Karl reached Hull, April 27th, riding from Hull through Beverley, Market Weighton, Wilberfoss, and other places en route, reaching York on Thursday afternoon. Then he left York about ten o’clock for the Midlands.

In the article titled: “Creelman’s Views”, published May 20th in the Montreal Star newspaper, where Karl shared his travels from Hull to Edinburgh:

“One day’s run of 40 miles brought me the old walled city of York, at which place are some fine old buildings. The York Cathedral or “the Minister” is the most complete and magnificent specimen of Gothic architecture in the world, but in the form of a Latin cross, it has advantages of all other English Cathedrals in the matter of area and height. Winchester Cathedral alone exceeds York Cathedral in length.

Just now, England, with its green fields, stone walls, hedges, gentle hills, trout streams, and an occasional clump of trees, makes an ideal country for tourists, especially cyclists, as the roads are smooth and of a good hard surface. Every mile or so one comes to a village or a small town, which, with their long stone terraces no more resembles a town of America, than an egg resembles an apple.

Passing north from York to come to Stockton-on-Tees, a large ship building town, then to Newcastle-on-Tyne, a very nice city of 214,000 people in the county of Northumberland.”

This “very nice city” Newcastle-on-Tyne is located north of the River Tyne, “up on the Tyne”, hence it’s official name: Newcastle upon Tyne. And directly south, less than 5 miles across the river lies the town of Gateshead where I was born.

So being here dear reader is a time warp. I am retracing Karl's journey to the northeast of England, which coincidentally is where I was born, and nearby in the town of Washington, Tyne and Wear, is where I spent my childhood. Needless to say, before heading further north, I took a detour down memory lane. I visited with family, saw the respective houses where my parents were born, where my Dad attended school, the church where my parents married, my Grandad's house, my childhood home, the tree in the village square where I watched Jimmy Carter plant in 1976, indulged in the best fish and chips and cheese and onion pasties, then before heading north I climbed up the hill to see Penshaw Monument, a replica of the Temple of Hephaestus monument that I saw every day from my childhood bedroom window.

It warms my heart to know that this man I'm following from Nova Scotia around the world travelled through my hometown and spoke highly of it. In a letter to younger sister Mattie dated May 10, 1901, Karl wrote: “Got three photos today from my girl in ‘Canny Newcastle’. They are of myself in three different positions will send them home as soon as I can get time to do them up for the post. I like the people of Newcastle first class made a lot of friends there and have invitations to go back but do not expect to go.”

This spot was a blend of history, nostalgia, and familiarity, reinforcing the value of embracing both the past and the present, whether in distant travels or cherished hometown memories.

These images are from Beamish Museum, an open air museum which brings the history of North East England during the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s. These images are from the pit village and the towns, I think a pretty great way to see the northeast as Karl would have found it.