I had a rather energetic start to my day.  I spent about an hour and a half in the leisure centre at the hotel with Harvey.  We early birds made the most of the facilities.  I have been thinking about adding some swimming to my exercise programme and today confirmed it.  I really enjoy swimming and must do more.  We also made use of the steam room, sauna and jacuzzi but were not brave enough to go in the icy cold plunge pool!

Lara joined us for breakfast again.  Today I had a Continental style breakfast of cold meats and fish with cheese and fruit.  I didn’t actually eat the ham because when I put my glasses on I saw all the fat marbled through it which put me off.  I think my stint at being a vegan has helped me reduce my love for cheese because I didn’t particularly enjoy this cheese except the holey cheese which I had some seconds of with some more melon.  It was an excellent melon as it was sweet and juicy.

I also had a wholemeal seeded bagel with 2 small butters.  I gave Harvey half of a half (i.e. one quarter) to go with his poached egg.

Having checked out of our hotel we went to Lara’s student house which we have not seen before.  Now she drives herself up and down each term, we have not been up here for about a year so this was our first visit to her first home.  She lives in a lovely residential area close to the centre of Durham.

This garden will be a great sun trap in the summer.

Lara’s room is in the attic and she has windows on both sides of her room.  This is looking straight ahead from the back of her house.

View to the right from the back of the house.

View looking towards the Cathedral from the front of her house.

I have realised I missed out on taking a picture of her room but here she is in her kitchen.  This is certainly one of the nicest student houses I have ever been in and we really enjoyed meeting her housemates.

We walked to the restaurant for lunch.  Durham has such hilly streets.

We walked along the river which is really pretty.  I do enjoy a good weir!

This was our destination – an Asian restaurant called ‘Fat Buddah’.  None of us had been before but some of Lara’s friends recommended it.

What a surprising place.  Inside it was more like being in a nightclub than a restaurant.

This green walkway ran along next to our table and was mirrored from the end and above. Never seen anything like that before.

This was very bizarre.

I had a Thai chicken Tom Yum soup.

Followed by the Malaysian curry with beef, chicken, pork and prawns.  It needed a few more vegetables with it.

The food was mediocre but the company was excellent.  Lucy joined us for lunch too so it was great to see her.

So after a lovely weekend we had to come home.  I hate saying good-bye but at least this time I could go knowing she lives in a lovely house with such good friends in a central location.

We did stop off at a service station and each bought a sandwich, packet of crisps and a sweet treat.  I had a Bounce protein ball, beef and rocket sandwich and a packet of Wotsits.  So no healthy eating award this weekend and I hope I have not done too much damage to the weight I would have lost on my fast days.  The scales will be the judge of that tomorrow!