North Kesteven

Leaving Cambridge was one of those sad little occasions you have when travelling. You're just getting to know your way around a place, the streets, the cafes, the supermarket, the laundrette, then you have to up 'n go. Oh well. At least we got to see and experience the culture of Cambridge. And I did make some important decisions whilst there, but more of that in another place.

The trip to Lincoln was uneventful. My driving in the UK is not as stressful as it was last year. Our Mercedes is smaller than the vast Citroen SUV we had last year, as well as the fact that we are not trying to navigate one lane village roads. The drive up here was smooth and the view, although an overcast day, was enjoyable.

We arrived in Lincoln early afternoon and realised fully for the first time that our apartment was within spitting distance of the famous Cathedral. And it also sits directly under Lincoln Castle, built just after the Norman invasion. This apartment is fun. It is on three levels, with two narrow staricases from the ground floor (kitchen, bathroom) up to the lounge/dining, tv room, outdoor deck, and another staircase from there up to the bedroom and ensuite. Pretty nifty. It is well appointed but has the feeling that we are indeed in a very old house. We both love it.

We decided that we'd take the afternoon just as it came rather than rushing in to tours. After settling in to our digs, we went for a walk, hit the local pub (there are pubs everywhere you look), had a drink and made a plan. Part of that included walking down Steep Street which, as its name denotes, is steep. It's a long steep cobbled street that leaves the Cathedral quarter behind and descends the hill down to the shopping precinct and river Witham.

A lovely walk around the city precinct took us into a Norman church, built not long after the invasion, and now a book and comic store. Different. We walked alongside the canal, which is a Roman improvement on the town, for when they lived here, they dug it out and excavated it so it was more navigable, therefore making the town more defensible. Clever Romans. There is quite a lot of evidence of the Romans here, including an arch, which is now the only Roman arch still used by traffic in all of Britain. Not bad. And a pretty arch it is too. I enjoyed walking through it both ways.

Walking back up to the Cathedral quarter where we are staying, we headed into a cafe for plum toast (it's a thing here) and pumpkin cake, or as they pronounce it, poompkiin caeyke. It too was delicious. We also accidentally went into a galleryor two and bought some more stuff. Evidence of our trek. Really nice stuff.

In the evening after a beer, we took ourselves into the Cathedral precinct itself, which takes you through a large medieval gate and out onto a wide bare area that looks onto the West front of the Cathedral.

More on the exterior of the Cathedral in the next footprint, but seriously, the West frontage is absolutely massive. If I can use both the words monstrous and gargantuan without thier negative connotations, then I would use them. It is huge. There are a number of front entrances, but a huge main one in the middle. The whole thing is like a giant terracotta-coloured rectangle decorated in medieval imagery, and then the towers are on top of that.

Walking around its perimeter, I found myself tricked, because when I though I rounded the final bend and there could be no more cathedral, there was another third of it to go. We took lots of pics then, a few later at night with the whole thing lit up under spotlights, and more the following morning in the thick mist.

I'll do a separate footprint for each of the exterior and interior of the Cathedral. We do our rooftop tour at 11am tomorrow morning. Till then.Read more