DAY 24 - HOORAY MY MUM IS HERE!

LANCHESTER TO DURHAM

Slept quite well in my big 4 poster bed and got up in time for my 8.45am breakfast!  I dont know how i am going to adjust back to life at home again getting up at my normal 6.30am time!! (Maybe i just wont adjust at all?!)  Breakfast was nice, all alone as the only guest staying last night....and before i knew it i was off with my backpack in place, walking full steam ahead to Durham!

I began on the main roads and then just after Langley Park i joined the W2W route and cycle path 14 towards Durham following the river along a beautiful path far away from the traffic .... surprisingly the miles melted away very quickly this morning as i caught up with all the calls i needed to make and before i knew it i had covered my 10 miles with my pack and had arrived!

I caught a little bus out to our Bannatyne hotel which was 2.5 miles from the centre - i would have walked but didnt have enough time if i wanted to drop off my bag before getting back to the Train Station in time for mum arriving at 1.18pm.  As it was, the room was all ready and so after dropping my bags in, changing into my trainers, i raced back to the railway station just as mum alighted off the train!

Her bag was tiny and so easy to manage compared to my heavy load so instead of heading back to drop it off we decided to brave Durham together and get started on the sightseeing!  (Not until mum had had her coffee however!)  We visited the Cathedral first and it was absoutely enormous both inside and out!  The history was amazing and the fact that it has been here since 995, made me feel much younger!

The Castle was only next door and then the streets of Durham were lovely to walk around with no time constraints.... by 4pm we queued up with the school children and reverted to feeling old again and got our bus back to the hotel!  We have free use of the health club next door so it seemed a shame to waste it so had a 1/2hr run and then swam for 30 lengths.  The swim felt lovely to stretch out different muscles but i had forgotten what a hassle it always is to get dry and dressed after swimming!

We snacked in our room on our M & S salads and strawberries and then felt ready for bed .....by 7.30pm .... is that too early?!  Mum put her tiredness to the long train journey and i just feel exhausted like i always do by 7pm!