Chester

On Saturday morning we got up real early for a weekend (7.00 pm) and drove along the M32, M4, M5 and M6 to Chester. I no longer need convincing - I don't like the motorways. As the morning wore on it got busier and faster. We decided that since we really did want to get to Chester that there was less chance of being distracted on the motorway and therefore more of a chance that we might actually get to our intended destination. We must admit we did get tempted a few times on the way but it was difficult to take detours when going 70 miles per hour in the middle lane. Chester was well worth the visit. We found a car park in a road called 'gorse stack'. Apparently a few hundred years ago the residents were only allowed to stack firewood and anything else that might catch fire outside the wall and this road was just outside the wall so that is where they stacked gorse. Our first stop was at the Chester Cathedral garden to sit in the sun and to eat our bacon butties (a standard picnic item for us it seems) and we were so hungry we never shared any with the squirrels - and they didn't share their chestnuts with us.

Like all good tourists we caught an old double decker bus around first to get the feel of the town and find out a little bit about the history. The town is quite small by English standards (felt like the size of Paraparaumu). We passed the cemetery where there are a few famous people buried there though I didn't recognise any of the names as the commentator reeled them off. However, I did remember one poor woman (Mary someone) who won a lifetime subscription to the 'Titbit' magazine as she had made the biggest contribution to the English population by having 33 children (15 sets of twins in that lot) - must have been postwar as she wouldn't get any prizes today. I somehow think she deserved more than a subscription. The commentator also talked a lot about the relationship between the Welsh and English as Chester is only 5 miles away from the Welsh border. An act of parliament gave the inhabitants of Chester the right to shoot any Welsh people who were found in their city after dark - it has never been repealed. And the third thing we learnt was that all swans in England are owned by the reigning monarch. Then we followed that up with a little boat trip up the River Dee. I like boat trips as I always think that from a water way you get a different perspective of the city. The boat trip confirmed what we first thought Chester is tidy, relaxed, touristy and the residents appear reasonably well off as they seem to spend their time sailing and shopping. The Grosvenors are the family that sort of established Chester and gifted a huge park to the town - something I thought I would like to do one day if I ever own a huge piece of land in the middle of somewhere important - dream on!!
We then ventured on to the wall. Chester is a roman village and known mainly for its stone wall which circles the city with only an occassional break - it gives quite a birds eye view of the city without the hustle and bustle of the crowds below.

The amphitheatre had been virtually destroyed as the stones were used to build and strengthen the wall and then future generations built other buildings over the remains. However, they didn't destroy the roman bath house with quite so much vigour so they obviously prioritised cleanliness and other things over theatre. Around the city there are stones placed on footpaths and in the shopping malls which apparently signifies they had been carefully excavated and moved there to protect. You can sit on them, jump on them and even write graffitti if you so desire - imagine in New Zealand they would be so well protected.

We wandered passed the first race course in England (the Chester Cup was the first race in 1846). 'The Roodee' as the racecourse is officially known is also known unofficially as the 'soup plate race course' (and we thought the cake tin was a bad name for our stadium). The unusual name comes from the river bed as the area used to be part of the river before it silted up (natural reclamation I gather). You can imagine how it got its unofficial name. The course is quite difficult to race on (for the horses but don't know about the jockeys) as it is an oval shape with no long finishing straight. It is one of the few race courses where you can view all of the horse race with no binoculars (assuming you can see well), poor people could look at the horses from the footpath above. Down the road from the race course sits the castle on a little hill and a range of buildings (tudor and georgian houses which sit comfortably side by side), the river and the shops. And that brings me to the shopping. We couldn't believe the crowds. Here we were up on the wall enjoying the history and the views and the tranquility of our surroundings when we looked down at one point and saw hoards of people down at the shops (one reason could be that it was Chester University open day?). The first shopping malls were built in Chester - tudor buildings with 3 stories of shops and balconies so you could walk the outside of the building. Some of the shops were empty probably because it sat alongside a modern mall a similar size to those in Bristol. We actually went back to the shops on Sunday morning before they opened to take some photos without a lot of bodies getting in the way. Someone at work said that we must still be tourists if we are still taking photos of Tudor buildings!! The clock on the bridge was built in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's (50th or 60th year of her reign).

Now on to the churches - and like any English city or countryside for that matter there are a number. Chester cathedral from the outside doesn't look much but from the inside is quite unique. We don't go into every church or cathedral as I think we would be 'cathedralled' out by now if we did but we were glad we made the effort with this one. It is huge and had heaps of little nooks that were used for different things (like a special place to pray for family, or the community, or the environment etc). I get the impression that the church is a bit big for the Chester congregation but they did not want it to go to ruin with all the wonderful stainglass windows, mosaics, tapestries and indoor garden. Handel stopped off in Chester and sat in the church and finished off the 'Messiah' before going to Ireland where it was first performed. Down the road is the John the Baptist church which is an example of what can happen when the church is no longer needed. The congregation built a wall inside and left the back to deteriorate while the front bit still used.

Not far away from Chester and inside the Welsh border is an aqueduct which we stumbled across. We had a 5 mile walk around the canal, over the Cefn railway viaduct, across the River Dee and through the gardens and little farm (there is a llama that protects and sheep and their lambs from foxes) before heading home. The pictures speak for themselves really - how to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon (walking or sitting happily on a canal boat).

There isn't much more to say except on Saturday night when we lay on the bed in our b&b watching a certain game of rugby the word 'catastrophe' came to mind (the French were saying that in Provence when they lost to Argentina) but they weren't saying it in Cardiff that Saturday night. The gloom of the crowds and the team said it all. Both Harry and I have been teased at work especially since England won. It made me realise why I am not a dedicated sportsman or specialist - besides not having the skills - it would take so much time and effort to work towards something and then it can all be over so quickly. Still, on the reverse I suppose the thrill of the win. Who to support now - Argentina perhaps? The interesting thing is that England is definitely not a rugby nation - none of the newspapers I glimpsed at on the newstand on Sunday had a headline 'we won against the odds' but I can imagine the mourning that went on at home. Four years isn't that long is it??