Day 12: Lindisfarne to Osmotherley by car + Osmotherley Ramble (5 miles, 3 hours)

[photos to be added]

Sunshine again!
Sean is definitely a character—almost worth the price of admission just by himself. He ran the same patter by everyone in the breakfast room and the same patter by newly arrived guests that he ran by us, but it felt quite genuine nonetheless, and he is quite funny and helpful and energetic.
With some ambivalence, I had planned for us to stop at Durham Cathedral on our way south to take a quick look around and have lunch in the restaurant in the crypt there (ambivalence because it was hard to decide how much to squeeze into our schedule and the focus was to be on scenery, not architecture and history, but I do find cathedrals centering, and it seemed a pity not to stop at at least one). But, having just barely managed to get out of Newcastle alive yesterday, I didn’t fancy tempting Fate again by hazarding central city driving with my still shaky British driving skills. And Pop didn’t seem to have strong feelings one way or the other, so we bypassed Durham and headed straight for Osmotherly on the western edge of the north York Moors National Park, where I had picked out a 5 mile “ramble” that I hoped would give Pop a bit of the “Yorkshire Moor” experience he had requested. It turned out to be more pastureland and woodland and mudland than moorland, and involved a great deal of up and down. I would have preferred a more bleak and gloomy or endless heather and wind-filled moorland experience, but the walk was enjoyable nonetheless.
Then to Moon House B&B in Osmotherley (pronounced Oz-mother-ly), where the proprietress was lounging in the sun in her back garden with her gently protective and long-suffering brute of a Dogue de Bordeaux bitch and eight wobble-kneed, short-sighted, pug-faced, plump, teething, tumbling, fussing, nuzzling pups. Dinner at the Three Tun pub next door (seems to be a favored name for pubs)—much more pretence than the other pubs we’ve eaten in—very nice custom Arts and Crafts/Mackintosh-inspired décor, attentive service, crooning torch song in the background. Pop had lamb (again); I went for a Middle Eastern-spiced puy lentil, chickpea, tomato, and courgette (zucchini) shepherd’s pie with a side of some mild, sturdy green (not quite spinach, not quite collards). We shared a starter of local artisan breads, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, tender sun-dried tomatoes, assorted olives, and nicely dressed baby greens. Quite good with a glass of sparkling white to start and a pint of Guinness to finish.