23rd June 2005 – Chester, Warrington and Wigan
We got to Chester around about 10:45am and decided to have a stroll around town, taking in the scenes and finding the places that Morton visited. We found the town centre to be is surrounded by (the still standing) old city walls built back in Roman times. Also, the centre itself was extremely pleasant and was able to mix tourism into its settings without the general commercialisation you might find in other places. The centre was made up of four streets meeting together to form a cross, and the entire layout called the Chester Rows. Each row consisted of street level shops above which were balconies and even more shops – essentially, a shopping parade on top of another. A lot of the houses still bore the Tudor-style fronts, whilst some had been slightly modernised.
It seemed that we came into Chester on the same day that a number of schools decided to have school trips into town – there must have been 4 or 5 groups of school kids with teachers. What I bet was great for the kids though, was that they were guided by someone (dressed up) from the Roman Army who seemed to present the historical information in an enjoyable manner.
We took to the library in search of wireless internet access but couldn’t find any, so as I was still trying, Nav decided that he go outside and try again. I walked out the library and looked up and down but seemed to have lost him. Luckily, it was a sunny day so I decided to wait outside and grab a sandwich. I gave up waiting and walked off towards the tower where King Charles once stood whilst watching his army get a beating. Walking back towards the library, I get a call from Nav’s Dad telling me that Nav has lost me and is waiting at the TIC.
I meet up with him and we wander off southwards to see the River Dee and the Wishing Steps. The river was like any other, and the Wishing Steps were unsigned (which was quite odd). Legend has it that if you are able to run up and down the steps without drawing breath, then your wishes come true. Nav made it look easy:
There were other Roman remains dotted around Chester; theatres, gardens, baths, etc, all seemingly well preserved and have become a part of Chester. After a final look around, we left Chester and headed towards Warrington.
For some reason, we stayed there much longer than we should have (seeing as Morton made little comment about the town). We looked around the town, did some shopping and manage to end up on the other side of town, so there was as long trek back to the car before we set off again. An interesting town, sort of, but nothing special to write home about.
Our final stop was Wigan, where Morton spoke of the old joke ‘Wigan Pier’ (Wigan being an inland town, how would it have a pier), which we didn’t find funny at all. It was getting quite late and we planned to stay in a campsite in the Lake District, so we made a flying visit through the town. We got slightly lost and parked up in a back entrance driveway of some shops and houses. Nav took a photo:
Leaving Wigan behind us, we drove the many miles up towards the Lake District. It must have been around 9:30pm as the sun was setting and we were driving up and down the hills in search of a campsite. The views of the hills to the west (over Lake Windermere) were phenomenal and I urge anyone who hasn’t, to go seek out this spectacle. Purple-blue sky with wisps of thin clouds and the outline of the hill tops standing silhouette against this backdrop. We didn’t get to see it properly for we were driving, but those few seconds (with both our eyes off the road) were enough to whet the appetite – it was outstanding. After much faffing about with driving up and down the road looking for a decent campsite, we found one at around 10pm and settled for it. The price took us by surprise (£18 in total) but I suppose that it would be that price in any of the others as we are right next to Lake Windermere. The tenting area was pretty full up, but we found some open space on what seemed a slight slope. Tenting up and going inside, it turned out to be quite steep – in fact, if you slept head point downhill, your heart would be above you head (in terms of altitude) which isn’t a good thing – so we decided to both sleep in the same direction (as we usually sleep head-to-toe, i.e. head at opposite ends). Mind, this didn’t really do much as I kept sliding down the slope. Oh well, that’ll teach us to mess about in Warrington for too long.
-- steven
It seemed that we came into Chester on the same day that a number of schools decided to have school trips into town – there must have been 4 or 5 groups of school kids with teachers. What I bet was great for the kids though, was that they were guided by someone (dressed up) from the Roman Army who seemed to present the historical information in an enjoyable manner.
We took to the library in search of wireless internet access but couldn’t find any, so as I was still trying, Nav decided that he go outside and try again. I walked out the library and looked up and down but seemed to have lost him. Luckily, it was a sunny day so I decided to wait outside and grab a sandwich. I gave up waiting and walked off towards the tower where King Charles once stood whilst watching his army get a beating. Walking back towards the library, I get a call from Nav’s Dad telling me that Nav has lost me and is waiting at the TIC.
I meet up with him and we wander off southwards to see the River Dee and the Wishing Steps. The river was like any other, and the Wishing Steps were unsigned (which was quite odd). Legend has it that if you are able to run up and down the steps without drawing breath, then your wishes come true. Nav made it look easy:
There were other Roman remains dotted around Chester; theatres, gardens, baths, etc, all seemingly well preserved and have become a part of Chester. After a final look around, we left Chester and headed towards Warrington.
For some reason, we stayed there much longer than we should have (seeing as Morton made little comment about the town). We looked around the town, did some shopping and manage to end up on the other side of town, so there was as long trek back to the car before we set off again. An interesting town, sort of, but nothing special to write home about.
Our final stop was Wigan, where Morton spoke of the old joke ‘Wigan Pier’ (Wigan being an inland town, how would it have a pier), which we didn’t find funny at all. It was getting quite late and we planned to stay in a campsite in the Lake District, so we made a flying visit through the town. We got slightly lost and parked up in a back entrance driveway of some shops and houses. Nav took a photo:
Leaving Wigan behind us, we drove the many miles up towards the Lake District. It must have been around 9:30pm as the sun was setting and we were driving up and down the hills in search of a campsite. The views of the hills to the west (over Lake Windermere) were phenomenal and I urge anyone who hasn’t, to go seek out this spectacle. Purple-blue sky with wisps of thin clouds and the outline of the hill tops standing silhouette against this backdrop. We didn’t get to see it properly for we were driving, but those few seconds (with both our eyes off the road) were enough to whet the appetite – it was outstanding. After much faffing about with driving up and down the road looking for a decent campsite, we found one at around 10pm and settled for it. The price took us by surprise (£18 in total) but I suppose that it would be that price in any of the others as we are right next to Lake Windermere. The tenting area was pretty full up, but we found some open space on what seemed a slight slope. Tenting up and going inside, it turned out to be quite steep – in fact, if you slept head point downhill, your heart would be above you head (in terms of altitude) which isn’t a good thing – so we decided to both sleep in the same direction (as we usually sleep head-to-toe, i.e. head at opposite ends). Mind, this didn’t really do much as I kept sliding down the slope. Oh well, that’ll teach us to mess about in Warrington for too long.
-- steven
posted by Steven | 4:45 pm
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