Thursday 13 September 2018

Lake District, September 2018. Day 6

We had a night of torrential rain last night and this morning.  Eventually it stopped, however, and we set out to explore Lancaster and meet up with Thomas and have an evening meal with him.  We parked at his office on the outskirts and walked into the centre from there.  Our route took us alongside the River Lune on The Lune Cycleway and Footpath. The river is tidal at this point and as it was high tide and we had had a night of heavy rain it was extremely full and fast flowing.  I looked ominous and threatening, The impression being enhance by the fact that logs, branches and whole trees were being swept down on the turgid waters.  No wonder people in the north west live in fear of floods.  High above the beautiful Millenium Bridge we could see the priory and castle perched in an impressive position.  A steep climb from the bridge took us up to the priory.   We enjoyed exploring this beautiful building with its beautiful stained glass.
Having had a culture fix it was time to attend to more bodily concerns so we repaired to Atkinson's coffee roasters and cafe for coffee and cake.  Once revived we walked back up to the impressive castle but decided to leave the guided four for another day.  Instead we followed the city tour guide leaflet to explore the old part of the city.  The best of it we likened to Edinburgh, the worst to Grimsby.  Like Grimsby, the government's austerity measures seem to be hitting hard: many boarded up buildings and large numbers of homeless people huddled in doorways or in large groups drinking from cans in the street.  We did enjoy it though and there is an excellent Waterstones, Atkinson's coffee roasters and the very fine city centre John of Gaunt Pub offering live jazz.  We also had an excellent Indian meal at the Sultan of Lancaster with Thomas.

















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