Chester England

 

                                  

June 8 2025 - Today we have a big travel day.  We're leaving Scotland and we will pick up our Canal boat in Trevor Wales on Monday.  Normally we could take a train to Chester but they are doing rail work on our line, so we will take a bus then a train then switch to a different train.  

There was a bike race going on today in downtown Glasgow, so a lot of the streets were closed just to make travel even a little harder

The train station looked more like a hotel

Once we got to the train station we were told the bus would pick us up a few blocks down

So we had to wait on the street (at least it wasn't raining)

A view of the River Clyde from the bus

pack lunch on the train

pretty views

some people read, instead of looking out the window (or is he sleeping?)

catching the next train

We made it to the Leonardo Hotel and have time to walk around town which is only a block away.  Two clock towers in one picture

Chester has a really quaint downtown

lots of shops

the clocktower of all clocktowers

The view of the clocktower from the wall

this place is full of pretty clocktowers

and lots of tudor

next a quick tour of the Chester Cathedral

pretty tile

We had dinner at the Botonist and Jeanene and I split dessert.  We ate with little shovels and the desserts were in clay gardening pots

The buildings have a "row" that is one flight up from the street. It has even more shops and restaurants. 

June 9, 2025 - Today is the day we rent our canal boat.  We have our onboarding at 2:00 so we will do more exploring around Chester until we grab an Uber to Trevor.

Those are pretty geraniums

real cobblestone streets

The Chester Castle from the wall

The wall goes around the original town of Chester.  

It's a beautiful two mile walk

The River Dee and the Old Dee Bridge, which was built in the 14th century

Chester Roman Gardens with a collection of Roman artifacts uncovered in Chester

pretty mosaic entering the garden

the wall has steps in places

pretty wall flowers

we can look into people's gardens from the wall

more flowers

The Blue Coat Hospital?

a balloon dog bench

Glencoe Nature Reserve and Glasgow

 

                               

June 6, 2025 - Today we're leaving the Highlands and headed to Glasgow.  It's a two and a half hour drive, but we'll have a few things to do on the way.  The first stop was Stalker Castle that was used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  This Castle is only open a few days a week for tours, but we found a trail that had a great view.  Next we drove through Glencoe Nature Reserve with lots of great views of the sweeping mountains.  We have an Air B&B in the west end of Glasgow for the next two nights.  

We had a nice morning view of a cruise ship coming into Fort William

Continental breakfast at Ashburn house

The breakfast room

I'm on sandwich duty so we have a pack lunch for our travel day

Pretty views as we drive

Castle Stalker, which was used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (as the Castle Arghhhhhhh)

One sailboat

Next we stopped at Glencoe Nature Preserve

view from the Visitor Center

A quick little hike on our drive through Glencoe

I'd like to live in that house 

lunch in the car with a view (I've become addicted to Walkers cheese & onion crisps)

views everywhere

Next a quick stop at a county park with a view of Loch Lamond

there is of course a castle in the park (which is of course under repair)

We made it to Glasgow and I'm on the prowl for more clocktowers.  We had dinner around the corner at the School House.  

The server told us to try Kitty O'Shea's for live music.  It's always lovely day for a Guinness!

June 7, 2025 - We have one day to tour Glasgow, so we're going to do the Hop on/Hop off bus for $26 each.  We were able to pick up the bus around the corner and it was a great way to see all the sights without having to navigate public transportation.  It was a rainy day off and on so we decided to eat at home tonight.

Our Air B&B 81 Otago St

There was a farmers market going on along the Kelvin River

Our first stop on the bus was Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum

that's a pipe organ

We enjoyed an exhibit that gave an overview of Glasgow History.  I liked that in the 1700's Daniel Defoe described Glasgow as the "beautifullest" city

A spitfire that dates from 1946

Next was an exhibit called the Glasgow Boys who were a group of artists based in Glasgow during the late 19th century

They painted rural people in a matter of fact way

and outdoor paintings

Christ of St John of the Cross by Salvador Dali

another bell tower

The Duke of Windsor, which is in front of the Modern Art Museum, is an icon of Glasgow.  In the early 1980's a traffic cone appeared on his head.  The city removed it and it kept reappearing.  The city was going to make the statue inaccessible, but there was an outcry to allow the cone to remain and it has become a symbol of Glasgow's humor

Next we stopped at the Glasgow Cathedral, the oldest in Scotland and the oldest building in Glasgow.  The cathedral is dedicated to St Mungo (also known as Kentigurn).  The original structure was built in 1136 and the current cathedral was built in the 13th century

pretty wooden ceiling

big to little

Next we walked to the adjacent Glasgow Necropolis which is on a hill.

beautiful bridge to the necropolis

and really great views from the top (although it's not the best of days!)

The Glasgow cathedral is undergoing renovations to the Bell Tower.