A weekend away (without the children!).

This morning Keith and I set off for the North-East of England for a weekend away...without the children! Mum and Dad had bought us a voucher for a hotel so we'd chosen the Ramside Hall Hotel near Durham for two nights, but we'd decided to travel up on the Friday and stay in a Premier Inn near Bishop Auckland.

I didn't feel as tired as I thought I would after my late night taxiing, but the weather was not as I'd hoped for our journey up! It was grey, misty and very rainy - not like summer at all! Keith drove all the way and we were drawing up outside The Bay Horse pub in Heighington just before 1pm. We'd planned to have lunch at the pub as Keith wanted to go out in the evening to some of his old haunts to see if he could meet up with some of his ex-drinking pals.

The rain was still falling out of the greyest sky and the pub was quiet with only a few tables occupied. I decided to be very good so I chose the cod wrapped in bacon, served with a white wine sauce, new potatoes and vegetables. Keith went for Sweet and Sour chicken with rice, which the waitress said was a large portion. She wasn't wrong!

After lunch we drove from Bishop Auckland to Keith's hometown of Ferryhill so I would know the way when I dropped him off in the evening and then we checked into the Premier Inn. We've stayed here before, with the children, so we knew where it was and as always, it didn't disappoint.

By now the weather had cleared up a bit so I left Keith lounging in the room watching the tennis while I popped over to a nearby retail park to get some essentials that I'd forgotten. I had a lovely time and bought myself two pairs of new shoes (a pair of light walking boots and some sandals) plus some goodies in M&S to make our stay even more comfortable. I'd forgotten just how friendly the people are in this part of the world. Everyone I spoke to seemed genuinely pleased to serve me and the man on the till in M&S joked about how near Christmas was...thanks for that!

Back at the hotel I had a snooze and then at 6pm I drove Keith over to Ferryhill, about 20 minutes away. He was a bit apprehensive as the Working Men's Club he used to go to had a security system fitted and he hadn't got a membership card any more. However, I waited until he'd gone inside the building and then, thankfully, returned to the hotel. I say thankfully, as there were some real sights going into the club...the less said about that the better!

Back at the hotel I had a lovely hot bath and watched Andy Murray play tennis. It was a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours! All too soon it was time to head back and pick up my husband and on the way I enjoyed the gorgeous evening and the stunning views - this really is a beautiful part of the country.

Keith wasn't as inebriated as I expected and he'd had a great night catching up with some old friends so he was in a very good mood. We headed back to the Premier Inn and went into the pub attached for a drink and some supper. I was able to have a lovely glass of wine now my taxi duties were over and I ordered a chicken salad as I was feeling a bit peckish - lunch was a long time ago!