This was the day of the great rain storm. Last night I had taken the wrong route home and came out at the road above the service area and continued northward unable to find a cross over at the subsequent service area and having to continue yet further towards Sheffield before travelling back and addition of 20 odd miles which I could have done without. The consequence of the longer journey to the accommodation together with a day in the fresh air resulted in going to bed and sleep around 10 pm for the second day in succession. It was therefore not surprising that I awoke early and started to write around 5am. I continued until seven or so when I lost the work which was irritating. It was not surprising that I felt tired around 8 and returned to bed and slept a little. When I woke and checked the day it was dark and full of heavy rain and I was content to stay in rewriting and relaxing for most of the morning. I had purchased a four pack of pan au chocolat and two for £5 pasta salads and fruit salads for the next two days, plus some skimmed milk. I also had drank most of a bottle of lemon and lime still water, a large bottle, for the same price as the smaller plain still water but there was sufficient for half a flask together with some coffee for the day's trip. I decided to visit Newark on Trent rather than head for the City centre as the rain became torrential. Although the heat rash had cleared up I was in no immediate mood for walking in such rain which was a great pity as there was much to see in this small market town with its imposing parish church of Mary Magdalene and the ruins of its castle laid waste by Charles the first.
The town is the heart of the road and railway network although the Great North Road, the A1, now b passes the town but the main East Coast line uses one station the two railway stations with the second connecting to Nottingham/Leicester and Lincoln. There are river trips and canal type boats and there are buses services to Nottingham, Lincoln, Mansfield and Southwell my next destination. The weather conditions caused me to abandon exploration by bus travel and I toyed with going to Nottingham for a performance of Journey to the Centre of the earth in 3 D as the local Cineworld did not have the technology. The town has a mixture of buildings with many fine examples of Victorian architecture and on one circumnavigation I stopped to turn around as a shopping development where I was surprised to find a new Woolworth store, given the closure of many such stores in towns such as Sunderland although that at South Shields has recently had a face lift. It was an odd place for a picnic lunch followed by a siesta but the rain continued be fierce. The road to Southwell took me past what I later learnt is the best preserved workhouse building in the UK, rescued by the National Trust when it was to turned into apartments. It is the kind of find I would normally jump at but I wanted to return to the Minister which I had briefly explored on a my previous visit to the area. I was imprisoned in my vehicle in the car park for a long during further cloud burst. It happened suddenly and one poor pedestrian was caught in the open without an umbrella and was soaked.
My patience was rewarded and as soon as there was a break in conditions I walked the short distance from the car park, where the stay is free for the first two hours to the entrance when a volunteer was anxious to greet me and would I am sure conduct me around had I not indicated firmly that I wanted a period to reflect as well as revisit at leisure on my own. The church was founded in Saxon Time and rebuilt by the Normans as part of the Diocese of York. The church became the Cathedral of Nottinghamshire in 1884 and for practical purposes has been divided into two parts with for everyday services there is an altar and choir area at the end of the Nave. I sat at the back any my attention was immediately taken by the Sculpture of Christus Rex by Peter Bull 1987 fixed high above on the crossing arch. With hands outstretched the figure appears to be lit, to glitter and I am still not sure of its impact within this ancient building. Similarly I needed time to appreciate the1996 West Window, the Angel Window created by Patrick Reyntiens. This creates a great sense of light and contrasts with the traditional 15th century side widows with Victorian glass. Unfortunately the leaflet and web site do not provide information on two features which affected me most. The first were sculpture to represent the stations of the cross, each a small table on which are scenes in contemporary forms. I was also affected by the Kelham Madonna and Child made in wood. I had hoped to also sit alone the chapter house and think of all those who had sat here in the past deciding upon the affairs and interests of the church but on two attempts I had to share with other visitors as the weather cleared, for a time and people ventured from their vehicles. At the end of my visit I spoke with the volunteer about the town and its community and my conclusions was reinforced after managing some walking. The town centre has a good array of traditional looking shops with several attractive Inns where eating and drinking out at tables in courtyards and pavements is a feature except for days such as this but everything is on a smaller and more intimate scale than Beverley. Similarly while there is green space it is comparatively small. The Burbage Green with Old Court House is the traditional Village Green and is used for roadway car parking but also has the house where Lord Byron reluctantly spent his holidays from school and college with his mother (Burbage Manor).My approach was to locate car parks before exploring, given the weather conditions and that they were free. I followed one sign down a single track lane to where it is located opposite a large parkland and play area but I failed to locate this on the internet with included a virtual tour guide which views fro, the town centre, the Leisure centre and the Minster School. Overall this is a very prosperous, middle class community where there is not the visible signs of poverty although from one car park ticked away used before exploring Burbage Green, the possession of a home were being loaded on an open lorry truck and had clearly been the process of loaded during the storms. The most likely explanation was a house or flat clearance and the furniture looked old and inexpensive. For a town of 7500 it has a 25 metre pool, fitness centre with squash and badminton courts at the Leisure where there are also facilities for young children. Southwell Minster school nearby is considered to be a private school but is a state funded secondary establishment which has recently been rebuilt with the latest facilities as a specialist college in humanities and music. There is an annual folk festival held in June and a race course and in August Ladies Day is the social event of the year where ladies are encouraged to dress up with prizes for best hats and shoes as well as best dressed. A final insight into Southwell life is that at the public toilet visit before I left there were tiny discrete typed notices advising that two good looking gentleman offered male to male escort service which would blow ones mind and that they could travel and accommodate. The treat of the day was an early evening meal at a nearby village restaurant converted from a former Inn which will remain nameless as it rightly should remain a treasure for local people. There is a £15 early evening menu from which I enjoyed a mackerel starter with horseradish, followed by pork with fresh vegetables and small pieces of roasted potatoes served to the table in attractive and keep warm containers appropriate for the rural setting. The third course was a slice of apple pie with a raspberry sorbet ice cream. I drank still water and regretted not having coffee. I was in such a good mood after this meal that I did not get into a state when on the way back to the motel I saw a sign Southwell eight miles after I had travelled at least eight miles from the area, not realising until afterward that this was a different route to the town. This time I worked out that I needed to go south rather than north on reaching the M1 with only a short distance before the service area and crossing over to the motel. There was not much time or inclination for recording and writing before another early to bed night. I kept in touch with the Test Match through the car radio and which revealed that there had been some play in the cricket between Durham and Nottingham, where the home side had reached 100 runs for four wickets and instinct based on experienced suggested that the match was moving towards a draw with two evenly matched sides aware that they had a chance to become county champions for the year.
