It was the second Sunday in January, it was cold and damp, so we got wrapped up warm and set off to Durham City for a walk. We had been discussing it a few days before, Durham is our local Cathedral City and we hadn't been for years, we had no plans for the route of the walk, we would just see when we got there, after all we did know the city pretty well.
Parked in the ice rink car park (it is actually the bowling alley now but until a new ice rink is built, that is what we will call it) £1.80 for all day on Sunday. The Cathedral, Castle and shops are practically on an island formed by a meander in the river Wear, so as we were on the river bank we thought we would follow the course of the river round the city.
We crossed over the river vie the Millennium footbridge to the outside of the bend and headed in an anticlockwise direction. There was now a very fine rain and although we were prepared for the weather taking photos was very difficult, the quality of he photos I did take are poor but show the cold atmosphere.
We passed under the modern Milburngate road bridge, where I could shelter beneath and look back for a photo of the Millennium footbridge,
Also let me get a shot of the Castle and Cathedral high on the hill without water getting on the camera lens. We walked under the much older Framwellgate Bridge (built around 1120) and continued along the river. The path here was slightly muddy and slippery but not too bad and we had walking shoes on. There is very little building down here and the main things you can see are the Castle, Cathedral and their associated building above the trees. You would think you were in the countryside not the middle of a city even a small city like Durham, down on river level there is only the odd old mill and some boathouses.
The next sight is Prebends Bridge (built in 1777), here the path climes gently up to the bridge and on the bride we can look back down the length of the river we have just walked. On the Bridge we had a discussion as to whether we should cross over now and head into town or cross over and walk the inside of the bend but in the end decided to stay on the outside and just carry on round that way.
Eventually around the bend the path climes gently up to the top of the bank and eventually at a church yard the path ends at Church street. We continued on to it's junction with New Elvet and Hallgarth street, where on the left, at the side of Dunelm House is the Kingsgate footbridge (built in 1963).
Here we cross over to the inside of the bend and go down some steps to the river, from there we walk on to Elvetbridge (built in 1228). From here we left the river for a wile and headed up to the Castle, the route is clearly signposted along North Bailey but it is uphill and quite steep, unfortunately the Castle was closed to the public today.
The Castle (built in 1072), was the seat of the Prince Bishops until 1832, it now houses University College but as it was shut, we went to look at the Cathedral next door, I had never been inside before and it is very impressive and only took 40 years to build starting in 1093. For some reason they do not allow photography in there, so no photos, I can understand it when services are in progress but not a full ban. I have photos from the Vatican. Did get a photo of the famous big Knocker on the Cathedral north door. A very contradictory part of the Cathedral is no photography allowed but they have a modern restaurant and also a book and gift shop in there. After a good look around, we used the toilets near the restaurant and left by the side entrance.
We continued our walk on South Bailey down hill back to Prebends Bridge, where we walked down a gentle slope to the river in the direction e had started the walk. Only we are now on the other side of the river, we pass one of the old mills we had seen from opposite and find it is now the Durham University Museum of Archaeology
When we got back to Framwellgate Bridge, we turned right and head up Silver street away from the river to the market place. Here Dot wanted to look around the shops, so that is what we did and then had a coffee in the BHS restaurant, if you can get a seat in the window, there are great views of Elvet bridge, the river Wear, the Cathedral and Castle.
By the time we started walking again it was getting dark and it was too late for more photos of Framwellgate Bridge, so we just crossed over it and walked through the Millburngate Shopping Centre (most shops were closing) and down the steps at the far end. Here we pass back under the Milburngate road bridge and make our way back to the car over the Millennium footbridge.
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