Day 25 - BANNATYN'ED IN DURHAM!

DURHAM - REST DAY 2

My 2nd rest day today was marked by a 7.20am lie in and it felt funny waking up in my twin room with mum!!  (Funny but nice!)  We checked the weather and were pleased to see a good deal of sunshine and decided to get up and get going for our stroll in Shincliffe and following our 40p route map we bought yesterday.

We frequented the Bannatyne restaurant next door in the sports club and enjoyed a £1.30 great value breakfast to start us on our way and have been very impressed with the whole set up here of the Bannatyne Hotel and Health Club - the use of all the facilities is completely complimentary and we have free WiFi, free parking (not that i needed to park anything more than my behind!) all included in our room rate which has made it great value.  All the staff have also been very, super friendly and helpful and i might even write to Duncan himself to let him know how impressed i am!

We walked the 2 miles to our starting point for our walk in Shincliffe and decided to follow Walk number 5 which was the boundary walk around the Parish.  This treasure map was quite easy to follow and took us through the village, along the river, through woodland and across fields.  After a few hours mum decided to head back to the Seven Stars Public House (our starting point) and i crossed over the A1/M to just stretch out my legs a little further (and also to look longingly at the most major road that could actually take me to within 5 miles of my front door!!) Mum and i then actually met up within 10 minutes of each other as mum went on her own little detour on her 'direct easy route' back to the pub!

I found her with her coffee fix at the pub but we decided against an expensive bowl of soup there in favour of a walk back to our great value Bannatyne restaurant where we got soup and a roll PLUS a big fresh fruit salad all for the same amount as we would have paid at the 7 Stars! Bargain Bannatyne!

We had another swim and steam in our Health Spa to while away the afternoon hours and then i caught up with some emails before we headed to Pizza Hut for our 'all you can eat salad cart' - much better value for me as i can eat way more than most!!  I think mum legitmately had the reason of the sunshine and the exercise today to make her feel sleepier earlier but we had an evening on BBC2 planned so needed to get back for 7pm!!

I'm beginning to feel a complete 'ANORAK' doing this walking holiday and watching BBC2 all evening on a Tuesday, going to bed by 8pm and especially when i see these pictures of what i am looking like these days!!!! (Is there somewhere i can check out my credentials and see if there is anything else i need to do to qualify as a fully fledged Anorak?!)

Oh and a huge thank you to my Big sister Sue who has added another £5 donation to Grove House today to enable me to reach my Full Target....... Please feel free to still keep donating though  if there is anyone still reading this that hasnt yet managed to contribute...!! :)   It is all such a great and worthwhile cause and i certainly have had the blisters to prove my commitment!