G & J away from home

Tuesday, 5 July 2016

We relocated from Cumbernauld near Glasgow (possibly a suburb, it's not always easy to tell when you drive in in the evening and out in the morning) to Chester - a 3 hour 45 minute easy drive on motorways all the way according to the GPS.  Since we had excellent internet at the Travelodge we didn't leave there until 11.30am with the intention of grabbing lunch at one of the motorway services as we travelled.  It turned out to be a longer drive than we predicted, but we weren't rushing and actually had a couple of stops at services areas - the planned one for lunch and another just to stretch our legs.

The lunch stop was made memorable by two things; the small flock of geese who were resident on the grassy areas with their 10+ fuzzy goslings already the size of small ducks, and when we were leaving the GPS playing us false by redirecting us around three roundabouts and back into the carpark!  Some stern words had to be spoken in its direction before it would behave.

We arrived in Chester just before 5pm and found one of the very precious car parks associated with the Recorder House B&B where we will be staying for the next three nights. Our room (which slopes markedly from the door to the window) overlooks the Norman weir (built 1092) and old Dee bridge (built 1387) and the front door leads directly onto the walls of Chester.  Such a special place and a very comfortable room too, with a couple of armchairs and a couch and no less than four tables.  Gary is already asleep on the four-poster bed as I type but shortly I'll wake him up so he can get out of his clothes and into bed.

Weir and Old Dee Bridge

As it as sunny when we arrived (and we needed to find something to eat) we started our exploration of the city.  We walked out the front door and along the walls (Roman originally) and across Bridgegate.  Up Lower Bridge Street which becomes Bridge Street further up (of course!) and then we turned into Eastgate Street where the shops all have the distinctive 'rows' or colonnades with the top level of shops set back behind a covered walkway and another set of shops at street level.

Half-timbered and brick buildings (with rows)

And the black and white half-timbered buildings?  The place is dripping with them - some original Tudor buildings and some built in Victorian times (and later) to fit in.  I not only didn't know where to turn with the camera but in the end felt a little sorry for the residents and businesses trying to balance the wealth of history with the need to make the place work.

Clock at Eastgate

View down Eastgate Street

From Eastgate Street we climbed back onto the walls and trotted around past Newgate and were able to overlook the Roman amphitheatre and other Roman remains before going down a set of steps that led down to Duke Street (off which our car is parked) to get back up to Bridge Street and somewhere to eat.

Newgate (1930s) next to Wolfgate or Peppergate

Roman amphitheatre

We settled on the Ye Old Kings Head pub which has been there since 1622 and the beams inside reflect that.  Our meals were very nice (lambs fry for him, sweet chilli and lime pasta for me) and the young man who served us asked why we had come to Chester.  I had a bit of a moment there were I considered giving him the whole story (a la Beth) but instead told him that I had always wanted to see it.  Not satisfied he wanted to know how I knew about it and I was able to tell him that I had read about it in a children's book.  So that's a gigantic TICK for Mabel Esther Allan's Changes for the Challoners where she even goes to the effort of identifying the fictional location of Francaster as being 'like Chester' so there would be no doubt in the minds of the readers whereabouts the book was set.

Inside the pub

Washing done; blog drafted for when I get the internet working; Gary asleep.  Nighty night all.


Reading: Saved by Scandal by Barbara Metzger

---