The slide show in the post below in of Keswick 2006 - I just created it for my MySpace so thought it would be nice to put it on here too.

Yesterday Helen came down to Darlo for the day from Newcastle. We had an awesome time. We went to Barnard Castle (the town where I went to school) and kind of pottered round there for a while. We visited the castle itself which I got in free to because I'm a very proud member of English Heritage (actually it was the first proper time that I had used my card!). I love the castle at Barney. I don't really know why I like it so much but I do. After the castle we wandered along the main street (there isn't much to it) and went into a few shops. I bought a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Our Mutual Friend. I love books in old bindings. Most of my books in Glasgow are ones that I have found in second hand bookshops and they all seem to match. I like my books to look as though they've been read, even if they haven't all been read by me!!
When we had finished with Barney we headed back home and on the way made a little detour to the Archers Jersey Ice Cream Parlour in a village just outside Darlington. We'd never been there before so it was really nice. Obviously we got ice cream (banana and chocolate for me and raspberry and chocolate for Helen) and then went on a little walk around the farm which was very pleasant. At one point we came across some cows (not very surprising) - one amused me quite a bit because it stuck its tongue up both its nostrils. I know, simple things please simple minds but I don't know a human that can do that! On our way back to the car it started raining.... A LOT so we got very wet which wasn't great.
At home we decided on pizza for tea which we had to go and pick up. After we had had our pizza fill we decided that we needed some pudding so we headed for Sainsburys. However, Sainsburys closed at 7pm because it was a Bank Holiday (we arrived at 7.05pm!), then went to Morrisons which was also shut. Finally we went to Mills which we were pleased to find open and got some very delicious chocolate cake. So Helen had an unexpected tour of Darlo and we got our pudding in the nearest shop to my house that we went to, which we went to last (very annoying).

Today Mum and I headed up north to Hadrians Wall. We had been saying that we would do this for a while so we just went for it today. Our first stop was Corbridge Roman Fort which we were amazed at. We had never been there before and I certainly didn't think that it would be as big as it was (which is stupid because having studied Roman Britain I know that Corbridge was an important place on the Wall). But it was really good to nosey around there for a while.
Then we went to Vindolanda. Now this place is AMAZING! I had been there before on a school trip and was really eager to go again. First we went to the museum section and had lunch and looked round the museum. At Vindolanda they have made discoveries of these things which are called the Vindolanda Writing Tablets which are basically roman personal letters or documents which have been preserved since that time. It really amazes me. A few other interesting things that they have found are the plume from a soldiers helmet and a ladies wig! AWESOME!!!
Then we looked round the fort itself for a bit.
By then though I was getting tired (I don't know why) so we went back to Corbridge (the modern town) and had a sit down in a coffee shop. Then we looked round some of the shops that Corbridge had to offer. The best of these was the Cook Shop which had all sorts of kitchen stuff in. I was really really pleased to find some grapefruit spoons, something which I had been looking for for a long time!!
It was all in all a really nice day - I will try and put some pics up sometime soon.