Culture! Shopping! Rugby!

Well, last night's Game Pie did not live up to expectations... In fact, there was a decided lack of 'game' in it - but plenty of carrots and swedes. Hmmmm. It was so unacceptable that JR did an unusual thing - she pointed this grave error out to the management. We got free puddings. Or, as I prefer to think - we didn't pay for the carrot and swede pie.

My meal, by contrast, was absolutely delicious. Ham and tarragon stuffed chicken breast with wild mushrooms and parsley pesto gnocchi. Quite the best meal I've had for ages. Followed by a scrumptious caramel and banana bread and butter pudding. YUMYUM.

Breakfast for me was the delicious avocado on sourdough toast (with poached ages and crispy bacon), but JR had her other favourite - eggs Benedict.

Where yesterday was stressful driving, endless big roundabouts, traffic, mist, flat featureless landscape, litter in every hedgerow, and an argumentative SatNav, today was the complete opposite. No traffic, long straight (Roman) roads, sunny, hilly, lots of wee villages, Lambchop on the iPod. We had a bit of history, a bit of shopping and a bit of rugby. We have been to the main Roman sites before, but we popped into one we hadn't been to and had a tramp (hobble) over the fields to see the remains of a camp and bath house right by the river.

As we whizzed along I spotted this lone tree. No place to stop, so we turned around and went slowly back past it. I would have loved to have stopped and got a bit nearer that wall and framed it properly. It's featured in a Kevin Costner film, apparently, but links don't work when using the iPad.

On the way back we at one of our favourite wee towns - Corbridge. I went straight to the Black Bull to watch the England/Italy rugby match. We'd watched rugby during a World Cup there years ago, and found out that it was Jonny Wilkinson's* local. We were most impressed! However, it's 'not that kind of pub' now. The rugby was not being switched on! So I went to the Golden Lion, made sure the rugby was coming on, and settled down with a good seat, a half pint and the paper. JR went for a browse round the shops. Win Win. As the outcome was inevitable, I didn't mind leaving the game at half time to head back, which meant that we were home in time for the Ireland/France match!

The day could not have been better. Though, obviously, popping in for another bread and butter pudding would have been most acceptable...

* One of England's best former players.