D

arlington Cyclists

 

August 29, 2002



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Quiz Answer:
Lucknow St., Darlington


Jan and Gerry in Darlington

We have just returned from Stockton, where we made our longest bike outing since our return to England. It was only about 10 miles each way (20 miles total); this is little compared to what we used to do in New Jersey but when we first came back it was way beyond our endurance. 








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We've been in Darlington nearly six weeks now. Almost immediately upon arriving we went to Bingham, near Nottingham, for the wedding of Chris and Sam. After that life settled down to a very leisurely affair. Our "work" life has mostly to do with updating our web site. Our other life is mostly reading and seeing family.

Millenium Bridge in Stockton-on-Tees
Millenium Bridge in Stockton-on-Tees

One of our most frequent activities has been bicyle riding. We are working towards a total of 30 miles in a day. That is, a comfortable 30 miles. If and when we get there we'll do a long-distance trip, stopping overnight about each 30 miles. Our first goal might be to York, about 50 miles south of here. We considered it a great triumph when we managed to make it to Stockton-on-Tees, about 9 miles away, and return in the same day. For lunch we sat alongside the Tees enjoying newspaper and fine weather with the Millennium Bridge in front of us.

We have been out to a few touristy places. One was to Redcar, a beach resort, Redcar is about 25 miles east of Darlington and was the site of childhood excitement for all of the Bates family. In the old days the "Rise Carr Club" bus would be eagerly awaited on the appointed day. Being carless, we also took the bus. Rather early in the day we, as well as our guests, Jhap, Megan, and Jade, eagerly awaited the modern inter-urban bus, hoping we would not spend our whole day in town. The pricing was funny: with the two girls it was cheaper than if we had gone on our own.

Beamish Historical Village
Beamish Historical Village

Another of our outings was to High Force, one of the biggest waterfalls in England, We went back to High Force for the first time in 10 or 15 years; we were accompanied by Margaret and Dennis Martin, old Bradford chums of Jan. For them too it was the first return in decades.



Gerry finally got to tour Beamish, an open air museum, after waiting years. We and Dave had gone there some years ago only to find it closed. Then Jan, Dave, and their parents went back when Gerry was in the USA. In the meantime the place had grown with the addition of more restored buildings, etc. So we all had a fine discovery day.







Katherine and Mike's Wedding
Katherine & Mike's Wedding

Summer is wedding season so it wasn't too surprising that we got invited to another one, this time that of Kath Meadows and Mike Hendy. Jan went to the Hen Party which was an overnight affair in York. We can't help but remarking over and over how elaborate this generation's weddings are compared to the modest affairs of our siblings.




August 29, 2002