Left Ashford around 8.30. and drove on a variety of roads as directed by the Navman. The trip was unremarkable except for our stop at one of the Service Centres. I remember years ago how impressed I was when we stopped in at one of these on the way up to London and I counted 48 ladies loos. I was astounded because no where in Australia have I seen so many in one place and usually what happens in just about every venue is that there is a great long queue of ladies patiently waiting. Well this time, while I think there were probably about the same number of loos, it was just the way the people flooded into them. It was like being on the motorway itself. There was a steady stream of people incoming on the left, outgoing on the right, and it was constant. It was difficult to cut across the stream if you were on your way back and wanted to go to the restaurant! We did eventually manage it, and have stuck with Bill's recommendation and usually have a Costa coffee, but we now order the cup rather the the big soup bowl they give you if you order a large one.
We found our way into Newcastle much easier than we did trying to get into Derby. We stayed at the Royal Station Hotel and were really impressed with the refurbishment that has been done. The chandeliers are magnificent and the carpet in the public spaces was really thick and luxurious. They have modified the rooms as well to make them much larger and we had a large bathroom plus an office space as well as the usual bedroom furniture.
After checking in, we headed out to see the sites. We have been to Newcastle on two other occasions - in the 1964 when we were going to Bergen in Norway, and in 2002 when we were going by train across to St. Bees so that we could walk back. As Brian kept saying, on that occasion it took us about two hours to get there on the train and 16 days to almost get back.
The one big attraction that I always seek out is the Tyne Bridge. Not many people know that it has a very significant connection to Australia. When it was decided that there would be a bridge to connect the north to the south shore of Sydney Harbour, the contract to build it was given to Dorman Long and Co from Middlesbrough. They had built the Tyne Bridge and if you look closely, those of you who know it, will see that it is a smaller version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Tyne bridge only has 4 lanes of traffic while the Sydney one has 2 railway lines, 6 lanes for road transports, and originally two tramlines, plus two lanes for pedestrians. The other major difference is that the pylons on the Sydney bridge are much higher.
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| But very like it from this angle. |
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| Not nearly as wide as the Sydney Bridge |
Since our last visit, they have built yet another bridge across the Tyne, known as the Millenium Bridge it together with the other bridges have become icons for the city. When photographed they form an eye. The upside and downside of the Millenium bridge form the periphery of the eye and the Tyne and High level bridge represent the centre of the eye. I couldn't get a photo of it, but there are some from the internet which Brian has managed to import for me here!
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| The Millenium Bridge |
The other icon for the city is the theatre complex - known as the Sage - I haven't done any research to see what the architect or the city fathers had in mind - but it does bring to mind that it could be a combination of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House!
Whether this is true or not, I was really impressed with Newcastle as it is today. We went down to what is called Quayside and to me it was lively and vibrant. We went to a pub - a Wetherspoon one - which was really lively, with lots of young people present. There was one group obviously enthusiastic about the football, but close to us were a couple of men with a woman. They had on their table a jug of drink that looked like something I have seen being drunk in various pubs we have been in, so I asked them what it was called. It turned out to be a "Woo Woo" cocktail. According to them it only contained a small amount of alcohol and was based on cranberry juice vodka and something else. Despite their enthusiasm, I decided to stick to my half of larger (Stella) and Brian had his usual pint of Guinness.
We wandered along the river bank and came across a number of other interesting buildings. Like a lot of buildings in UK and I guess worldwide they have converted some of the older buildings for use as something very different. For example, here they have conserved an old flour mill and made it into their new Museum of Contemporary Art.
Our Newcastle experience confirmed in my mind that if you are looking for a good place to live you should find a small manageable city that has a university. This leads to a place that has good cheap food, good entertainment, and a city that is dynamic.
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