London - February 2008

OK, we've been to London several times now, for work and also for wandering around.

It's a pretty cool place with plenty to see...Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, The Gherkin, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Westminster, London Eye, The Thames, etc etc.

But, the main reason we wandered down to London this time was to catch one of my favourite Australian bands, The Chevelles.

Haven't seen them for about 15 years so was pretty keen to get down there.

Fortunately, I had a work course in London the day before so I tacked on a couple of extra days and Samantha popped down from sunny Edinburgh also.

We had a good time wandering around town...making sure we avoided the main tourist haunts mentioned above this time....

We did however venture past Albert Hall and Albert Memorial as we walked towards the ever-brilliant V & A Museum, where we spent a little time. Cool as always.

We had a look down Portobello Road, where the markets are but in all honesty, it was just such a tourist trap with loads of annoying people being, well, very annoying.

Marble Arch was also a place we hadn't been to, so off we went there....but as mentioned, The Chevelles was the main reason for the visit and they were playing in a venue that interestingly, was the venue for The Pogues first gig - so there you go.

Anyways, The Chevelles were bloody cool and a good time was had there and in London, albeit just a weekend.

Barnard Castle & High Force - February 2008

Early February saw Samantha's birthday so Samantha and I, along with Samantha's cousin Jackie, her daughter Jess and Jackie's husband Richard, all headed down to Barnard Castle in Teesdale, south of Durham.

Barnard Castle was originally founded by the Normans but later was inherited by Richard III. The castle is now ruins but since the weather was fabulous, it was very interesting to check out the ruins, on the edge of the river Tees.

High Force is a waterfall in Teesdale and whilst not as huge as Niagara Falls or anything even close, they are still pretty cool, set in the moors area of Teesside, with the River Tees flowing across the falls.

Overall, interesting that these falls and Barnard Castle are so close to where we live, and we had a good day, with a pub meal at one of the better pubs in the country.

By the way, we went out for a meal on the Quayside, and we had a wander around, thus the picture of the Millenium Bridge at night.