Durham is a really nice place to stop off at, and a place I hold a lot of affection for.
Today it was a City of Contrasts. First if you know it you can find a bit of free parking really pretty close to the centre, if not, unlikely.
Then what a disaster they have created down the North Road approach to the centre. The bus station is being redeveloped. It was a diesel fume fest before, but now temporarily they have chosen to use the length of North Road as the bus station, bus after bus lining the street idling away filling the place with fumes. Added to that the pavement busy with passengers a goodly percentage of which were smoking or vaping.
Over the other side of the road the cinema of my youth the Essoldo in a state of disrepair with decent sized shrubs growing out of the roof.
Hold your breath though and slip down to the right of Framwellgate Bridge and you enter a very different Durham gorgeous riverside walks round the loop of the Wear around the Cathedral and Castle and its steeply wooded banks.
Regards Neil