We Must Be Mad: Chester

Having travelled by train we made our way to Chester, quoted as being ‘one of Britain’s finest heritage cities.’ We were not disappointed. We explored Chester’s unique world-famous attraction – The Rows. These two-tiered medieval shopping galleries with their distinctive black and white architecture are over 700 years old.

Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire built fortress Deva here to suppress fierce Welsh tribes across the border and stayed for over 200 years. They built the original city walls and created the largest amphitheater ever uncovered in Britain where 7000 spectators watched spectacular events including circuses and gladiatorial combat. We walked the two mile complete circuit around the walls towards the end of the afternoon. By this time my feet and legs were feeling it and we haven't even started the Wales Coast Path yet....and this was without our 15-18 kilogram packs on our backs!

Chester Cathedral stands on the site of the 10^th-Century Saxon church, dedicated to the Mercian princess St Werburgh, whose shrine was the focal point for medieval pilgrimage. It became a Benedictine Abbey in 1092 and was closed in 1540 due to the Dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. The following year it became the Cathedral of Chester Diocese. The cathedral was so large and with so much to see that Greg and I got separated and couldn't find one another for ages.

The city’s original cathedral, St Johns Church, was built by the armies of William the Conqueror on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon building. The ruins of the earlier church still form part of the site. In a corner of the church, we saw a pile of rough stone carvings and were told this was the largest collection of Saxon and Viking crosses in the UK.