7/4/2017 – Travel Day
Monday was a travel day. We were going to another country. We left Durham and followed the coast north to Gateshead, a suburb of Newcastle on Tyne, where we visited the Angel of the North. Along with the photo, here are some interesting facts about the sculpture:

• It is believed to be the largest angel sculpture in the world
• It is one of the most viewed pieces of art in the world – seen by more than one person every second, 90,000 every day or 33 million every year (that’s because it is right off a busy highway – ph)
• It is one of the most famous artworks in the region – almost two thirds of people in the North East had already heard of the Angel of the North before it was built
• Its 54 meter (175 foot) wingspan is bigger than a Boeing 757 or 767 jet and almost the same as a Jumbo jet
• It is 20 meters (65 feet) high – the height of a five story building or four double decker buses
• It weighs 200 tonnes – the body 100 tonnes and the wings 50 tonnes each
• There is enough steel in it to make 16 double decker buses or four Chieftain tanks
• It will last for more than 100 years
• It will withstand winds of more than 100 miles per hour
• Below the sculpture, massive concrete piles 20 meters deep will anchor it to the solid rock beneath
• It is made of weather resistant Cor-ten steel, containing a small amount of copper, which forms a patina on the surface that mellows with age
• Huge sections of the Angel – up to six meters wide and 25 meters long – were transported to the site by lorry with a police escort
• The total cost of The Angel of the North was £800,000
• There is unique species of daffodil named the Angel of the North due to its orange, rusty hue and lofty height. The Angel of the North daffodil has been verified and registered with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)

Our next stop was Alnwick castle, home of the Dukes of Northumberland, the Percy family, who have owned the castle since the 1300s. Harry Potter fans would have recognized parts of the castle as Hogwarts in the first 2 films.

I had the inaccurate idea that the castle was set apart from the town of Alnwick and we would have easy access to it. Once again I was wrong, the town has grown up around the castle and, quite like Winchester, we were unable to find parking space to visit it or the castle. We had to settle for camera shots of the castle outside the town. At least our photos helped me understand why I thought the castle was out in the open: the grounds on the back side of the castle walls are wide open meadows. Evidently what photos I’ve seen of the castle (minus H.P. shots) were taken from this viewpoint.
Before we reached our camping at Berwick on the Tweed we tried one more side trip to the Holy Island at Lindisfarne. A long, narrow causeway, twice daily covered by tides, separates the tip of the land from the mainland. Once upon a time an abbey stood there and St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert were among its bishops. It was finally abandoned in 875AD due to constant Viking raids. We drove along the causeway reading signs warning us of impending doom should the tides rush in. Upon reaching the end we turned into a packed parking lot and saw nothing of interest except lots of buildings under scaffolding. We have seen our fair share of scaffolding so we turned around and raced back to beat the tide. At least we can say we were on the Holy Island.
We arrived at the camping and our pitch had a great view of the river Tweed estuary. I think the Tweed was once the border between Scotland and England although now the border is a couple of miles north of the river.

We have a mini itinerary for Scotland, but as we have well demonstrated, it is not to be trusted.
We will stay in the lowlands and visit Edinburgh for 3-4 days, 1 day at St. Andrews, then Sterling, through Glasgow and south to to the coastal castle of Culzean. We will continue southeast through Dumfries and back into Britain proper.
Our timing is such that, with much regret, we are going to bypass Ireland this trip. We cannot do it justice in the short time we have left before returning to the continent. We haven’t yet seen southwest Britain – a must in our book – and while it has been 17 years since our visit, we did cover Ireland pretty well.