Rail chaos!
Yesterday our train back from Newcastle was cancelled, and we ended up flying, which was a bit of swizz. There was a stressful period where we had to try and decide whether to try and get a later train (lots of trains cancelled due to urgent bridge repair, not looking promising) or find an alternative - I don't like making these kind of decisions because if it turns out to be the wrong one I feel responsible, even though I couldn't have predicted it!
But flying worked out ok, even if it came with climate guilt.
Things I liked about Newcastle:
All the bridges, very cool, can walk across the High Level bridge seen in Get Carter (truly a horrible film about 70s britain).
Walking along the quayside by the river.
Very good pubs, including The Crown Posada with it's dark wood interior and Victorian snug (typically a small seating area behind a partition or in a separate room, traditionally where women could enjoy a drink without being seen by the men who dominated the rest of the pub).
Friendly people, including the very sympathetic woman at the ticket office in the train station who couldn't help us with trains but was nice about it.
I'll write a little more about my trip later (although it's harder to write the further you get away from an event, I find). Here's a photo of a dog from an art gallery I visited for now:
