Richmond With the Boys

Now that we have Harriet, I think people are starting to use us for rides. To which we respond, "YES, PLEASE!" We were so blessed by the generosity of rides with so many nice folks with cars, and we are eager to pay it forward. So, Darius - the Christmas busker - and Rob invited us for a picnic and walk around Richmond, a historic English town about 45 minutes from Durham by car. 

It was gorgeous weather! You can tell who the English person is by the shorts and flip flops (Rob), not the old man hat (Nathan). Darius is Canadian. He says things like "aboot." And he makes a mean sandwich. He is actually a legendarily good cook. And yes, ladies, he's single. So is Rob. Rob biked 80 miles to the church weekend away stopping once for a giant slice of chocolate cake. He's that crazy... about chocolate cake. 

Sorry, guys. Matchmaking was not the point of this post.

Anywho. It was an epic picnic, complete with salami and ham sandwiches, veggies and hummus, posh crisps (fancy chips), strawberries and Milka chocolate, and peanut M&Ms for good measure.

This is a bad picture (my eyes are closed and Nathan's mouth is open), but oh well. I have tights on under my sweatpants (sweat-trousers?), and I was just warm enough. It was so nice to be outside enjoying the sun and the beautiful flowers and good friends and a bit of light exercise. 

We made the English accent of the group read the plaque about the drummer boy of Richmond who was never seen again after drumming at this very spot in some battle. Nathan was obsessed with this spot, naming some scene in Pilgrim's Progress that it reminded him of.

Then we walked toward some abbey ruins, with St. Agatha's house on the left. Nathan asked it if was St. Agatha Christie. Uh, no.

New lambs were bleating in the fields. It was so cute!

Here's the ol' abbey.

And here's my Asian tourist pose.

And my Uncle Rico pose.

And Rob's mountaineer pose.

And Nathan's Atlas pose.

The English construction mantra: "When the wall is falling outward, just fill in the gaps with more stones. No one will ever notice."

At the end of our walk, we passed by this house that I seriously coveted. It had an Italian villa look, complete with a lovely garden and a view of the river. Sigh...

Readers, have your travels taken you anywhere nice lately? Do tell... It is spring break season, after all.