More holiday snaps. Perhaps the last I’ll be taking for a while.
I realise I’ve been remarkably generous to Gloucester these last few posts, but the camera and my NBSS scores never lie.
The full Gloucestershire breakfast at the Spalite was as average as you can get, but I know Americans love seeing pics of Proper Food as much as they do Bass signs.
On my sixth visit to Gloucester the full horror of the ’60s makeover hit home,
though that’s nothing compared to the apostrophe atrocity in Eastgate.
With a couple of hours to kill before Angie’s opened at noon (it didn’t) I had time for the full cultural package, starting with the indoor market.
My own panic buying extends to a fivers worth of menthol and eucalyptus sweets seen here modelled in Westgate. They’ll last until Liverpool win the League, or the End of Times, whichever is sooner.
Westgate, the main pedestrianised street leading to the Cathedral, was quiet bar the hordes of Irish racegoers practicing their social isolation ahead of Cheltenham.
Scruffy it my be, but Gloucester is proving a treasure trove for street art these days,
and the restriction of the 2st century to the docks has left us with some gems in the centre.
Before I get to the Cathedral I admire Ye Olde Fishe Shoppee.
OK, half an hour till pubs open (or don’t); let’s Do The Cathedral.
My alternative guide to the Top English Cathedrals would have these in the Top 5;
- Lincoln
- Peterborough
- Blackburn
- Gloucester
- Hereford
Don’t @ me, York.
Gloucester doesn’t get the numbers, despite the Harry Potter connections, because, well, it’s Gloucester. Which means you have it to yourself.
And they don’t charge, even for the walk around the top, though they make it easy to donate a fiver by contactless at the exit, which is a bargain.
Anyway, go there now. Or later, when they’ve finished the Fleece.
retiredmartin 
Finally a definition of a village I can understand. Interesting list of cathedrals. I have only visited Lincoln from the ones listed. I have to say it was a real favorite of mine. Gloucester cathedral looks great as well. You could build a great trip around just the cathedral list you drew up.
Is the Roosters written correctly if they sell no hens and many roosters?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apostrophes. Discuss.
I hadn’t even read down to the bit about the village.
LikeLike
After a mouthful of menthol and eucalyptus sweets Martin, I’m surprised you can taste anything. I would certainly question the validity of your NBSS scores!! 😁
LikeLike
Don’t question my NBSS scores, you Kentish hop monster you 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Perhaps the last I’ll be taking for a while” – what, suddenly crept up to 99½% of GBG pubs ticked ?
I’m not sure of my top cathedrals but St Pauls where I was eleven days ago must be high up the list – and the one actually “in Coventry” must be my least favourite. I blame the Luftwaffe. .
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the new Coventry cathedral. Forgot that one.
LikeLike
I blame the post-war planners. They didn’t do things like that in Germany.
I agree with Martin that Gloucester cathedral is magnificent, and very much under-appreciated. As is Peterborough.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good grief. We agree on BBB and cathedrals 😉
Would be interested in your view on the Blackburn interior if you ever visit.
LikeLike
I’m pretty sure there was sufficient structure remaining of Coventry cathedral, after the Luftwaffe’s visit, for it to have been rebuilt. Munich cathedral lost its roof and part of one of the towers, and rose again, whilst the Frauenkirche in Dresden was reconstructed from little more than a pile of rubble.
The post-war planners in Coventry, and to a much lesser extent in Canterbury, certainly have much to answer for. Canterbury’s 1950/60’s post-war structures didn’t even see out the millennium, having been replaced by buildings that are far more in keeping with the older parts of the city.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I never really “get” Canterbury, Paul, but I’ll persevere.
Pubwise, that newish micro is good but I couldn’t name much else.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The actual “town” of Canterbury is surprisingly small and low-key, rather more like a market town.
Never been to Blackburn cathedral, but I was rather taken by St Asaph, which is very “intimate”.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Memories of my first school – King’s School, Gloucester, between 1956 and 1960. The cloisters, with that magnificent fan vaulting, were adjacent to my schoolrooms. My family shared a house with the assistant organists: firstly Wallace Ross, then John Sanders.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Those cloisters are astonishing.
LikeLike
Cloisters…clusters…clysters…a former medical term for enemas.
The first mention of the enema in medical literature is in the Ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE). One of the many types of medical specialists was an Iri, the Shepherd of the Anus. Many medications were administered by enemas. There was a Keeper of the Royal Rectum who may have primarily been the pharaoh’s enema maker. The god Thoth, according to Egyptian mythology, invented the enema
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thoth?
LikeLike
Artisanal enemas ?
LikeLike
The Cathedral was at the bottom of the garden.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had an air raid shelter near the bottom of our garden.
Others only had a khazi !
LikeLiked by 2 people
Martin, the New Inn is well worth a look, next time you are in Canterbury.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, of course, the New Inn is very good. Years since I went.
Actually I enjoyed the indoor market near the station with its beer shop.
LikeLiked by 1 person
East or West ?
LikeLike
Both? 😲
LikeLike
Oh, which Canterbury Station. West, in the Goods Shed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it was a proper goods shed when I departed from there for Charing Cross in April 1990.
Three days earlier I had caught a through train from Stafford to Canterbury East, but that was before privatisation.
I must be due a return visit after thirty years.
LikeLiked by 2 people