Gloucester, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2023

Date: 6th October 2023

Travelled: Cheltenham to Gloucester by Bus

Visited: Gloucester

Stayed: Briarfields Campsite, £30, N51.89430, W02.13390

Budget: 135 days @ €96 per day

Returning from Cheltenham late yesterday, we wander around to a B&Q, the English version of Bunnings in Australia. A small pack of 6 gauge screws is £7 that’s A$1 per screw. After a 10 minute wander around B&Q I can see why renovating is so expensive here.

We enjoy a quiet evening at Briarfields. There’s no campfire get together with cheese pizza here, the English are all sitting inside their campers watching Tipping Point. They are an odd bunch.

Another forced march around Cheltenham before breakfast, then we’re off on the #50 bus, this time to Gloucester. It’s only a couple of miles further away than Cheltenham but lots more stops so an extra 15 minutes.

Gloucester is significantly different to Cheltenham. A Roman settlement was established here on the River Severn in 48 AD. Its importance as a trading port continued with the completion of the Sharpness Canal. The old town centre pivots on Gloucester Cathedral, whilst the beautifully restored Gloucester Quays is the fashionable hub of the city.

Only a block from the bus interchange we find Gloucester Cathedral, pictured above.

The ‘Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and the Holy and indivisible Trinity’ stands on the site of a Gloucester Abbey which dates to 679. At 130 metres in length it’s huge, but more importantly it has a significant history.

Robert Duke of Normandy, the King who never was.

Pictured below, the cloisters. According to the blurb the finest vaulted cloisters in Britain.

Leaving the cathedral we note the wind has picked up a little and the temperature has dropped. We follow the signs for Gloucester Quays and the Port precinct.

Having walked the port and canal for an hour, interspersed with Pam wandering into dress shops, we unsuccessfully try to find somewhere for lunch. The port is a very trendy area lots of lovely shops and relatively expensive restaurants.

So we wander up to the main shopping strip in the old town. I settle for a Cornish pastie (we are less than 20 miles from Wales) and Pam the Mulligatawny soup (don’t know where Mulligatawny is) which was substantially cheaper than anything at the port.

I steer Pam towards the bus stop having carefully selected a route that avoid clothing shops and our visit to Gloucester is done.

Michael + Pam