Dave & Cara's Wedding
Last weekend, Nance and I attended a wedding of one of my old school mates. It was being held at Lumley Castle, which is between Durham and Chester-le-Street.
Initially, we looked at flying up to Newcastle airport and then getting trains and taxis to the hotel we were booked into just down the road (in a place called "Pity Me" ... what an unfortunate name!! *lol*) but the prices of flights were extortionate and didn't seem to get any cheaper whenever we checked ... we're talking £150 per person here! :o
So, we decided to drive ... quite a distance really, but we broke up the journey by stopping off at my Mum's house on Friday night before driving over on the Saturday morning. A bit of an arse about face route, but it did mean we didn't have to drive the whole 380 mile trip in one go and only really added about 30/40 miles to the journey overall.
No major annoyances with this plan, apart from having the damn Engine Management System warning light appearing on the dashboard about 15 miles into the 180 mile journey on Saturday morning (must to my disgust!). As the performance didn't seem to be affected, I ignored it! ;) The light stayed on during our various journeys throughout the weekend until it decided to turn itself off on the way home. I reckon it was the jolt of a speed hump that knocked whatever that was electrically loose back into place (it can't have been emmissions, cos otherwise the light would still be on).
Oh ... we also go a bit delayed on the M62 ... but to know frickin reason other than the highways agency taking an age to clear away a load of road cones. Cheers for that ... 45 mins for 50 yards of road cones narrowing a 4 lane motorway into 1! Grrr
Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway ... wedding was great. Lovely place to hold it too ... all olde worlde ... even the staff were dressed in period costume, which was amusing given that you could see their tattoos and also them chatting on mobile phones etc!
Was good to see everyone again ... not seen some of them in ages, as I didn't see em over the traditional Christmas / New Year booze sessions in Nantwich.
You can see the pictures here
I have to say, we're all clearly getting on a bit cos we were all clearly knackered come midnight and that last hour was a struggle ;) Mind you, Hougho and Carey had flown in from America for the event, so they have that as an excuse rather than old age! ;)
Also ... I realised early on that this was the first time in 2007 that I'd had any booze! I always seem to drive to places, meaning I don't get to drink much, plus, to be honest, I don't really enjoy the taste of most alcohol, so will avoid it through choice. Although, I have to say, Strongbow tastes as good as ever ... can happily drink that :)
On the Sunday, we didn't do much apart from have a Sainsbury's breakfast and then I had a quick wander around Durham CCC, which was right next to the Wedding venue. I've never been to a county ground before, so it was cool. Nowt was happening there though (apart from a Double Glazing Exhibition) so we just took a couple of photos and went on our way. See pics :
Wedding venue is just to the top right of the sight screen!
*geeks*
Drive home was fine, but looonnnng ... 380 miles! Jeez ... I was knackered by the time I got home!
Initially, we looked at flying up to Newcastle airport and then getting trains and taxis to the hotel we were booked into just down the road (in a place called "Pity Me" ... what an unfortunate name!! *lol*) but the prices of flights were extortionate and didn't seem to get any cheaper whenever we checked ... we're talking £150 per person here! :o
So, we decided to drive ... quite a distance really, but we broke up the journey by stopping off at my Mum's house on Friday night before driving over on the Saturday morning. A bit of an arse about face route, but it did mean we didn't have to drive the whole 380 mile trip in one go and only really added about 30/40 miles to the journey overall.
No major annoyances with this plan, apart from having the damn Engine Management System warning light appearing on the dashboard about 15 miles into the 180 mile journey on Saturday morning (must to my disgust!). As the performance didn't seem to be affected, I ignored it! ;) The light stayed on during our various journeys throughout the weekend until it decided to turn itself off on the way home. I reckon it was the jolt of a speed hump that knocked whatever that was electrically loose back into place (it can't have been emmissions, cos otherwise the light would still be on).
Oh ... we also go a bit delayed on the M62 ... but to know frickin reason other than the highways agency taking an age to clear away a load of road cones. Cheers for that ... 45 mins for 50 yards of road cones narrowing a 4 lane motorway into 1! Grrr
Aaaaaaaaaaaaanyway ... wedding was great. Lovely place to hold it too ... all olde worlde ... even the staff were dressed in period costume, which was amusing given that you could see their tattoos and also them chatting on mobile phones etc!
Was good to see everyone again ... not seen some of them in ages, as I didn't see em over the traditional Christmas / New Year booze sessions in Nantwich.
You can see the pictures here
I have to say, we're all clearly getting on a bit cos we were all clearly knackered come midnight and that last hour was a struggle ;) Mind you, Hougho and Carey had flown in from America for the event, so they have that as an excuse rather than old age! ;)
Also ... I realised early on that this was the first time in 2007 that I'd had any booze! I always seem to drive to places, meaning I don't get to drink much, plus, to be honest, I don't really enjoy the taste of most alcohol, so will avoid it through choice. Although, I have to say, Strongbow tastes as good as ever ... can happily drink that :)
On the Sunday, we didn't do much apart from have a Sainsbury's breakfast and then I had a quick wander around Durham CCC, which was right next to the Wedding venue. I've never been to a county ground before, so it was cool. Nowt was happening there though (apart from a Double Glazing Exhibition) so we just took a couple of photos and went on our way. See pics :
Wedding venue is just to the top right of the sight screen!
*geeks*
Drive home was fine, but looonnnng ... 380 miles! Jeez ... I was knackered by the time I got home!