Spring in northern England; Durham Excursion

Our spring term group is here and have settled in well in their first week.  We had the typical phone purchasing trip to town on Monday and a rushed tour around the historical city on Saturday.  Meetings with lecturers tutors and internship contacts also took place.  So they're off to a great start.

On Sunday then, the first out-of-York excursion to Durham, founded posthumously by Saint Cuthbert who appeared a monk and told him to lay his body to rest on a nearby "hill island," or "dun helm."  This was in 995 or so.  The cathedral and castle that we toured extensively today were built spectacularly atop the dun helm just after William the Conqueror visited the city a century after Cuthbert arrived.  A beautiful city nearly surrounded by a graceful meander in the useful (defensively) river Ware.