Meole Brace

We thanked Johnny & Kathrin, and left High Borrans in the morning, to begin our trek southwards into the sun. Whilst the North has been very enjoyable, the temperature difference between there and the rest of the UK has been noticeable....in a good way, with daytime temperatures rarely exceeding 20°C, unlike the heatwave that has been sweeping the rest of the UK. Blimey, I even contemplated long trousers at one point! Temperatures are again set to reach 30°C by the end of the week in the South.

Our first stop was at Chester, where we intended to tour the castle. This hope was dashed on the rocks of reality, when we found out on arrival that you can only visit by pre-arranged tour. We’d already paid for parking all day by then, so decided to explore further in Chester. But first we needed to find a public convenience, as the tea we’d had for breakfast was starting to make its presence felt. We found the public toilets along the river bank. These were positively Victorian in construction…see if you can spot the design flaw in the gents’: 

Full occupancy would be rather cosy

We walked up through the Roman Gardens and the amphitheatre, and then decided it was high time we lunched ourselves. By the cathedral we found the Coach House, and they did light bites and panini. After lunch we checked out the cathedral. Parts of it were closed off as there was a “service in progress” (it wouldn’t actually start for another hour), but we saw the important bits. Chester cathedral isn’t high on the list of cathedrals to see, for good reason - there’s not much there, and no famous dead people. 

The amphitheatre

The Roman Garden

The old city wall. This part was breached by cannon fire, and you can see the repair

Roman tiles and baths

Picturesque Chester

The cathedral

Getting to Chester had broken the back of the three-hour journey, and we only had a short section left. What we’d forgotten, however, was that it was Sunday, and the supermarkets would be closing at 4pm. We put the details of the big Sainsbury’s into Sattie  (there wasn't a Waitrose), and she informed us we’d get there at 3:47. That should be OK, I thought…but when we hit some traffic, that started to lengthen. We found another Sainsbury’s which was open late, actually very close to our destination, and headed there instead. Although it hadn’t said so, this was a Sainsbury’s Local, so had limited selections; but we found everything we needed, and then did the final mile to our latest AirBnB in Meole Brace. This is a one-bedroom house in a little cul-de-sac, and has everything we need, including a washing machine. It also has a little patio out the back which is an absolute sun trap, so I’m sitting indoors as it’s cooler here.