The Sun Walk - Newcastle - 19th July 2009

There were several reasons to travel up to Newcastle
-to see Lesley, Tony and Matt
-to jive at the local venues (so nice to be recognised when my previous trip was months ago!)
-to do some sight seeing (notably Durham)
-to do the Sun walk postponed from September when floods struck the North East.

We had a day of torrential rain and we feared that another postponement might happen! On the Saturday we visited Durham, dodging the heavy showers. The cathedral is just magnificent and is quite awe inspiring - shame that destruction was part on the Reformation. There was serious flooding in the city and those fashionable shops and bars along the river were under 3 feet of water.
However for the half marathon charity walk we had a lovely day. warm sunshine, a few clouds and an occasional cooling breeze. Wearing a bra was compulsory, man or woman! Many thousands taking part and the start was slow as it was not possible to overtake. Lesley and I settled into a good steady pace, until I saw something to photograph. Then it was stopping and hurrying to catch up. I really enjoyed the route through the City centre.
At one point, I had my bra strap pinged by an unknown woman walking behind me. It had never happened before, which was not too surprising as I have never worn a bra before. An excellent way to open a conversation but I doubt that I will try it.
An excellent walk, 3 1/4 hours and a medal to show. Many photos taken - I have never posed for strangers to take my photo before (what a sheltered life!). Several hundred pounds were raised by Lesley, Cheryl (who raised the most but could not make the re-walk) and myself for Breast Cancer Research.