Bartimaeus

Packing was easy, as we have clothes in Edinburgh, we had space for jars of jam and even an empty jar to return at some point to Jude. We are nearly done a second jar of her jam. We think we will see her next in Edinburgh as she is planning to be visiting some time in the winter. The thing with making jam and gifting it is you can run out of jars. I have often found myself short of them in marmalade season so we had a few glass jars packed.

Our journey takes us to Chester, by bus, where we pause for lunch and tourism.  It was sunny enough to enjoy lunch outside. It is a historic town and full of Tudor buildings in the centre and while we are eating lunch a group of school children carrying Roman shields and banging and chanting echoing their guide, marches by. Obviously they are on a project trip. It looks memorable. I don’t recall anything that thrilling at that age. My own childhood is ancient history, not just technology. Cafes didn’t have turmeric latte (or any latte) and smoothies on the menu then, like Bryn and I had in our glasses in front of us now. 

It was pleasant to look around the historic centre. Filled with shops but being required, a bit like canal furniture, to have all their signs in black and white. We stayed outside. We didn’t need anything else to carry and didn’t want to walk with rucksacks round a quaint gift shop. We stuck to admiring the architecture and window shopping.

There was something we had passed earlier that I wanted to return to, a much more modern scene, but still a memory from childhood. The Paddington bear bench was occupied by the even more modern  CGI version, but I also remember the stories and stop motion animation from the 1970s. He is as popular as ever, the bear with a kind heart and a love of marmalade sandwiches.

We still had time to take in more of the Tudor areas and also visit the cathedral. We discovered it was a much bigger building than we had first thought and we walked the perimeter for a very long time before we found the entrance. Bryn had a heavier pack than us since he didn’t store half his wardrobe in Edinburgh so when we had got in to the cathedral his first thought was to sit and unburden himself. I said he was in just the sort of place that would allow a weary traveller to rest. I had a look around.

Shane had noticed a garden area. We walked around in the cloisters and found the door. No wonder the walk round was big. There are gardens round the outside of the building and another one surrounded by the building, a peaceful garden at the heart of the cloisters. It was less quiet today as a glass sculpture exhibition was attracting more visitors than usual. 

I enjoy a surprise exhibit or mural or statue round a corner, or in this case round many corners. It was a biz of a maze to find the way out and it was time now to get to the train station. Shane strode ahead and I fitted in another sculpted surprise that was photobombed by a strutting pigeon. They were both rather handsome. 

We made good time and the journey was smooth. It was good to have had a break in the town as it might otherwise have felt a waste of the sunniest day in a week just to be on trains. We could hear a group of secondary school pupils commenting on the countryside out of the window. They sounded like they were on a geography school trip, commenting on the meandering course of the river and ox bow lake. Bryn was sitting next to a member of staff from the school. We were extra interested as he teaches geography field trip himself so it was all very familiar. Although I also admired the dual language skills of the students I heard behind me. They seemed to be on a student exchange and described the geographical features in English but were chatting to each other in German. 

I was pleased to look out of the window at the right time and watch various sunset stages. I couldn’t resist trying a photo.There is a bit of reflection on the glass but for a photo taken through a window at over 100mph it wasn’t too bad.

It was dark when we got to Edinburgh but we were greeted by a meal made bang on time for us, ready the second we stepped in the door. We were all ready for that. Thanks to Nye for timing it just right, very tasty too.