Sunday 11th
My senior-railcard-inspired Year of Cathedrals got off to a slow start,
but Norwich in November (see above) was followed by a day in Chichester last week, and
today I'm off to Lincoln. Having loved Norwich I wasn't entirely smitten
by Chichester Cathedral. It was too much the well-scrubbed community hub
for me - not enough Romanesque remains and too much modern art.
Trains from London don't run direct to Lincoln - you have to get the
Virgin East Coast train to Leeds and change at Newark. You also have to
put up with Virgin's hearty fake-friendly emails that mount up in the days
before travel. And then there's the jabbering children at the next table
in the 'quiet' carriage. Thank goodness, again, for noise-cancelling
headphones. The journey was event-free otherwise, and so quick - two hours
total from King's Cross to Lincoln.
The Old Palace Hotel is based in the
Georgian bishop's palace, built next to the ruins of the Medieval bishop's
palace, now has its rooms in a
the converted Victorian church of St Michael on the Mount. My room (see below) was cosy, warm and quiet.
Whilst unpacking I realised that my experimenting with minimal packing had
resulted in a certain shirtlessness. Or maybe it had been stolen by
fairies. So my first stroll, after a brief look inside the Cathedral,
which is free to enter on Sunday, but a service was on, was down to
Primark. (It might be useful for Non-Brits to be told that Primark is a
shop selling notoriously inexpensive clothing, made in Asian sweatshops.)
There I found that the nicest shirt available in my size was a grey check
fave that I already owned. So I was faced with the choice of buying a
duplicate of a shirt that I really liked or a different-coloured check
that I didn't. Verily a quandary.
Having had no lunch I settled for a late afternoon McDonald's veggie
burger and, after a bit more exploring and some evening photography, I
returned early to my room with some very special Winter Spice fudge to take with tea,
and have an early night.
Monday
12th
My hotel in Norwich had a restaurant,
which made me appreciate not having to wrap up against winter winds to go
eat. Here there's a walk across a garden from the church/lodge to the main
building with the breakfast room. I decided to be hardy and not wear my
coat to breakfast. The choice here isn't as wildly wide as at the larger
hotels of recent experience. The croissants, orange juice and coffee where
all well up to scratch, though, and the Full English is offered, as well
as a veggie version, but I just ordered toast.
I spent a full morning - three hours! - in the Cathedral, wandering and
photographing at first. I then got chatting with a friendly and
helpful guide and ended up sticking around for his tour. I found the place
infinitely more interesting and photogenic than Chichester, and the staff
here were all much more amenable and chatty. Highlights included the
chapter house (see right) and the way the sun projected the
stained-glass windows onto floors and walls (see far right) -
a phenomenon that's not rare, but which here is everywhere, presumably
because the hill is so high, and the south side so unovershadowed. The
famously all-wrong-looking vaulting in St Hugh's chapel (see below
right) is sometimes said
to be a mistake, but the guide here took the more convincing view that it
was the work of a master builder playing with ingredients like a creative
chef.
The cathedral refectory cafe I found to be heaving at half twelve, so I
ventured uphill and found a veggie place, the Bailgate Deli, and enjoyed a
slice of chickpea, sweet pea and spinach roll, with some salad. To take
away to nibble with tea in my room I couldn't decide between the cinnamon
and almond biscuit and the chickpea, peanut and cinnamon blondie. I had a
pre-tea walk downhill to explore the river and the Brayford Waterfront
area, and found a time-warp Market Hall, with three stalls selling actual
paper books, but only one stall selling vaping supplies. The trudge back
up Steep Hill was somewhat softened by realising that the road to the back
entrance, to the garden in front of the lodge/church, cuts off the very
final hike.
In the evening I plumped for the reliability of Pizza Express, and the
Veneziana with a side-salad and a Peroni did not disappoint. Returning to
my room in the church I heard an owl hooting nearby, which is not
something that happens to me everyday.
Tuesday 13th
Yesterday I envied it, and today I
got it: the table by the window with the panoramic view of the Cathedral.
