2/50: Durham, County Durham

As my older brother Al pointed out to me: think Hogwarts from Harry Potter, and you will inadvertently think of Durham. A place dedicated to learning, where students live inside a castle, a stone's throw away from a small village-esque settlement, and where there is an occasional steam train service to King's Cross. Though for some unexplained reason, J. K. Rowling forgets to mention the Cathedral every single time, which is quite shocking really...

Perhaps the best thing about Durham is that you can marvel at it without even going there: I remember passing through it several years ago and being amazed at the mere sight of its much-lauded Cathedral, looking majestically over the River Wear: it's definitely worth looking out for if you're travelling on the North-East Coast Line. However, I have always felt that a place like Durham is worth much more than just a few moments' of my time, so the day after my visit to Newcastle, my brother Al and I decided to venture to this Cathedral City: not necessarily to look at the Cathedral itself, but to see what else Durham had to offer the traveller.

One thing I soon found out is that Durham offers hills: hills to the train station, hills on either side of the main bridge, hills to the castle and cathedral: it's definitely a good place to exercise. It also has a lot of cobbled streets, which immediately endeared it to me, giving it that historic feel. And as you might expect from the place that hosts the third-oldest English University in the land, it has an excellent variety of charity shops. The first one we went into, in search of a decent winter coat and some new jeans (both for me), yielded both for under 20 quid in about 20 minutes: already a successful venture!

As can again be expected with a university city, Durham had its fair share of buskers, from violinists to accordionists: proof again that the North-East has a decent music scene, where different genres are allowed to thrive. The city centre was rather compact, but not overflowing with chain stores, though there was a rather miserable-looking Woolworths, which of course had shut quite recently. Al particularly enjoyed a shoe-shop we found, though we both agreed that 90 quid for a pair of (admittedly awesome) pirate boots was just a bit exorbitant.

To the tourist, it may seem a little odd that Al and I didn't go to either the Cathedral or the Castle, but as they can both be enjoyed from the exterior, we decided to go to a hidden gem of Durham that can only be enjoyed from the interior: The Georgian Townhouse Pancake Cafe! Which, perhaps unsurprisingly, was on a rather steep hill up a cobbled street. Durham is definitely one of those places where, after exploring it, you could do with something filling, and for a fiver, the pancakes there definitely do the job: a honey, banana and cinnamon pancake with ice cream? That'll do very nicely thank you, and so it did! The staff were also extremely friendly, with somewhat more regular customers often popping in for a chat. They didn't even seem to mind that I was dressed up as a pirate (for charity, in case you were wondering)!

Hopefully I will get to visit Durham Castle and Cathedral next time I go there, but now I can go back there knowing that the city itself has a lot to offer too, even if it is small in comparison to such places as Newcastle and York. And if you happen to be a student there, then consider yourself extremely fortunate: except when it comes to hauling luggage around, that is...

Thanks go to Al, partly for the company, and partly for all these pictures: yoink!