Climbing for Cake

This weekend Sarah, one of my oldest friends, has been to stay.   We became friends in Norwich back in the 90s through our love of boy bands.  She moved to London in her early 20s to pursue her dream of being a journalist and then I joined her in the big city in 2008 and we became house mates.

It's taken us a while to sort out a visit but this week she arrived in the North East for her first ever proper visit to Newcastle.

I'm always very eager to show off my new home at it's very best when people come to say, I love it up here so much I make it my mission to make people go home a little bit in love with the North East.  So I wanted to make sure that our weekend was packed full of fun and cake.

I did have my camera with me at the weekend but spent most of my time capturing our adventures on my phone, so for the first time on New Girl in Toon all my photos are from my Instagram.

On Saturday we decided to catch the train to Durham, Sarah had spotted it on her train journey up and had commented on how beautiful the cathedral looked lit up at night so I knew it'd be a great place to take her to.   

We both love climbing up monuments for great views and having done the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Leaning Tower of Pisa and Eiffel Tower together over the years I decided a climb up Durham Cathedral would be perfect. 

The climb up the tower costs £6.00 and is a journey up 325 steps.  I'm not going to lie, it's hard work.  We both have reasonable levels of fitness but had to take a few breaks to catch our breath.  The steps also get very narrow at the top so it does get a little tricky towards the end.  It is, however, completely worth it for the view.

After a light lunch in the Catherdral's Undercroft Restaurant and a quick stroll round the Town Centre we headed back to Newcastle for a quick look round Primark.  I'd told Sarah how huge our store on  Northumberland Street is so it became a must for her visit.

I can't actually get over how amazing the stock is in Primark at the moment, I might have bought a couple of things, and I might have spotted some more things I'd like to try on next time I'm there so I'm pretty sure there'll be a haul post coming very soon.

Like me, Sarah is very fond of a cup of tea and a slice of cake so an afternoon tea was always on the agenda.  My only problem was which one to choose, the North East has so many gorgeous places for cake it was hard to pick out one.  After some very serious thought, I decided on The Great British Cupcakery as it's a really beautiful place, the girls who work there are so lovely and the cakes are delicious (and huge). The Cupcakery is looking particularly great at the moment as they have a fantastic Easter display, the little fluffy chicks decorating the cakes make them look even more appetising.
We had the afternoon tea and it was a wonderful selection of treats.  I got to try the "Townie" (a chocolate brownie siting on top of a tart) which I'd been wanting to try ever since seeing a picture of it on their Instagram feed.  I was also really happy that one of the sandwiches was Ham and Pease Pudding as Sarah got to try an authentic North East delicacy, even if I did struggle to explain exactly what it is.

 
If you want to read a full review of afternoon tea at GBC, please check out my earlier blog review here and you really must follow them on Instagram because they post the most gorgeous photos of cake.

After stuffing ourselves with so much cake we were very full and couldn't quite finish the whole tea so lucky Simon who we'd left at home studying hard for his IT exams got to enjoy some of our leftovers.

The walk home took us past the Baltic so I couldn't resist taking Sarah up in the glass elevator for a look over the Tyne from the outside viewing platform.

Obviously you can't go to Newcastle without a night on the Toon, so after a little rest to let the cake settle we headed out into the night.   Unfortunately Sarah and I are getting a little too old for wild nights out.  After walking into a few bars and realising that there was nowhere to sit and the music was a little loud we decided that the best place for us would be a lovely peaceful bar in one of Newcastle's nicest hotels.  

So we headed to the Vermont and found ourselves a comfortable sofa, a lovely cocktail menu and a nice peaceful space to have a good chat.   I had a mojito and it was perfect, a really generous glass and not too much ice. 

Today we were feeling rather tired from all the walking, climbing and cake eating yesterday so we had a lovely filling brunch at the Pitcher and Piano before a quick stroll through the Quayside Market.

I had such a wonderful weekend, nothing beats someone coming up to visit me in my new home and I can't wait to welcome our next guest.