When I set off from London, I had no idea what to expect from Gloucester. It’d been a long day of travel, wracked with emotional ups and downs, my bones were sore and I wasn’t exactly in a great mood. A three hour bus ride did little to improve matters and when I finally arrived at the little coastal city in the Southwest of the UK, I was downright cranky. A large part of that was due, undoubtedly, to the dehydration I was feeling. (Pro tip: If you aren’t sweating or thirsty, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to drink water!)
Still, as the bus pulled in to Gloucester I noticed a number of things about the town. The first was its age. Even by English standards, Gloucester looks old. There’s none of the steel and glass of London in sight. It’s all stone architecture, cobbled streets and weatherworn bridges. There seemed to be many more churches per square foot as well, and none of the newer businesses that seem to be dotting the landscape of most cities in the UK.
Thanks to the dehydration and the crankiness, I didn’t do much the first night. Met my brother, who lives in the town and then we went to walk about a bit. The highlight of the evening was a visit to Cafe Rene. Just like the little cafe in ‘Allo Allo‘, Cafe Rene is a low-ceilinged pub with a little courtyard area outside. It’s steeped in history, having been built into an old abbey that incorporated some Roman ruins as well. There’s a genuine Roman well in the outside area and their main dining area has a lovely ceiling of old wine bottles in racks.
Day 2 in Gloucester was all about history and walking about. I visited the Gloucester Cathedral and saw some old sailing ships sail into the city quay for the annual Tall Ships Festival.
Here’s a quick video of the cathedral that I managed to shoot.
I also managed to shoot a whole bunch of pictures at the quay and around the cathedral:
