Winchester

Finally, summer has arrived in the UK. After what feels like months of endless rain, the clouds have gone and the sun has showed its bright self. With the promise of sunny and hot weather for the weekend we thought we'd get out and see a little more of what the UK has to offer. A quick look through our Lonely Planet and we had our Saturday (4 August 2007) day trip destination... WINCHESTER!

Winchester is an hour from London on the train. It has some facisinating history and was once the capital of England. No, the gun originated in the USA. Its major site these days is the Winchester Cathedral which was featured in the DaVinci Code movie (doubled as the Vatican) and houses the tomb of Jane Austen. Initially we thought a look around would take 1/2 hour however given the enormous size it took more like 3 hours. Some of the good stuff included the flooded Crypt with its artwork "Sound II", the library, and the 1 1/2 hour tour of the roof and tower. Cheryl and Reg were our tour guides for this four person tour and they were absolutely brilliant in explaining the building, structure and various other facts about the cathedral. The views from the top were great thanks to our clear sunny day, with views (be they small) of Isle of Wight. Perfect day for exploring the roof of a cathedral.

After spending so much time at the cathedral we had worked up a bit of an appetite so we found a lovely pub by the river to soak up some ale and dig into some good pub grub. The view from our pub window was of the river and the City Bridge, an ancient river crossing that was once the entrance to the city.

From lunch we waddled up to take a look from St Gill's Hill Viewpoint. The lookout gave us great views back down the main street of Winchester and the cathedral. After laying in the sunshine for a bit and taking in the views we rolled back down the hill to check out a closer view of the River Itchen and the Weirs Walk. This walk took us along the very clear fast flowing river through some gorgeous gardens to our next destination, the Wolvesey Castle (in ruins). Wolvesey Castle was once the home of the very rich Bishop William of Wykeham. The current bishop lives next door!

From the castle it was a wander up the High Street to the old Westgate which you can go to the top of for views back down the street. We then checked out The Great Hall which is the only remaining part of Winchester Castle (13th Century). It was then back to the train station for our ride home.

One nice thing about Winchester is that with the exception of the cathedral all the other tourist traps are free. Welcome change given how expensive these things can be.

We arrived back in London at 6pm and given that the sun was still shining and it was turning into a beautiful evening rather than head home we went to the park and caught up with Kris and Penny for some Pimms and cheese!

With the sun setting we finally headed home - very content with such a great day!