Oh, of course. I’ve seen that out on the Olympic Peninsula myself and I’m sure other places but have never known the cause. Thanks.

Out at Cape Alava on the Washington coast the water source is brown as well from the tannins the water picks up from organic matter in the soil. Maybe something similar?

Thanks so much for sharing that experience, Lyle. Isn’t that the best of travel though, exceptional experiences like this that are completely 7nanticipated, moving and transporting. You end up feeling so gifted to have by pure luck shown up at exactly the right time.

Durham, and the cathedral in particular, have been a special place for us. During the Easter school break in 2002 we did a family road trip tour (by car) of the walled cities of England and Durham was our second stop. We arrived on a rainy (surprised??) Saturday afternoon and had a wander around. Our daughter, who was 9 at the time and a big Harry Potter fan, was excited to see the cathedral, and that was teed up for the next day, 31 March, Easter Sunday no less.
I was up early and out for a (rainy!!!) morning run on Sunday morning when I noticed the flags were all at half mast. I then saw the morning papers announcing the death of The Queen Mother, who had passed the previous evening at the age of 101. Regardless of anyone’s thoughts about the monarchy, she was a beloved figure to pretty much everyone in the UK.
When we eventually made our way to the cathedral, it was packed with people (literally standing room in the aisles) and the full Easter Sunday service, as well as a commemoration of The Queen Mother, was underway. The pipe organ was thundering, the thousand or more people in the congregation were in full throated song, the light coming through the stained glass windows gave a jewelled appearance to the spectacle. It was simply amazing.
We all came away from that with life long memories … and there wasn’t a mention of Harry.
Happy to see that you and Rachael liked Durham too!

Get yourself a Gorillapod ;)

That's probably where quite a lot of the Wall ended up...

Looking forward to hearing about it. Those Roman history courses in Uni peaked my interest about this.

Oh, we’ll see it. Were staying right next to it for a few nights when we leave here.

Nice photos and looks to be a beautiful area.

Great shots....too bad about not seeing Hadrian's wall, though.

It’s fine that you didn’t mention it. We like having the bragging rights.

We got it yesterday. What a relief!

I think that one is (in a strong field!) the worst hill in Durham. I have no idea why they send the sustrans route up that way (esp since there's a very slightly less steep hill a couple of roads over. I should have mentioned it...)

Apparently, it's because if they'd knocked it down Hexham would have been left without a parish church (or at least, that's what the locals managed to persuade Cromwell's men of...)

Glad to hear your phone has been located and will be on its way. Great photos and writing as usual.