Haydn and Drew went to Gloucester and it was lovely

 

The Old Nursery Rhyme

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester

In a shower of rain,

He stepped in a puddle,

Right up to his middle,

And never went there again.

proved not to be the case today as we spent a lovely afternoon in a warm and sunny Gloucester without even a hint of rain.

But before we get to that, a quick look back to the start of the day.

Packing

We had done most of the packing last night, but put the last elements in this morning after cleaning our teeth and other ablutions. I'm not sure whether it is a factor of age, or a factor of dentists and dental hygienists who nag more effectively than they used to, but packing electric toothbrush and charger, toothpaste, a range of different size interdental brushes seems a lot more complex than a toothbrush and paste of old!

Next we took, the now traditional, photo of our luggage with Captain Jack, our travelling companion, watching over it and his friend MJ, the M&M, watching in the background.

Luggage ready for our trip

Our Route

Route on Day 1

Today's route was not the most logical. Indeed as you can see it looks like a slightly lopsided M, when the quickest route would have been almost a straight line along the M4. But that wasn't the point. 

We were adopting the travelling slowly method which we have used in the past!. What do I mean travelling slowly? Well we are firm believers in getting out of the house and on the way when beginning a journey, but the fact that we often can't check into somewhere before 3pm or 4pm means we need a less direct route than the door to door one. Indeed door to door today would have taken us about 85 minutes. But this is holiday time, so we meandered. 

Departure

We left home at 9.30am and made out way first to Pontypridd Sainsbury's to top the car up with petrol. This went smoothly and we were soon on our way further up the valley to Pontsticill Reservoir.

Pontsticill Reservoir

Drew has been a fan of Pontsticill since his childhood days when school and family trips from Aberdare often involved canoeing or fishing in the reservoir. 

Pontsticill Looking Great in the Sun

A few years ago, when we were travelling to North Wales I was introduced to the reservoir and since then we have made a stop here whenever we have been heading in the general direction. Today it made a nice way to start the holidays with the lovely views and people already gathering to cook breakfast on the side of the reservoir and others getting into kayaks. 

A gentle stroll around the reservoir

Talybont on Usk

From Pontsticill rather than heading back to the Heads of the Valley Road we drove through Taf Fechan forest and alongside Talybont Reservoir to the canal at Talybont.

The canal bridge at Talybont

A gentle canal side walk was just right for us on a day like today.

Along the towpath

From there we continued through Crickhowell and on to Monmouth and the Forest of Dean.

Forest of Dean

I have always loved the Forest of Dean, in the days when I was to mean to pay the tolls on the Severn Bridge I would often return this way from meetings in London or Oxford rather than opting for the M4. No need to do that now the Bridge tolls have gone, but the Forest remains a special place with its ancient trees and lovely quaint villages.  

Gloucester

Gloucester, or Glevum as the Romans called it, goes back to 48 AD. Its location on the banks of the navigable part of the River Severn marks it out as a perfect place for a Roman Colonial Town with its easy access downriver to the Bristol Channel and the sea beyond it quickly grew into one of the key locations in Roman Britain. 

Roman Gloucester

By the time of the Saxons, though it is often referred to today as a West Country City, it was firmly part of Mercia, the Midland Kingdom to the North of Wessex, though it is in the southernmost part of Mercia it was such an important town that it had a Royal Palace built in the time of Prince Osric. Aethelflaed, the daughter of King Alfred of Wessex - who while he is best known for burning cakes was one of the great defenders of the Angles and Saxons lands from the arrival of the Vikings - was to fortify the town against the Vikings.

Anglo-Saxon Gloucester

Lovers of Bernard Cromwell's Saxon books will note the key role of the city in four of the novels, especially The Empty Throne and The Pagan Lord where Uthred, the lead character, has a hard time in some of the less desirable parts of the city. 

The name Gloucester is a saxonisation of the Welsh name Caerloyw, gloyw meaning bright or glowing. So the bright City, cester being the Saxon interpretation of the Welsh Caer. Leading to Glou-cester.

Aethelflaed founded the great Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester which in reformation times became the basis of the current Cathedral. 

Gloucester Cathedral

Cathedral Exterior

Having mentioned earlier that I had travelled through or near Gloucester many times over the years, I'm ashamed to say this was my first visit to the Cathedral.

Looking up to the high altar

What an amazing building the Cathedral is. It's long history as a house of prayer gives it a peacefulness which is not broken by visitors. Indeed one might think it was built for a pandemic as its high roofs and x-large footprint in the centre of the City makes it easy to socially distance and be well ventilated.

One of the four sides of the cloister

I don't know how I didn't know, but Gloucester Cathedral has got an intact cloister beside the main worship space. Unlike so many similar cloisters across the UK this one remains intact and the cloister garden (Garth) in its centre evokes the spirits of the monks who would have worked and prayed in the Benedictine tradition in this space before the reformation.

Harry Potter lovers will recognise the cloisters as they are represented as part of Hogwarts in the films.

I managed to live 63 years without visiting this amazing place, I recommend dear reader that you don't wait as long for the experience, it is well worth the visit. There are many (and I mean many) more photos on my Flickr account if you'd like to see more of the Cathedral - start here

The town itself shows signs of its Roman and Saxon past with winding streets and ancient street names. Fans of Uthred or Aethelflaed can still walk the city using the novels as their guide.

Whatley Manor

Having had an surprising lovely day it was time to head to our venue for tonight. Whatley Manor, the ancient manor house near Malmesbury, and now an hotel with a two Michelin star restaurant in it. 

We arrived at 4.10pm, the experience of this evening's meal will be the subject of my next blog post.