#134 Nomad Diary. 13-19 May 2023. Whitley Bay Stay in Northumbria England. Walking the Coast. Riding the Metro. York Day Trip. Meet Margaret for Lunch in Newcastle. Friends at Church.

A Nice Building on Our Walk From Tynemouth to North Shields

Cappucino at Cullercoats Coffee

Old Church Building with Beautiful Windows in North Shields.

Behind the North Shields Church Above. Nice Tree and Illegible Tomb Stone

My Delicious Lunch. Pork Belly, Egg, Pickled Onions and Asian Slaw.

Darrell on Our Sea View Walk at Tynemouth Heading Toward Cullercoats

Looking Down At Tynemouth Beach

Us On a Call With our Son Jeremy and His Wife Andrea and Son Quinn, age 2 years 8 months.

Our Delicious Homecooked Dinner: Fennel Seed Salmon. Sweet Potato Oven Fries, Greens, Squash and Mint Tea.

Evening Walk at Whitley Bay Low Tide. Sun Stay Up Past 9pm.

Saturday. 13. We walked the coast to Cullercoats, the next town south from Whitley Bay and had coffee. We are on our way to North Shields another 2 towns south. There is a Wilco shop there and I want to get a couple of items for the kids Bible class on Sunday that I am teaching this month. We enjoyed the sunshine, the coast and the long walk to North Shields Wilco. I purchased what I wanted and we looked for a restaurant to head to for lunch. We found one to go to that is not on the coast road. It had unusual sandwiches and good ratings. The sandwiches were fabulous! They had an asian flare, and we both said that we would eat there again! We walked on back to Cullercoats and did a little grocery shopping there and then back to Whitley Bay.

Me and Livie Visiting at Her Home

Maggie Making Salad. She Also Had Made Banana Bread and a Scratch Baked Cake With Frosting!

Katy with Son Nolan

Sweet Sisters Maggie and Livie

Liam, Maggie, Nolan and Livie are Sweet Kids Who Are in My Heart Now!

Sunday. 14. We go on the metro by 10am to get to the church before the 11am start. There is a couple visiting from Scotland, Morris and Polly, who used to live in this neighborhood. Morris was a policeman here in his younger years. They had a child who had horrible respiratory problems and they left for South Africa as a solution. After their kids were grown, Morris became a preacher and now lives in Scotland. Darrell preached today. I taught the kids class. We went to the Palmer’s house for lunch. We met the Palmer’s when we were here last September, and we wanted to come back to see them. They have 4 kids and are from the Southeast US. Jacob is a practicing Chiropractor and we are going to him for treatments while we are here. Katy works in the school system. The kids are active and fun getting to know with their activities and interests. We got back to our apartment about 5pm and I was very tired and happy.

Exploring Low Tide with Whitley Bay in the Background

My Toes As I Enjoy Looking at the Colorful Rocks and Searching for Sea Glass

Monday. 15. It’s a super sunny morning. It’s a cool 53 degrees today. Darrell makes pancakes for breakfast. I do laundry and we grocery shop and cook at our place.

Our Dinner at Our Apartment. I Made Stuffed Mushrooms and Darrell Made Chicken Vegetable Soup. Mint Tea.

Saw This Amazing Rainbow On Our Walk From Cullercoats to Whitley Bay

Glass Blowing Demo

Rare Roman Glass at The Glass Centre Museum in Sunderland

Darrell Walking Beside the Wear River in Sunderland

Looking Down on the Wear River in Sunderland

Tuesday. 16. Another super sunny morning! I love this early sunrises and late sunsets. Today we have eggs and sourdough toast for breakfast. About 10:15 we take the metro to Gosforth to see Dr. Jacob. After that we decide to take the metro to Sunderland, about 30-40 minutes from Newcastle. There is a National Glass Centre and museum we go to. It’s really cool because we get to watch a glass blowing demo. The museum was a fast history of glass and how a catholic church guy brought glass craftsman to England to make beautiful windows in his building project. St. Peters cathedral is close to this Glass Centre, but we didn’t go there. Meanwhile we have discovered that sea glass is on the beach in Whitley Bay. There is also a beach to go hunting for sea glass in Sunderland, but we didn’t go there today. I can get very focused on hunting for things on the beach and just let the time go by! It’s great!

Looking at the York Minster from the Wall

Walking the Wall in York! Incredible.

More Wall in York

River in York

Old Castle York

Yes! We Climbed This!

View From the Top Of the Old Castle York

Creamy Mushroom Appetizer at Lunch in York

Darrell's Burrata Cheese Lunch Appetizer

My Goat Cheese Entree at Lunch

Darrell's Entree of Pork and Potatoes at Lunch

Inside the Chocolate Shop in York

Our Buys at York Cocoa

Riding Through the Viking Experience to Learn About the Vikings Who Lived Here

The Shambles in York

Flowers Seller in York

Passageway in the Shambles in York

Another View of the Minster from the Wall

Some of the Many Stairs in the Wall at York

We Went Around This Section Twice! York Wall.

