Wandering 1

And so as I explained earlier, a few weeks ago I wandered, reminiscing with permission, around the city of Durham.

There are three stags on Collingwood's crest, so there seemingly has to be a sculpture of a stag by the car park.  Who'd have thought it? 

This is just to make sure we keep to some of our brief here at TANH - a tree.

A view of the cathedral from between Collingwood & Grey

An old question I know but why is Grey so brown?

Here is the Grey hill, where the infamous Marching Song of the Fighting Uruk-Hai was first sung.  Well, I say sung...

At some point, when sufficiently inebriated, I may post it.

The path behind the tennis courts that leads down to the Science site avoiding South Road.  I remember this only too well...

But I don't remember this, the Ogden Centre for research into theoretical physics.  Built after my time. 

Although I seem to know quite a lot about it, as they regularly write to me (as a Physics alumnus) and ask for dosh...

Here are some parts of the old Science site I do remember.

... although the Library now has a new name...

Bryson is very kind to Durham in 'Notes from a Small Island' - and was also a very effective Chancellor (2005-2011).  On the University Web site he says:

I am struck by how expertly well you have a good time here. Durham students always seem to doing about a million things that have nothing to do with academic life and they are always doing them incredibly well. I cannot imagine there's any place in the world where fun is done more skilfully and well to a higher level than at Durham and often while you are having fun you do a lot of good.

So, fair enough. Why not  name a library after him?

Another tree...

The building below is also after my time - but some of the rooms inside it are named after people who were teaching way back then, such as professors Rosemary Cramp (History) and Arnold Wolfendale. 

The latter was Astronomer Royal for four years in the '90s.  I certainly sat in some of his lectures but I'm not sure how much he taught me. 

And he also features in the letters from the Ogden Centre...

More tree:

The Science site is undergoing development and expansion, as some departments move there from Palace Green.  I haven't really got my head around it...

Anyway, I left the Science site and headed into town past some of Durham's well-known sights...

...such as South Road...

... and the New Inn.

More reminiscent, meandering wanderings will follow.... (you have been warned).

On Bill Bryson

It is clear that there are only two acceptable ways of doing travel writing, (now at this point you must realise that I am speaking out of my bottom. I have no interest in travel, and consequently travel writing holds little attraction for me. In fact any kind of writing predicated on the notion of a journey for pleasure or discovery strikes me as not just wholly pointless, but also rather suspect. So I know nothing about, and wish to know nothing about, travel writing. Nevertheless, allow me some latitude...), the writing that tries to experience a place, and sympathetically feel its presence, and that which appraises each location on the journey and judiciously reflects on its competency.

Bill Bryson is clearly in the latter camp; this means that when considering his Notes on a Small Island (which I've just finished, after buying it not realising that it was a travel book at all but rather hoping for some kind of comforting polemic), the question that remains uppermost is: Is he talking bollocks? Or rather, how much do I agree with his judgements, and how well does he convince me of his views if I'm a bit iffy about them. Does he make any kind of sense? Failing that, he can be entertaining and very funny (but he must be very funny), or he can be purposefully, outright annoying and offensive, and that is OK too.

But Byson doesn't do any of this. He writes an irritatinging journalese, stringing together a patchwork of short-run incidents, but with no consistent thread, or, indeed, personality. He is shallow without being either avuncular, entertaining or even (the easiest) enjoyably rude. When you disagree with his notions, it is all a bit tepid and dull. And when you align with his perspective, it doesn't really seem to matter.

Just to give one example: He is unquestioningly, unquestionably and correctly enthusiastic about Durham. Especially the cathedral (and he is now the Vice-Chancellor of the University, so he must mean it, and have convinced someone, somewhere). But when I read that passage in his book I thought: 'Humph, so you noticed then?' I should have been pleased, and/or proud that our opinions coincided, but by that point I'd lost patience with his views without being really bothered about it. All a little lame really - I'm sure his other books are better.

The trees around Nunhead on Tour 6: Durham

Bill Bryson is right about Durham. He called it a "Perfect little city" in Notes from a Small Island and correctly eulogises the view from the main East Coast rail line (crossing the viaduct, looking across at the cathedral and castle). However, since we came in by car, I have no photos of that view here. Sigh.

Technically, and incontrovertibly, Durham cathedral is the most wonderful in Britain (Bryson says "on planet Earth", but I haven't seen them all). I couldn't possibly do it justice here (not least because photography is not allowed inside). Still, here's the view from South Street:

The sanctuary knocker on the main door to the cathedral is a copy, a replica of the original which can be seen in the small museum in the undercroft (recommended).
The closer you get, the larger it looks:



Even the ceiling in the undercroft cafe (scones, jam and cream obligatory) is a joy:-
Surrounding the cathedral are nooks and alleys, leading around to cathedral close.



Further afield, we strolled down the Bailey (did I say, we stayed at Chad's - it was outside term - on the Bailey. Tatty rooms full of blocky elderly furniture in the shadow of the cathedral. The boys' room looked out on the Bailey itself, and might have been Dave T's room in the '70s - not sure, I can't remember accurately enough. Our room looked out on the gardens that lead down eventually to the Wear. Food in the mornings was a proper college dining room atmosphere, complete with middle-aged northern women calling us "Pet". Just perfect). So anyway we strolled down the Bailey to Prebend's bridge - and this is what we saw (traditional postcard views...)
The words are from Sir Walter Scott:

The view down towards Framwellgate bridge...
This is the view looking the other way from Prebend's. I thought I'd include it for the trees...

... and the straight down view. Given the title of this blog, when we then went for a walk along the river (and visited the small archaeological museum they have set up there), I felt some photos of trees were called for.


But that damn cathedral keeps getting in the way.
Of course, if the catehdral was the only massive old building in Durham it would be fantastic enough, but the other side of Palace Green is dominated by the Castle. A few years back we stayed in the Bishop's bedroom, when we came up to the North East for a wedding. So it was only reasonable to look in again...




The view of the cathedral from the castle...

and the castle keep from the cathedral...
.. and some of the rest of Palace Green...


The problem is that all of this doesn't really seem to do justice to the flying visit we paid to Durham. I havent mentioned rowing up the Wear past the sports fields, the Italian meal on Saddler St; the horrible studenty bar they have opened there; popping in to the proper pub (Shakespeare's Head) also on Saddler St to discover there was still a couple of beardy folky people in the back bar playing Northumbrian folk music (which I hate) to an appreciative crowd (the beer was good tho'); buying a piece of Chaucer criticism from what used to be the SPCK bookshop; calling in at Collingwood to look at the changes and seeing who I could spot from a 1978 photo on the wall. All the alterations to the City that seem to have left it looking just the same. Anyway, did I say there is this impressive cathedral there?