then down the A1 or onto the M1; there were no more than a few miles or minutes between these so I decided to stick with the A1. An advantage of going across to Scotch Corner is that the Greggs there is the furthest point South I’ve found Stotties (an oven bottom bread unique to NE England) for sale so I bought a pack of 2. 

Overall it’s been a successful trip albeit with a few issues such as the scooter failing (the replacement suspension arm is on order) but nothing I couldn’t work round. It was a shame missing out on seeing Bluebird K7 at Coniston but everything I heard whilst I was there convinced me I’d made the right decision to simply avoid the area. The two hotels were very different but both good in their own way and both very friendly. 

There were a couple of days when I should have planned more activities - it’s always difficult to tell how long I’ll be at places, and how long I’ll last out; losing the scooter didn’t help, I simply ran out of steam a couple of days but equally I managed to walk further than I expected. I’m still firming up plans for my next long trip to North East England so I’ll make sure that where there are contingency plans where I might have spare time. 

Return to the Lakes - Excavator Heaven I

Ewan MacColl wrote in The Drivers Song

Come all you gallant drivers

Wherever you may be,

Whether you drive a Euclid…

Or a 54RB

Or even a 1909 Ruston and Proctor Steam Navvy!

The visit was to the Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum which is also home to the Vintage Excavator Trust who were having a running day. The majority of the machines there are Ruston-Bucyrus in a range of sizes from the smallest 10RB upwards. The original machines came in different versions including dragline, face cutting, cranes, etc. They were fairly ubiquitous in quarrying and civil engineering until hydraulic excavators took over when many were converted for use in demolition which apparently tended to wreck the machines themselves. 

The day started with a ride up to the top end of the quarry, another Hunslet product being the motive power, this time a diesel industrial:

The loco runs to the quarry at the top then drops back down to the workshops area where the bulk of the excavators are located and where they were operating, a bonus was Snacks on Tracks, the VET ladies providing sandwiches, cakes and hot drinks. I had a coffee and then a bit later a sausage sandwich for lunch before walking down to the museum itself. 

Although it’s a small building, and they are seeking funds for a new one, there are decent displays on local geology, quarrying and mining. 

They have a dark light area with a number of fluorescent rocks and minerals which glow in real life but really shine in a photograph:

It’s not all excavators and quarrying, on my final wander I found this relic from the canals:

From the museum I drove down to Ullswater and Glenridding, where I stayed in a statics caravan with university friends very nearly 40 years ago, before returning to the hotel via the tea shop at Aira Force (free National Trust parking, it would have cost anything up to £7 to park in Glenridding or Patterdale). 

One thing that people may be finding confusing is that the road past Patterdale over Kirkstone Pass is closed with, to quote the road sign, “No access to Troutbeck…” which seems odd as I’d just come from there - with typical British logic there is a Troutbeck at each end of the Pass. 

Return to the Lakes - A Bit of History

Today was mostly about history, with a couple of museums and an ancient monument. 

After breakfast I drove into Keswick, and ended up paying for parking - it’s free for Blue Badge holders but only for three hours and I reckoned I’d be longer. First stop was Keswick Museum and Gallery, not the best town museum I’ve visited but not the worst. The major interesting item is the Musical Stones, a giant glockenspiel but the notes are actual stone. Apparently it was built by a stone mason who gave up his day job and toured the country giving performances - apart from anything it’s not exactly an easily portable instrument! 

Musical Stones

My next visit, after a coffee and biscuit, was the Derwent Pencil Museum where your entry ticket is a pencil! You also get given a clipboard and quiz to complete (whether you want it or not), actually it’s a good way of getting you to actually read and think about the displayed information. 

I noticed this set of pencils and bottle of oil for colouring B&W photos as it reminded me of a picture of Mum that Dad had done in Hong Kong- the artist wouldn’t believe the colour of her eyes and wanted to make them blue.

After some lunch I drove down the side of Derwentwater and parked up for a while in a National Trust car park. I’ve done some walking in the past around there and spotted the path we took up from the lake around 40 years ago!

