June - 2017 - Muelheim citizens visit Darlington
Saturday 17th Jun 2017
Leaving on Saturday morning a group of 31 left Mülheim by coach and travelled on the overnight ferry from Amsterdam to North Shields, then spent Sunday in Newcastle and Gateshead before arriving in the evening at the Kings Mercure in Darlington, their hotel for the week's visit to our Region.
Monday was time for exploring Darlington. At 1000 they attended Armed Forces Day in the Market Square which was followed by a visit to St. Cuthbert's Church and then on to The Town hall and Mayor's Parlour. The afternoon was spent looking around the town and at 6pm there was an evening meal at Uno Momento followed by a pub crawl.
Tuesday we left at 0930 and travelled to Whitby which is always included in their visit schedule and on the afternoon we journeyed on the North Yorks Railway before having an evening meal at The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge, arriving back at the hotel at 10.30pm. A long day!
Wednesday we went through the Yorkshire Dales visiting Richmond, Reeth and then on a hairaising ride through Swaledale passing Muker, Gunnerside, Keld and other villages, and thanks to the wonderful driving of Eberhard Heuer managing to traverse many narrow bridges which were not built for coaches the size of ours. We spent time in Kirby Stephen before visiting Raby Castle and Barnard Castlle and then enjoyed an excellent meal at Headlam Hall, arriving back at 10.40pm - another long day.
Thursday was a full day visit to Beamish Open Air Museum, voted many times European Open Air Museum of the year. This visit was thouroughly enjoyed by all, its history showing the many similarities between the North East of England and the Ruhr Regions. On returning to Darlington we were invited by the President of the Quoit Club. Dave Watson, to pay them a visit. This provided a great night's entertainment and many of our visitors really enjoyed taking part in the game, and I even signed up as a Club Member as the atmosphere was so friendly and I would like to play more often.
Friday's visit was to Durham where the Cathedral, Castle and other attractions including a river walk were thoroughly enjoyed. The group arrived back in Darlington early to prepare for the final evening meal at the invitation of our Town Twinning Association at the Dolphin Centre. Entertainment was provided by the folk group Fourum, and speeches made by the Mayor of Darlington, Jan Taylor, and members of both Associations, presents were exchanged, and the evening was a fitting end to a very succesful visit.
On Saturday we waved goodbye to our friends when they left to visit York before boarding the overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam and then on home to Mülheim.
We look forward to visiting Müheim in the near future, and we assured our guests they will always have a great welcome whenever the wish to visit our Town.
Report by Tom Nutt.
Photos to follow.
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