X75 to Barney

With a glorious spring day in prospect I gave the bus pass an outing on the X75 to Barnard Castle, the half hour ride through pleasant South Durham countryside enabling a couple of hours perusing the quirky shops for some low level retail therapy (cakes from the Moody Baker and a book from Oxfam), some lunch at Penny’s Tea Rooms (bacon & brie panini), and a half hour sat in the sunshine on the green by the castle walls; the journey back was less relaxing as the planned bus was immobilised with a smoking back wheel and the next one hit chucking out time at Hummersknott School as we entered Darlington, but all in all a good day out.