Derwentwater

Possibly slightly foolishly I carried on down past the lake and looped round back up to Keswick, which sounds simple but included Honister and Whinlatter passes! Not that the current car has any issues with 1 in 4 hills and hairpin bends but it’s not exactly relaxed driving. 

The final visit was to Castlerigg Stone Circle. The 38 standing stones are late Neolithic, about 4,500 years old, and anything they lack in size is made up for by the stunning setting. I was regretting that I’d only taken the small camera today but I’ll see how all the pictures come out when I get back. 

Tomorrow is another museum, a Mining one, which is largely why I’m stopping where I am. 

Return to the Lakes-Just Trains!

The Ravenglass and Eskdale had long been on my repeat bucket list so today I ticked it off. It was quite a diversion but well worth it. I was a bit rushed when I got there and I then found the parking machine wouldn’t work, fortunately I was able to pay the slightly exorbitant £8 when buying my ticket (they only do 2 hours, which is only just time for the train journey, or all day) - I don’t really mind as it helps the railway. I sat in one of the open coaches on the outward journey, nice when the wind dropped and the sun came out but went inside on the way back! 

Not the warmest, or most luxurious, rail journey!

The line was originally built as a 3’ gauge mineral line but soon took passengers as well, it closed in 1913 door to falling traffic. That could have been the end of the story but in 1915 WJ Bassett-Lowke and R Proctor-Mitchell acquired the line to test their 15” gauge locos, relaying the track over the next couple of years. From 1920 mineral traffic and passengers were both carried but in 1958 the line was put up for sale, being bought at auction in 1960 by the current company with money largely from two local landowners and despite some trials and tribulations has operated and expanded ever since. 

River Irt, the oldest 15” gauge loco still running, originally built as a tank engine, Muriel, in 1894 but was converted and renamed in 1927

The railway has a small, but interesting, museum with a few locos and history exhibits. 

The last of the Bassett-Lowke built coaches.

After lunch and a wander I headed up the coast then inland to my second base for the holiday, the Troutbeck Inn. It’s nothing spectacular but its friendly and serves decent food. 

That’s what I call a proper steak pie!

Return to the Lakes - Trains, Boats and a Plane

There were plenty of cars and bikes, too!

In the end the weather today wasn’t much worse than yesterday, with occasional drizzle. The first stop was at Haverthwaite for the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway - a fairly conventional standard gauge heritage line. The route is cut into, and sometimes through, the rock alongside the River Leven and was an important link when built with ferry and boat services direct to London and other major centres.

Our loco was a visitor from the Kent and East Sussex Railway.

The building of this stretch of line enabled larger steamers on the lake as previously they’d had to navigate a few miles up the river. If I have a criticism it’s the fact that when I alighted from the train the gift shop was closed “for 5 minutes!” I hung about but there was no sign of anyone reopening it so I gave up, hopefully they were more on the ball later in the day. 

From the railway it was only a few minutes drive to the Lakeland Motor Museum. That was well worth the visit and in the end probably a lot easier using the walker than the scooter. As you’d expect there are lots of cars and motorcycles but, as per the title of this episode, boats and a single plane. Most of the cars were old enough to avoid me having actually owned them but there were a few that have been on my possible shopping list at one time or another. 

A 1959 Scootacar Mk 1, built by the locomotive builders Hunslets of Leeds, the story is that one of the directors’ wives wanted something easier to park than her Jaguar!

The Flying Flea replica - they were a French design but after three fatal accidents they were deemed too dangerous to fly.

A collection of beautiful motorcycles.

After a very nice roast beef sandwich for lunch I finished the visit with their separate Campbell Bluebird exhibition space which also includes a small Swallows and Amazons display relating to a passage in Pigeon Post. I may have missed out on seeing the real Bluebird K7 but I did get to see the replica! 

Mrs Blackett from Pigeon Post

For the sake of it I made my way back to the hotel via the cable ferry across the lake - due the the necessary slack in the cables it does travel with a curious crab-like motion but in the days before motor transport and with poor roads it must have been invaluable. 

I do like stopping in the Inn Collection Group’s establishments, The staff are all friendly and pleasant and it’s noticeable that they take time to smile and say hello to children, plus one earlier wandered round with biscuits and sausages for the dogs in the bar.