We aimed to arrive at the Holiday Inn in Chester at 3 p.m. The booking form didn't include a street number, but we did have the coordinates. Unfortunately, our GPS wouldn't accept the last few digits, so we had to go with what it would accept. We figured it would get us close anyway.
A number of wrong turns, missed exits and backtracking later, we were told by the sweet-voiced GPS to turn left onto Wexford Road, then a hundred yards later, to do a u-turn at the roundabout. There was no Roundabout, just a set of lights with a large 'no u-turn permitted' sign. So on we went, along Wexford road into Wales. At least Lindy can now say she's been to Wales. I stayed in this area of Wales in 2006, stunning scenery, green mountains and curling clouds crowning them.
It was a number of miles before we came to turning place to take us back into England. Our destination, according to sweet voiced Sarina, was on the left. Not there, so we drove on, into Chester city through the west gate. I knew that the Holiday Inn was in Cowley, not right in Chester, so we got out of there and tried again. This time, we turned into the Business Park and found someone to ask; he soon put us right (it was just around the corner, tucked behind some bushes).
At last, we had arrived, although it was an hour and a half later than we'd planned. We were ecstatic when reception said we were on the ground floor. What they didn't say, and we soon found out, was that it was a long trek through endless corridors to our room.
The room made up for it - it was large and comfortable, with a lovely modern bathroom. We logged onto the wifi, and while I caught up with email and Facebook, Lindy went for a shower. About 15 minutes later, she was calling for me to come and help her. She had not been able to work out how to turn the water from bath spout to shower head, or how to mix the water so it was not boiling hot. There was almost enough water in the tub for a bath, but she said she hadn't been able to pull the plug. When she tried to pull the silver thing on the end of the bath, the plug remained in but the silver bit came off. There was water all over the floor because the shower screen was so narrow, but we eventually saw that the screen folded out. One had to do this before getting under the shower however, as there wasn't enough room once in to unfold it. There were two grab rails on the edge of the bath but Lindy was afraid to use them in case they were like the one at Athena.
Finally freshened up, we treated ourselves to dinner and went to the bar, where we had Tandori Chicken on Ciabatta, which was served with a salad, a small bowl of coleslaw, and crisps, although the menu had said 'chips'!
We woke to cloudy skies and the promise of rain after a wonderful sleep. We booked out, and the Holiday Inn permitted us to leave our car in their car park while we went into Chester. With only a short day to spend there, we decided to find and use a Big Red Bus to show us the city - you are able to get off and on these buses at will. I lived in Chester for 6 weeks or so in 2006, when I taught English to foreign students at a summer school in the University, and I remembered the city reasonably well, but it's better to see it with someone else.
The stop for the bus to Chester Railway Station was nearby and while we waited for the bus, we made a little breakfast of the wild blackberries we found there. We arrived at Chester Railway Station a little after 9 a.m. It's a lovely old building and after walking through it, and finding out that the Big Red Bus left at 10:15, went to the station cafe and had a hot drink and a Danish to round out of blackberries.
We went to the front of the top deck, which was covered, because the sky was lower and clouds darker. The drive through history was fascinating, and we snapped away even as it rained. We didn't have enough time to get out of the bus to explore, and the weather was deteriorating, but we got a good sense of the history. The driver stopped the bus at one point and came upstairs to point out a piece of the wall which showed the layers. The bottom layer, built by the Romans 1900 years ago, was extended by the Saxons and finally repaired by the Normans. It was easy to see the layers and the different way the stones had been laid.
We would have loved to get off and walk through the park by the River Dee, and even taken a boat down river, but by this time the rain was heavy and it was difficult to see much, so we decided to return to our car and continue on to Blackpool.
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