(March 2009)
Lincoln, what images are conjured up when you think about Lincoln? Well not much at all to be truthful. All I had heard that there was a nice cathedral there and that they had good Christmas markets. That was about it, and all of this I had heard from a local (Jo who I used to live with in Cheltenham). So I must admit I went there with a pretty open mind. It was a weekend day trip, my first from Nottingham (I don’t think we can include a trip to Beeston in this criteria). And I was certainly in need of something (anything) different. Nottingham is definitely not the most picturesque of places. So, Lincoln it was, just over an hour directly on the train.
Lincoln is bloody beautiful! I had an absolutely fantastic day. The weather was typically English (raining), but for once in my life I had dressed appropriately. First stop straight away on arrival was the cathedral. I had looked it up in my bible (Lonely Planet Great Britain) and it was on my little post it of things to do. To get there you have to go up what it aptly named Steep Hill. The only way this street name could be any more accurate would be to call it BLOODY Steep Hill. Do you get my meaning? I was actually quite pleased with my fitness walking up there, I certainly felt it, but didn’t need to stop multiple times and have a quasi-heart attack like I saw numerous people doing. Years of living on the top floor of building with no lifts certainly had paid off (as well as my stupid sand dune climbing fetish in Egypt and Jordan).
The church was amazing. It is one of numerous cathedrals in England that I would definitely rate higher than Westminster abbey. Once again I turned up at the perfect time to do a rooftop tour (I have a happy habit of this), and yes I was the youngest person on the tour by about half a century but that didn’t matter. The tour guide was a fantastic old guy who was certainly very knowledgeable and also had a cheeky Lincolnshire sense of humour and most importantly for those of us who were not from the area- an accent that was understandable! After the great tour I had a bit of a wander around the Cathedral by myself. I must have somehow looked like I worked there (not sure how, I was wearing jeans and a rugby jersey), because this guy came up to me and said:
“Gargle gargle drolly ere eh?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Gargle gargle drolly ere eh?”
“Sorry”.......
This followed for a few more minutes until I finally worked out he was saying to me in a very extreme Lincoln accent: “Excuse me do you work here?” He must have thought I was an absolute moron but I swear I couldn’t understand a thing he said!
Just a quick word to explain the title- it relates to a cheeky little bugger in the Cathedral. He is a little carved guy near the choir who apparently got turned to stone for trying to chat up one of the angels. Pretty rough punishment I reckon!
After the fun in the cathedral I went across next door to Lincoln Castle. As castles go it is actually pretty disappointing, most of it has fallen down (well the old bits anyhow), but it does have quite an interesting bit you can go in that used to be the city gaol. Also there (APPARENTLY) is a copy of the Magna Carta. Which is all well and good except it was out on loan to the Americans the day I was there! So I saw a fantastic replica of it....mildly disappointing.
Unsurprisingly me being the big nerd that I am I had spent nearly a whole day in these two places; I spent what remained of the day wandering around the shops on the Bloody Steep Hill and the town centre.
Lincoln- nice place, big hill, wear comfortable shoes (big hill- very good for working the bum)
