James Tucker in Cov

It's been reading week, and I've been getting around England some to see the sights I've missed so far. By far the most important place on my list to me was Durham, up in the North-East of England. It was a three-hour train ride, and I travelled rather more than half-way across the country to get there (passing by another of my favourite northern citys- York- on the way, and was lucky to be able to see the river and Minster from the window).
Durham has been a major religious site since the 900s, the final resting place of the body of St. Cuthbert, chased away from his grave by Vikings (legally, in some respects, he's both alive and a major landlord). The Normans built the current cathederal and castle in an astoundingly short time (1080s to 1130s), and the whole city is on a peninsula in the river Wear. The Bishop of Durham was also the holder of Cuthbert's lands and a feudal lord, with the title Prince-Bishop. He only gave up the title in 1832, when he turned his castle over to found Durham University. The town itself is tiny-you can walk into the countryside in 15 minutes- with only about 5 streets all leading from one of the three old bridges (the Elvret bridge has an uphill slant, interestingly enough) to the market square, which is for some reason adorned with sculptures of local birds, like Puffins, and, oddly, monkeys. The personal belongs of a three-foot tall Polish nobleman, who lived in Durham until he was 94 are kept in the town hall. All of this is on some immensely steep hills, and many buildings are 2 stories at the front, and 6 or more at the back, with wonderful little alleys running from street to street, which helps with a sense of discovery (see left of middle picture). A nice old teashop, Rumbletums, is in one of these tiny, near-vertical alleys, but I missed its closing.
But for all that, the main thing about Durham is the monumental cathederal, with its immense columns, twin towers at the front, all stacked next to the castle on the top of a cliff. The view from the top of the main tower is amazing, and the close is a perfect little world unto itself. The iconic view of the west front (top left) is from an old mill, which is now the University's boathouse, and the whole thing is a world heritage site. I've run out of superlatives, but Durham has probably given York a run for its money for my favourite English city. Go if you can.
PS.- You may have noticed from the photos, but Durham was the first time I've gone out exploring where the weather's been nice. Sun and everything! It's typical of the weather around here, hovering around 8-10 degrees, higher with sunlight.