We stayed close to home early in the day. It took an extra day to figure out why there was no heat or hot water in the house. We are not used to gas central heat and no idea how to solve that issue ourselves. After a nice visit with the homeowners and a service call by the gas technician, we were squared away.

After lunch, we ventured under (mostly) sunny skies into the City Centre. It was our first walk all the way “to town.” The distance traveled seems to be in question. Rob says that it is about a mile or so. The children think it must have been much further. Well, he did say “or so.” At any rate, we walked about 35 minutes to the heart of the City.

Durham is a popular site to visit for local and international travelers. The Cathedral, Castle, shops and a current exhibit of the Lindisfarne Gospels meant the streets were crowded on a Saturday afternoon. We were in search of some Charity Shop (that’s a Thrift Store in the USA) bargains. While we didn’t find those, we did find some other gems.

A rare treat: coffee and hot chocolate together.

We stopped off at a sidewalk cafe for cappuccino and hot chocolate. You want a cappuccino from a man that looks like a grandfather and only speaks Italian! We got to the open air market a little too late. They were closing up (mental note: go earlier next week). So we headed up the hill to the Cathedral. After a look around, we stayed for the Evensong service. We sat in awe as we worshipped in a space where people have sung praises to God for almost a thousand years.

We found a little footpath along the castle wall. Blackberries are ripening, and we marveled at how beautiful they looked along the stones. We crossed the river again to the bus station for a lift home. Since the temperature hit about 40 Saturday, we were thankful the heat was on! Off to church on Sunday morning with a new (to us) gathering of the faithful.

Durham Cathedral is a World Heritage Site.