Miranda let us know that Durham Cathedral’s tower had reopened for climbing since our visit in November last year. I’d looked it up online but the words ‘steep’ and ‘narrow’ initially put me off. I’ve been in some cathedral towers before where my claustrophobia and fear of heights almost get the better of me – Prague, Lucca – so wasn’t keen on another repeat. But FOMO is a powerful motivator so on the morning of our last day in Durham we went to the cathedral. 

The descriptions weren’t as dire as they made it out to sound. I checked with the staff about how cramped it would be and was told it was wider than my width and taller than my height so there wasn’t much to worry about. We bought our tickets and went inside.

We were given an hour in which to do the climb. Glen timed us. Three-hundred and twenty-five steps took us five minutes. We bypassed a few slow people as well and emerged at the top of the tower. The roof is slanted and has been covered in plastic flooring for you to walk on. We went around the edge, took our photos, and waited enough time for people coming up to reach the time and then we hurried down.

Both up and down take the same stairs so, if you do meet someone going in the opposite direction, it would be a squeeze, but there are a couple of lay-away points so you don’t have to get too close.

We landed at the bottom; the whole thing taking less than half an hour. We did it and I’m glad we did.