Reading My Way Around the World

Thursday 3 May 2018

A whirlwind tour

crossing bridges - the new bridge over the Forth

We're back after a swift run around all parts of the British Isles - down through Ireland to Rosslare, ferry to Fishguard and across the south of Wales, over into England to north London, up the eastern side of the country and into Scotland and back home to the North of Ireland ... phew..   A lot of miles, 4 wonderful concerts, a radio session, catch ups with lots of friends, and a visit to Barter Books (Yaaayy,, Tom had to drag me out).   AS the name suggests, it's a secondhand book shop, one of the largest in England and probably one of the largest in the world, and you can bring in books to barter.

These aren't the best pictures as I only had my phone with me and not a lot of time to spare, 
plus there was the more important task of buying books and some souvenirs for our Book Corner. 



It really is a splendid place.   It was on Kezzie's blog that I first heard about it, and I've been trying to engineer a journey to drive past Alnwick ever since - and managed to bring a bag of books with me to barter.



It's a haven for second hand books and particularly for collectors - there's some amazing antiquarian sections among the more common-or-garden books. 

But the highlight for me were the lines of poetry on every free surface.  That and the train which I didn't manage to capture.  It runs in front of this mural of famous writers of which I now have several photos in an attempt to catch one of the wee trains running on that track in front of it  (note to self..you really need some photo lessons) - the book shop is in an old railway station that was on a line only used by Queen Victoria I think on visits to some local lord - I'm a bit scant on historical fact and no time to check this morning.




We're two very tired bods and it'll take a few days to catch up with ourselves, but we're hitting the ground running and today I start a new singing workshop for people with lung conditions in association with the British Lung Foundation.  Hopefully a few people will turn up as I'm very much looking forward to this project which will run for a few months if there are enough participants.


Better dash - I'm looking forward to catching up with all the Scavenger hunt photo blogs over the weekend and also looking back at the other positive news stories too from the We Are The World bloghop.

Talk soon.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Fil - thanks for this ... what a great bookshop - you'll see more of the history in Wiki ... but I'm sure it was for the Percys and Alnwick castle ... I see the trains still run to Alnmouth ... my father and I had a wonderful holiday there in about 1976 ... boiling hot! The paternal side of the family went to the same schools as the Percys ... Uppingham - the reason we visited, but sadly didn't meet them or see the castle - before it's great redevelopment ... amazing things have happened to it. Love Barter Books - didn't know about it - though Michael Portillo has been there ... I was in Victoria yesterday and went into an 'old' bookshop 'Hooked on Books' that I must write about ... so I'll link then ...

    ... and also the train one - I'll link in ... as I'll be writing about trains 12th May to tie in with another American blogger who is a railway buff ... but anon - get some rest for now .... and well done on the Lung Singing one ... excellent help ... and I'm sure will be so interesting ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Michael Portillo has done some great shows hasn't he - a great way of seeing the country and he asks the questions I want to ask.
      I'll watch out for your piece on Hooked on Books - great name - there's nothing to beat good bookshops.

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  2. I think that bookshop would have totally overwhelmed me What an interesting place though. Love the idea of a singing group for people with breathing difficulties. Does that include COPD? Have a friend with that.

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    1. Yes it does Jo - COPD is the main one. Thankfully it went well for the first session.
      The bookshop was seriously overwhelming but in a good way - a we'll have to go back and visit it again kind of way :)

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  3. Ooh, love the bookshop (I'm a bookaholic), and hope the singing lessons go well, with enough people to participate. Take care.

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    1. Thanks Susan - it turned out much better than expected - a nice group.

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  4. Oh I am so glad you went! Very glad to have introduced you to it. I didn't know that about Queen Victoria! BUt WHAT DID YOU BUY??????????????????????????xx

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    1. Very little Kezzie - Philip Pullman's His Dark Matters Trilogy which I'm really enjoying and a Hilary Mantel and some poetry. Next time I'd be much better prepared :) Thanks again for the tip x

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