Beer, Running and Biscuits!

Very impressed with the Parkrun tourists at this week’s Durham Parkrun in North Carolina. We think we've done OK but Ben and his dad Michael have now done all three of the US Parkruns (Florida, Michigan and North Carolina) and they’ve also done several in South Africa as well as their home Parkrun in Kent. The other lady in the pic is Anne from Drogheda in Ireland! Vicky and I both managed to be quicker than last week despite a 280 mile car journey the day before, She was 32.42 which is her best apart from two sunny warm runs at Yarrabilba down under; I got under the 20 minute mark, (just!) with 19.56.

Quick word on American grub. We've been in North Carolina for a week or so and we kept seeing Bojangles fast food caffs among the McDonalds, Wendys and Burger Kings that sprout up at every interstate junction. (Uncle Robin recommends the more upmarket Cracker Barrel but we never found one on the same side of the highway that we were using.) On a sunny day off the beaten track  near the Carolina coast the other day we stopped and thought let's give it a go! Bojangles' main deal is biscuits an' chicken and it wasn't as bad as we thought - biscuits is American for scones and Bojangles (over 600 branches) claim that all their biscuits have been cooked less than 20 minutes ago (I suppose it depends on your definition of cooked!) Nonetheless it filled a gap and the coffee was good and the folk were friendly. The very nice young African/American lady who served us with a very Southern drawl (yaaawwwll!) told us she'd love to come to Wales someday. (I thought she'd need to get a better job than this!)

So here's the guide for the uninitiated:

Biscuits = scones

Cookies = biscuits

Shrimp = prawns

Hoagies = submarine sandwiches

Hush puppies = cornmeal balls (served with most fried meals in the south)

Grits (again!) = corn porridge

Bacon = thin strips of streaky that have been well dried out

Maple syrup goes on anything and everything especially for breakfast.

What we didn't find as it's not usually in restaurants and we had this a few years ago for a thanksgiving dinner is Terducken. This is a Turkey stuffed with a chicken and a duck - very tasty!

Long drive down to Charlotte at the weekend but the Interstate was fairly smooth going. On arrival in Charlotte, where everybody has a drawl, we found a fairly compact city with some interesting high rise buildings which were well lit up at night - I was impressed with the Bank of America building which looked a bit like a wedding cake on top. I don't think this photo does it justice but it looks as if a strong wind would bring glass shards showering down. We found the Carolina Alehouse was good enough for us after the ParkRun and Rogue Dead Guy, NoDa Woody & Wilcox IPA and a Red Oak Imperial Rye IPA did the trick. Not so long to go now til we turn up back in Wales so we're hoping that all that rain and mud that we've read about will have passed on.