Durham, Prudhoe and Dunstan Hill

Barnard Castle has a ruined castle which we saw on our way out. The campsite attendants suggested that we get the van fixed in Dunstan Hill, since there is a campsite there and a mechanic that they recommend, so that is our intended stop for tonight. We stopped off in Durham on the way north. Instead of seeking a parking spot, I decided to take advantage of the park and ride. Within minutes of parking we were in the downtown area. Once off in the main strip, we made our way to the Durham Cathedral. This cathedral was occasionally used as a stand in for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. The church was free to visit and we explored what we could. It was a shame they didn’t allow photos in the church as the inside was very nice. We only stayed in Durham for an hour before moving on to Prudhoe Castle. This ruined castle was just alright. It wasn’t impressive, but it wasn’t a total disappointment either. We went to it because it sounded interesting in our EH guidebook. It was free for us, and usually would run you £3.50 to get in. This was another short stop. On our way out the GPS tried to take us across a narrow bridge. I thought our van was less than 3 meters wide, but it turns out it isn’t. I started to climb up the lower part of the walls and decided to bail. I’m not sure if we could have made it across or not, but we both thought, why risk it? It was really getting late in the afternoon and we managed to arrive at Belsay Hall at 4:30pm. This however, turned out to be too late. They would allow us to visit part of the site, but officially they stop letting people in at 4. Since the gardens were the main reason for visiting Belsay Hall, and the gardens are near the end of the site, we regrettably skipped it and moved on to Dunstan Hill. Dunstan hill campsite was another very small site and we arrived too late to get a pitch with electrical. They explained how to get to the garage and they assured us it would be open on Saturday (tomorrow).