Hi everyone. Way back, on this thread, I asked for tips for sightseeing and things to do on a trip to the North of England.
It's a good while ago now, but we went last September and it was a great success. So I wanted to thank everyone for their contributions, many of which I included in the itinerary.
growstuff recommended a diversion to Chester, once in Liverpool. I had included this in my plans, but DH, despite being a died-in-the-wool Latin teacher for 40 years, opted to stay in Liverpool an extra day as he is also a Beatles fan, like most Germans of his age. And he has seen plenty of amphitheatres in his life!
Casdon recommended Housesteads/Vercovicium and preferred it to Vindolanda. I had planned for Vindolanda to be the highlight of the tour and it certainly was! Actually, we got to Housesteads in a very cold wind and had to climb up a very steep hill. It was very well presented, once you had negotiated around the sheep! But Vindolanda was even better presented; no hill to climb; there were little bollards which, when you pressed a button, explained the history and layout in any of 6 languages (very rare in the UK!) It was accessed through a charming little garden and had a nice café.
MiniMoon recommended Alnwick Castle. We managed the castle, but didn't have time for the garden as well.
Casdon also mentioned "fabulous castles". We actually stayed one night in a genuine castle near Hexham which was quite an adventure!
Dee1012 mentioned Lindisfarne. We were lucky with the tides and got to spend a whole afternoon there. We could see Bamburgh Castle across the water but didn't manage to fit that in as well.
Galaxy mentioned Segedunum in Newcastle. We did spend some time in Newcastle, but took the opportunity to see the Castle, the Black Gate and the Cathedral. Also - it rained while we were there!
Sago recommended Boroughbridge, the Roman Camp at Pickering, and Ripon. We didn't manage the first two, although we did do Pickering castle and looked at the steam trains. Ripon wasn't really on our route.
I was cross that we didn't think to try the kippers suggested by AreWeThereYet - also the crab sandwiches on Holy Island which are supposed to be fantastic (they had sold out!)
We stayed 3 nights in Whitley Bay and made good use of the Metro as suggested by Glorianny, including Newcastle, the very impressive Arbeia site in South Shields, then back to Whitley Bay on the Tyne ferry to North Shields which was included in the Metro day ticket price!
Didn't make Beamish ( Jjan1, Galaxy and AreWeThereYet) and whilst we passed Hexham, we didn't go into the town itself.
There were several warnings about the weather, and we would have been equipped for this anyway, but we were really lucky - especially in the Lake District where we experienced tee shirt weather.
On re-reading the thread, I realise there was so much we couldn't fit in, but I think we did really well for the 2 weeks we spent there.
That's enough for one post - I'll thank a few more people in the next one.
Good Morning Thursday 23rd April 2026
