Cullercoats - Day 5 - More Bede

A day of lovely adventures, started by Christian deciding today was a day for a dip in the ocean. The temperatures were quite bracing, just having my hands out of my pockets make them tingly cold. And even Christian conceded it was indeed cold. He was in and out in about two and a half minutes, with his legs already starting to go numb.

Christian heads in

This is the shoreline.

We headed out to Jarrow Hall, a museum dedicated to the Venerable Bede and monastic life. The museum itself seemed okay and had plenty of good information. The medieval farm attached was somewhat lacking. I noted that they say that whilst they keep ancient breeds, they keep them to modern standards, which is somewhat understandable. So I asked after the pig. "Yes it's a female, 4 years old. No, it hasn't had piglets, we let our pigs live out their life in comfort here, without those constraints." Breeding is a trouble to the pig? Not just what it usually does, what it desires to do? Oh dear.

The buck goats were kept from the female goats (guessing that's because they too live their life in comfort?!)...but they were in rut...I could smell that! But still Christian had to touch one...and I was complaining about the smell of the goats for the rest of the walk.

Giving the Saxon a tickle.

Christian played the Thane.

At the bottom of the cross was a memorial to a goat...!?

Hebridean Sheep...have two horns. This is for you Skipper!

Poor pig.

Somewhere at the farm I trod in doggy doo...and was still cleaning off that smell for the rest of the day!

Down the road to St Paul's Church and Monastery Jarrow. Again they had guides in the church. Again these are not parishioners, but volunteers. Still, the first one was knowledgeable, and then left Christian and I to look through the church. We both knelt in prayer at the ancient (built in the AD 680's) altar...and were interrupted by another guide. She didn't go away. It was awkward.

Cheeky photo of the Altar at the church where the Venerable Bede grew up and worshiped in.

The "newer" part of the church (maybe Victorian) looking into the older part: 680's

Maybe some books may have been here over 1200 years ago!

Christian bought a book by Bede on the History of the English...and started reading it aloud

Walking through a place that once held the greatest library in England...

It was interesting to work out where the floors would have been

This was a huge monastery. It was bombed during the war, and the old front windows were shattered at this time. But there is a window in the church that has been remade with original old glass found here...the oldest window in situ.

Christian had to try fitting into an old tomb...it should have been me, it was a woman's size but I may not have been able to get back out!!

It was time for afternoon tea, so we went to the Fulwell Mill (which was supposed to have a cafe). The light was beginning to fade. We quickly discovered our mistake. There hasn't been a cafe there for sometime. But Judith offered us a tour then and there. She was a fount of interesting information about the mill. Took us through the mill, up the stair ladders, all 5 floors. She was engaging to my tired brain. It was a highlight for our day...and FREE! But it was so good we had to make a donation.

Fulwell Mill - which was still working during WWII, and stopped in 1952. It is a sail mill.

The cogs are made of wood (although the outside bit is made of iron). Reason for this is that it is far quicker and cheaper to replace a wooden piece of cog than iron, and the mill stays out of action for only a short period of time. The miller actually grew all his own apple wood for the purpose.

We have been marvelling at the lack of sunlight here. The day starts after 7am without the sun, and it finished by around 4:00pm without the sun. Yesterday, in the cathedral, we saw the sunlight streaming through a window and that would be the first sunlight we have seen in days. 

We have also been baffled at the parking here! This sort of parking in Australia would have you fined for parking too far from the curb...the curb being the other side of the road! It's most confusing going up the roads with barely enough space for one car to work out if you are going the right way up the street. And of course today Christian nearly drove into the wrong side of the road...how do the American's manage here?