Friday 15 June 2012

Whittington

No layover day as expected as the weather was not nearly as bad as forecast........instead we pottered on to Wittington.  Although we have been this way before we have never stopped there and it seems that buses go regularly to Lichfield.  We have never stopped to visit Lichfield either so have decided to make it our long weekend stop.
A lot of the bridges we passed have these little stores in them and I have belatedly discovered (courtesy of Geoff reading it somewhere) that they were for keeping the hay in for the horses....I dread to think what might be inside them now
We were very fortunate with the weather all the way and for our walk up to explore what the village had to offer. that is until we were half way back to Petroc when the heavens opened and we became absolutely soaked....... The village has all one could need, Pubs, church, small grocery store, paper shop and post office and of course the buses.
After lunch I went for my trip to Lichfield.  Big towns and cities do not have the same attraction for me as they do for Geoff but I thought I should visit the Cathedral at least.  I was very pleasantly surprised with Lichfield.  It does not feel like the city it is but rather like a very large market town.
The 3 towers of the Cathedral stand out well.   It was not a peaceful visit as they had an open schools day where a very large number of children were doing various activities and all was hustle and bustle, although I am not complaining as it is lovely to see the children learning about some of their heritage.   This is the 3rd Cathedral on the site.  First there was a Normal one then Saxon and finally this Gothic edifice and it does have a very Gothic air about it.
When not gallivanting in towns or walking the towpath or going through locks or doing Giles' accounts or work on our Parish news or updating our Benefice website or reading or doing my crosswords and puzzles or one of my many domestic duties (cooking, cleaning, laundry) I am inclined at the moment to idle my time away playing Boggle on my ipad!!!!  Geoff gets very impatient with this activity and Barney also tries to sabotage me....
I tell you all this in case anyone reading this thinks we are on holiday!!
3.21 miles, 0 locks, 1hr 41 min

2 comments:

Mike and Poppy said...

I don't know if they were used as a hay store. Some time back, I was told by a BW employee that the small store in the bridge was for stop planks. That the bridge holes with the small store also have slots for the stop planks to fit in.

he had a name for the store, but I can't remember what it is.

regards

Mick

Gillygrove said...

thanks for the info. I was not sure that Geoff's explanation was correct and of course still don't know!!!