To the castle today. Rain was coming on so I did the Victorian prison and
the Magna Carta first. The prison block was full of actors playing inmates
and guards and such, who you were expected to interact with, so I wasn't
long in there. The Magna Carta here is one of only four remaining copies
of the original. The accompanying curved panoramic video presentation is
well-made and interesting. The fact that King John put his name to it but
implemented none of it was not, the guide and I agreed, what we learned at
school. Only after years of civil war and bloodshed did Henry III
implement it in any serious way. The prison chapel was actor-free, but
from the pulpit you suddenly realise that some of the cubicles in the
raked pews have lifelike dummies staring creepily back at you. The rain
had eased, if not the biting wind, so I put on my woolly hat and headed up
onto the walls. The free audioguide is a bit verbose but it does improve
the experience, which features some fine views (see right). For
lunch I had two yummy cream cheese bagels, with much salad trimming, at a
place on Steep Hill called Basecamp. A bookshop nearby was a trove of
local history books (and so many train books) and I picked up a
tempting locally-written history, of a type so impossible to buy online or
even at Stamfords. Today in the castle was much less of a photofest than
the Cathedral yesterday. And I learned that the crane and girder action in
front of the cathedral this morning is the beginning of restoration work
on the façade due to take a couple of years. Lucky me managing two days of
façade photos before it started. A. W. Curtis, a local bakery chain,
provided the cake for my
afternoon tea. But the fruit
crumble tart I bought turned out to smell so strongly of cooking fat that
it was
discarded after one bite. I realised after that they are a bakers and
butchers, so maybe the fat was animal.
I didn't really do the Brayford Waterfront area justice yesterday, so
decided to head down there again this evening. My progress began with what
was to become known as The Pottergate Incident. Admiring this archway I
decided to cross over to admire/shelter under it, but one paving stone
nearby was so slippery I just had to slip over on it and wrench a knee
muscle. This choice I regretted as my knee became exquisitely painful
the day after I came home, but then got miraculously much better the next
day! Not so much pain immediately, even if the rain was a bit
off-putting, but I persevered, taking a looping route around to the Eastern
end of the river walk and heading steadily west, maybe a bit too far to
preserve interest, and then backtracking through the University. It was
raining a bit too much early on, but when I realised that if I'd been with
any sensible person she would have insisted on curtailing I just had to
persevere. I returned to the Handmade Burger Co. restaurant I'd passed,
opposite the marina, as they had a choice of five different veggie
burgers. I went for the Classic Cajun Beanburger with chips (which were
actually called chips) and a vanilla milkshake.
Wednesday 14th
The main building of the Old Palace,
where the hotel reception is, now houses the offices of the local diocese,
and I had been warned that I might bump into a bishop. On my way to
breakfast today I was wished a good morning by a priest, which was
something.
With a bit of time before I needed to catch my train I decided on a last
visit to the Cathedral with my two-visit ticket. The front entrance was
closed due to the aforementioned scaffolding going up. Signs led to the
entrance to the south transept through the Galilee Porch and the woman on the desk there confirmed
that the work was to be on the Romanesque friezes and would take three
years. The number of visitors this morning barely reached double figures,
which was good for me. A sweet shop on the way down Steep Hill I'd been
meaning to investigate provided some last-minute marzipan fruits and
cinnamon truffles and the train journey went fine, except I got on what I
thought was my train arriving early, but which turned out to be an earlier
train from Newcastle much delayed, which got me home fifteen minutes early.
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Some indecision about what to do with
the morning, as my train back to Liverpool Street isn't until 1.30. A
river walk heading towards the RC cathedral was looking highly likely. My
breakfast decisively began with porridge and dried fruit, which worked.
Checking my websites' Facebook page as I munched a croissant I found a
recommendation from a locally-resident follower called Julia that I really
should try to visit the Rosary Cemetery. I found it on a map, it was very
close, and then found it in reality, and was very smitten: Victorian and
overgrown, raking sunshine and autumn colours, solitude,
squirrels...perfect! The delayed river walk was a sunny treat too, with
complete strangers wishing me good morning! By the time I got to the
Catholic cathedral time was tight, so I only managed a quick look and a
few photos. It's not that old, but it is a handsome space inside - a very
restrained gothic. A mozzarella, tomato and pesto panino was bought for
the journey home, which passed without incident.
