Day 21 Winchester, Hampshire

A visit to Winchester on our drive back to Susan's place

We've had a lovely time in the south of England, but now we are returning to Susan't place in Essex.

Our stay at the Holiday Inn Express at Portsmouth for four nights was reasonable for the price. The location was great (just off the A27) the breakfasts were good (a smorgasbord including hot and cold selections and with drinkable coffee). The only thing we were a bit disappointed about was the room servicing. It was fine after one night, but our room got missed the next two days, so the bins were over-flowing, nothing was re-plenished and we had to make our own bed and use the same towels the whole time. You get what you pay for I guess. 

We left straight after breakfast and being a Sunday the traffic was not too bad. We made our way to Winchester, a city where John had done some supply teaching many years ago, and managed to find some inner city parking, for which we got charged week-day rates. Oh well....

There was a market in progress when we arrived. Mainly home-grown produce. We didn't linger too long.

Barb at the markets in Winchester

A monument in the street
Probably Alfred the Great up there. Probably.

Ah. This is King Alfred the Great: Anglo-Saxon ruler from 9th century

We could hear a loud carillon of church bells and we headed in the direction of the sound to find Winchester Cathedral. It is rather lovely from the outside, but being Sunday there was a church service in progress inside and tourists like us not allowed in until after midday.

The park behind the cathedral

Bluebells in bloom

The back of the cathedral

The front of the cathedral

The hot chocolate in the cathedral cafe was
somewhat over-flowing with marshmallows

There was a nice park in front of the cathedral
with people picnicking on the lawns

The museum would've been good (had we the time
and energy to explore) This is a very old city.

This pub dates back to the 1600s

We had a long drive ahead of us on busy roads, so we dragged ourselves away from Winchester and headed up the M3 then onto the M25 and then onto the M11 to get home. It was a trouble-free journey apart from some slow traffic areas. 

We stopped before getting in to Susan's for some very spicy soup in a pub nearby. (Er ... the pub across the road - Susan was siesting but had left the front door key in the lock, so we couldn't us our key from outside. Hrmph).

A large load or loads of washing await our attention tomorrow! Oh goodee!