Christmas shopping.

Its that time of the year again. Christmas shopping. Newcastle is a good place, but why you have to go there to shop is totally beyond me ! We have shops here in Darlington. However, if you slip your camera into your pocket, you can just about avoid most of the shops, get a few pictures instead, and come back home feeling satisfied, not frustrated.

The tricks the Angel gets up to when he thinks nobody is watching !

A grand day out...

A few years after the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, commissioned a survey to discover exactly how much the lands which he had conquered were worth, so that he could make the appropriate tax assessments of course ! The values of the boroughs and manors in the counties of Durham and Northumberland were not included in the "Domesday" survey simply because his own savage "Harrying of the North" had resulted in most of the area being noted as "vasta" (waste). Castles were built shortly after the Conquest and continued to be built over the following years to control the land and keep the people in check. Later on, they came in handy for resisting the incursions of our neighbours from across our Northern borders. The castles were also much involved in our own Civil War. Religious establishments also grew up and from poor beginnings often became very wealthy - making money from the wool of their vast flocks of sheep. The castles and abbeys are wonderful places to visit and every one has a great story to tell !

Barnard Castle (2)

Alnwick Castle

Durham Cathedral

Dunstanburgh Castle

York Minster

Raby Castle

Fountains Abbey

Richmond Castle

Bolton Castle

Ripley Castle

Helmsley Castle

Whitby Abbey

Rievaulx Abbey

A bridge for all reasons...

How wonderful to think you had had a hand in building one of these superb structures ! From the packhorse bridges for the trains of ponies laden with salt from the coast, or lead from the mines of the Dales, to the great bridges over the Tyne and the Tees. The monumental Ribblehead Viaduct over Batty Moss on the Settle and Carlisle Railway cost the lives of many of the navvies who worked on the construction of the line. Next to Ivelet Bridge is a "coffin stone" used in the days before a church was built in the upper part of the Dale at Keld. Coffins were carried down the Dale on the "Corpse Road" and rests were made on the journey to the church at Grinton. Every bridge must have represented a major step forward for the local economy and for the lives of the local people. The most recent structure - the Gateshead Millennium Bridge isn't bad either ! And fun to cross !

The bridges are: The Tyne Bridge, Newcastle.

The Lune Viaduct near Mickleton, Teesdale.

Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

Dairy Bridge, River Greta, Teesdale.

Ribblehead Viaduct.

Transporter Bridge, Middlesbrough.

Newport Bridge, Middlesbrough.

Barnard Castle Bridge.

Langdon Beck Bridge, Upper Teesdale.

Ketton Bridge, Brafferton, near Darlington.

Yore Bridge, Aysgarth, Wensleydale.

Swing Bridge, near Reeth, Swaledale.

Blackwell Bridge, Darlington.

Croft-on-Tees Bridge.

Piercebridge, Teesdale

Grinton Bridge, Swaledale.

Ivelet Bridge, near Gunnerside, Upper Swaledale.