NEWCASTLE STH SHIELDS SUNDERLAND WET WET SPRAY

Up at 4.45 am and set off just after 5 and it rained all the way from home to Newcastle via M62 A1 etc, got there about 8am. Parked at Eldon Square rotunda car park by the bus station, found a Costa that was open and after letting Mandy know I'd arrived thought I would hang around the monument area until the rain left off and it brightened a bit with sunrise. The rain kept going an extra hour and the road to the monument was closed off but the diversions probably helped out and with my cheapo Chinese umbrella I coped. Lots of new buses with Stagecoach and Go Ahead and really I did quite well and really didn't feel like the next part of the journey but it was quiet traffic to South Shields, got parked at ASDA which we'd used before and had a look at the new bus station in action, not that enthusiast friendly  unless you are about 7 ft tall to see over the wall but as they were all coming out and to the old  junction by B&M albeit now shut off seawards they all turn and pass the shops and this fits well with the sun, it soon clouded again , really I coped either way and then had the roundabout waltz to Sunderland  where i had to circle the whole ring road to get to the bus station.

I've suffered the car parks before and knew the only one which takes cash, it was 100% full and lunch time so little chance of getting a spot even if I waited, tried Civic Centre car park, nothing so ended up in the phone only park opposite the bus station annex. An apprentice engineer who also shared my views on parking there said she was enjoying the work other than college day in Sunderland, she spent about 10 minutes on my phone getting me registered and then parked, so very kind. Sunderland hasn't improved, running street fights at lunch time in the centre near the new mall opposite the Borough pub, I guess that's sort of normal, another lot seemed to be ready to kick off but I think they were just drunk. Rained al the way back came over to A1M and across the A66, M6 had horrendous spray, some snow over the very top of the 66.