Marsden

On the August bank holiday we decided to take some time off and paid a visit to Marsden, a bay on the North East England coast between South Shields and Sunderland. The site was famous for its giant arch rock which, sadly, collapsed in 1996. Nevertheless, the beach is well worth visiting.

The nightmare journey home

23rd July 2018

Getting home from London to the North East was a nightmare. The train driver was late. That was nothing compared to the line side fires that left us stuck south of Doncaster for over an hour. We had to get alternative connections to Leeds, then to York and then to Newcastle. Not a good start in my budding relationship with LNER who took over the East Coast rail franchise recently.

Meat on the menu at Domali

22nd July 2018

Domali, on the Crystal Palace Triangle, had previously been known to me as a veggie cafe. On visiting it recently, we discovered meat is now on the menu. Breakfast was a full English with sausage and bacon. Very enjoyable but I'm not aware of why the shift away from vegetarian food.

Dried up lake at Crystal Palace Park

22 July 2018

We visited Crystal Palace Park, another of my old haunts and discovered the heat wave has had quite an impact on the lakes. The smaller, shallower ones had dried up and the level of the main lake has dropped substantially. We could do with some rain. We rounded off the visit by going to the Capel Manor Farm. Lots of animals to see.

Retro in Forrest Hill

21 July 2018

I visited the Dartmouth Arms in Forrest Hill, London, and had a 1970s retro experience! The wallpaper took me back 40 years! Otherwise a rather quiet establishment. Sadly, the prices weren't retro.

Revisiting the Crystal Palace Triangle

21 July 2018

The Triangle in Crystal Palace was our regular haunt when I was spending half my time in London. We paid it a visit to have a look at the changes that have taken place over the past year. The Saturday's farmers' market is still there but some of the pubs have changed. There are now pubs called the Faber Fox and Walker Briggs though other establishments have gone. Meanwhile, Westow House pub is expanding upwards.

Mi cocina es tuya Venezuelan Restaurant

21 July 2018

As the flat was empty of furniture and food, we headed to the Crystal Palace Triangle for breakfast. We decided to try the  Mi cocina es tuya, a Venezuelan restaurant. A small and pleasant establishment with helpful and friendly staff, we had an interesting breakfast which included scrambled eggs, a pancake and beans. Worth a visit.

Lido Restaurant Soho

Dinner time in Soho on 20th July and we headed to Chinatown where we found the Lido Restaurant. It was a busy establishment but they had room for us. One factor in judging an eating establishment is to have a look at the amount of food left over at the end. As you can see, we ensured nothing was left! A reasonably priced meal bearing in mind that this is central London.

Back to London

On 20th July 2018 I headed to London for a short visit to check on work on our flat and enjoy the capital for the weekend. It was my first chance to use LNER since they took over the East Coast Railway. We got to London 40 minutes late. It was not a good way to create a good impression. I'm pleased to report that the flat was in good shape.

Chopwell Woodfest

The Woodfest is a celebration of forestry and rural skills held annually at Chopwell Woods in western Gateshead. We had a rather pleasant half day there earlier this month.

Great Exhibition of the North launch - photos

The Great Exhibition of the North was launched on Friday evening. I attended the launch event. A brilliant summer evening with a lovely sunset over Tyneside, what a great backdrop to the concert, fireworks and drone display. My video of the event will be ready shortly but you can view a few of my photos on the above link.

Visiting Tynemouth

Last month we paid a short visit to Tynemouth. We called at the Tynemouth market, popped into the Gibraltar Rock pub with spectacular clifftop views, took a walk on Longsands Beach and called in to Hugo's Bar and Restaurant for lunch.

Beamish Museum Georgian Fair

Last week, Beamish Museum held a Georgian fair. We visited it on 1st June and also had a further look around other parts of the museum. Beamish however is now so large that it takes more than a day to see the whole of it. The video covers much of the museum but we ran out of time to get to the mining village. We will return in the summer.

Walk to the reservoir

After lunch at the Anglers Arms at Kielder, we took one of the walks to get to Kielder Reservoir. This took us through part of the forest and over the restored Kielder Viaduct. The walk took about half an hour to get to the reservoir.

Anglers Arms, Kielder

Kielder is a remote village closer to Scotland than Newcastle. We were there on 7th May to walk to the nearby reservoir but called in to  the Anglers Arms for lunch. The decor is a bit on the dark side and is a bit inadvertently retro. Food was cheaply priced but vegetables were somewhat tasteless. Staff were friendly but looking longingly outdoors at the sunny bank holiday weather everyone else was enjoying!

Kielder Viaduct and Reservoir

On bank holiday Monday we took a day off to visit Kielder in Northumberland. It is a small village at the western end of the Kielder reservoir (the biggest man made structure in Europe). To get to the reservoir, we walked along the Lakeside route which took us along the former railway line and over the Kielder Viaduct.

The Arabesque Restaurant, Sunderland

The Arabesque is an Egyptian restaurant on High Street West in Sunderland. I ate there earlier this month. I was part of a group of 40. The food was good but they struggles to cope with large numbers. The result was some people getting their courses after others had finished theirs. Nevertheless, it would be worth visiting as a smaller group.