This morning we sadly said goodbye to Durham and our dear friends who have been so sweetly hosting us for the weekend.  Giles and Nancy have been on quite a few adventures with us in the past.  You can read about them here.

Field Trip Friday # 9 Pipe Organs and Moors

Richmond Castle – English Heritage Site

A Picnic, a duck race and a queen

We also worked each week at the Lego Cathedral with Giles.  They have been taking good care of us and feeding us well.  They are also friends now with our friend from Alabama, Dori.  We packed up and said “Goodbye” and got on our way.

We had another goodbye to say on our way out of town.  We still had not seen our friend Lynn at the Crusty Bun so we stopped by for a cuppa and a few hugs.  Katyie arrived before we left so we were all together again for a few minutes.

We miss all of our Durham friends so very much already.

Our drive today took us south.  There were quite a few miles to put behind us and many things to see along the way.   We made our way down past York to stop for a while in Epworth.  This town is the childhood home of John Wesley.  You can read more about the Wesleys here.

The town of Epworth is very quaint and we found that it was mostly closed on a Monday.    We were able to visit the rectory home and garden however the inside was closed for tours on Sundays and Mondays.

Walking toward the churchyard where John Wesley’s father is buried we found the whole of the town to be so lovely.  John was not welcome to preach in the church in Epworth for his spiritual excitement was thought to be far too radical.  John instead spoke to whomever would gather outside the church and he stood on his father’s grave as his pulpit.  Here are a few scenes from the courtyard.

With still more miles to travel we continued our southern journey into Wales.  None of us have ever seen Wales.  So we chose the capital of Cardiff as our launching place to see the sites along the south end.

It was quite late upon our arrival so we were only able to grab a quick picture of the castle at Cardiff before dark but we promise the full story tomorrow.  Until then…. cheers

Beth