Wednesday. 17. We decide to go to York about an hour train ride from Newcastle. I did laundry today also. We got back late and had cereal for dinner. The town of York was so worth the visit! York has been on my list of places to see and Katy told us it’s worth it. She is correct! It was so nice! Because they get a lot of tourist they make an effort to keep the streets cleaned from litter! I like this detail. There is a 2 mile wall that we walked on. Much of the wall has no guard rails and that is just edgy enough to feel fun. The weather was clear so the wall was open and the day was more enjoyable. The trees were green and flowers were in bloom– all wonderful. We went to the old castle, had a fancy Italian lunch, did the Viking experience, went to the Shambles which was the model for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter, walked to the door of the York Minster. We went to a chocolate place, a coffee roaster for a bag and got a loaf of sourdough bread at a small bakery. We had a day that left a smile on my face! 

Call with Grandson Owen, 1 year and 8 months Old

Low Visibility and High Tide at Whitley Bay

More High Tide at Whitley Bay

Flower Close Up 

Spring Flowers in Whitley Bay

The Bay Near St. Mary's Lighthouse. Just Beyond Whitley Bay

High Tide at St. Mary's Lighthouse. The People Who Live There Have To Live By the Tide.

Our Feet on the Beach Rocks Near St. Mary's Lighthouse

Selfie with High Tide at St. Mary's Lighthouse

Thursday. 18. Today we did computer work at our apartment. We had a call with our grandson Owen. We shopped for and purchased our July stay in Rapid City, South Dakota. I called Margaret who I met at church. She only has a house phone and no internet at the present time. She has traveled some in her life, but mostly lives and stays in Newcastle city center. She rides the bus to get to church as she said the metro is too expensive. She was born in 1963 and is about 1 year older than me. She has never married. I enjoyed asking her about her life and how she came to be a member of the church of Christ where we met. There is more about Margaret and I plan to call her another time or two. She invited Darrell and I to meet her for lunch, her treat, in Newcastle. We settle on a time for tomorrow.

Meeting Margaret in Newcastle for Lunch

My Baklava Dessert at the Greek Place with Margaret

The Newcastle Cathedral Tower

Inside the Refurbished Newcastle Cathedral

The Newcastle Cathedral Bishop's Seat

View of Old Newcastle Castle! lol.

One Side of the 19th Century Newcastle Foot Bridge

A View Downward in Newcastle, an Up and Down to the River City

Seeing Dr. Jacob Palmer on His Lunch Break on the Pedestrian Bridge. Newcastle on Tyne.

Selfie with Newcastle in Background

Darrell in Front of a Free Art Museum with a Viewing Platform

View of the Tyne River and Newcastle from the Viewing Platform

Birds Nesting on the Building Seen From The Viewing Platform

Spring Green With Tiny Flowers

Tiny Flower Detail

Our Walk Along the Tyne and Hadrian's Way

Almost to Wallsend

Our Dinner of Chicken and Vegetable Soup. Picture of a Swede That We Cube and Put Into the Soup. It Turns Yellow and Has a Texture Between a Turnip and a Potato.

Friday. 19. Our York roasted coffee is so delicious and dark! We ride the metro to Center station and Margaret meets us there to walk to a restaurant for lunch. She asks if we like Greek and I say we do. We walk about 3 blocks to a Greek restaurant for lunch. The food is delicious. We linger over lunch, and desserts and coffee for at least 2 hours. I find out that Margaret’s Dad’s ancestors are all buried around St. Peters in Sunderland! It makes me have more questions and thoughts of all the craftspeople and generations who are a part of the history here that is fairly well preserved. While we were there looking out the big windows we see 3-4 rats running around the street and right by our window! There are big rats. We comment a bit about them, and then move on in our conversation. Later in the day, google sends me an article on rats in this area and it includes a rat map! I read the article and looked at the map. Yes, they have rat issues. We also have rat issues in the US. After lunch, Darrell and I walk toward the river. On the way we go into a cathedral museum. There was a lot to see in there and even an archeological display of the renovations, and the graves with the history going back at least 900 years! Then we walked on around the old castle, and to an 19th century foot bridge which we cross. While we are crossing we hear a voice call to us from the opposite side, and we look over and see Dr. Jacob! Lol! Out of the few people we know in Newcastle, here we cross paths as he is out for his lunchtime walk! We walk on across the river Tyne and down stream to an art museum and another foot bridge where we cross back. We were here last September doing the last 5 miles of Hadrian’s Wall walk from here to Wallsend. We begin following the Hadrian’s Way walk again and then we decide to go all the way to Wallsend because it is just so beautiful and we can!

Nomad Notes. This week has been so beautiful with the long sunny days, long walks and meeting up with friends from church. Every morning we get up and do our DDP yoga routine. Usually 3 days in a row are more difficult and then one easier day routine called “energy”. Then we fix a breakfast that we like with strong coffee around 7 or 8 am. This is so much earlier than many restaurants are open around here. We have found that we like our breakfast together and we know what we are going to get. While traveling around, one of the more difficult things to do is to learn how to order at restaurants. The quality varies, the descriptions on the menus don’t always make sense to us. Just ordering is an adventure that can have great results or be just OK. It’s a test to really have gratitude whatever comes to the table! lol!