The town is the heart of the road and railway network although the Great North Road, the A1, now b passes the town but the main East Coast line uses one station the two railway stations with the second connecting to Nottingham/Leicester and Lincoln. There are river trips and canal type boats and there are buses services to Nottingham, Lincoln, Mansfield and Southwell my next destination. The weather conditions caused me to abandon exploration by bus travel and I toyed with going to Nottingham for a performance of Journey to the Centre of the earth in 3 D as the local Cineworld did not have the technology. The town has a mixture of buildings with many fine examples of Victorian architecture and on one circumnavigation I stopped to turn around as a shopping development where I was surprised to find a new Woolworth store, given the closure of many such stores in towns such as Sunderland although that at South Shields has recently had a face lift. It was an odd place for a picnic lunch followed by a siesta but the rain continued be fierce. The road to Southwell took me past what I later learnt is the best preserved workhouse building in the UK, rescued by the National Trust when it was to turned into apartments. It is the kind of find I would normally jump at but I wanted to return to the Minister which I had briefly explored on a my previous visit to the area. I was imprisoned in my vehicle in the car park for a long during further cloud burst. It happened suddenly and one poor pedestrian was caught in the open without an umbrella and was soaked.
My patience was rewarded and as soon as there was a break in conditions I walked the short distance from the car park, where the stay is free for the first two hours to the entrance when a volunteer was anxious to greet me and would I am sure conduct me around had I not indicated firmly that I wanted a period to reflect as well as revisit at leisure on my own. The church was founded in Saxon Time and rebuilt by the Normans as part of the Diocese of York. The church became the Cathedral of Nottinghamshire in 1884 and for practical purposes has been divided into two parts with for everyday services there is an altar and choir area at the end of the Nave. I sat at the back any my attention was immediately taken by the Sculpture of Christus Rex by Peter Bull 1987 fixed high above on the crossing arch. With hands outstretched the figure appears to be lit, to glitter and I am still not sure of its impact within this ancient building. Similarly I needed time to appreciate the1996 West Window, the Angel Window created by Patrick Reyntiens. This creates a great sense of light and contrasts with the traditional 15th century side widows with Victorian glass. Unfortunately the leaflet and web site do not provide information on two features which affected me most. The first were sculpture to represent the stations of the cross, each a small table on which are scenes in contemporary forms. I was also affected by the Kelham Madonna and Child made in wood. I had hoped to also sit alone the chapter house and think of all those who had sat here in the past deciding upon the affairs and interests of the church but on two attempts I had to share with other visitors as the weather cleared, for a time and people ventured from their vehicles. At the end of my visit I spoke with the volunteer about the town and its community and my conclusions was reinforced after managing some walking. The town centre has a good array of traditional looking shops with several attractive Inns where eating and drinking out at tables in courtyards and pavements is a feature except for days such as this but everything is on a smaller and more intimate scale than Beverley. Similarly while there is green space it is comparatively small. The Burbage Green with Old Court House is the traditional Village Green and is used for roadway car parking but also has the house where Lord Byron reluctantly spent his holidays from school and college with his mother (Burbage Manor).My approach was to locate car parks before exploring, given the weather conditions and that they were free. I followed one sign down a single track lane to where it is located opposite a large parkland and play area but I failed to locate this on the internet with included a virtual tour guide which views fro, the town centre, the Leisure centre and the Minster School. Overall this is a very prosperous, middle class community where there is not the visible signs of poverty although from one car park ticked away used before exploring Burbage Green, the possession of a home were being loaded on an open lorry truck and had clearly been the process of loaded during the storms. The most likely explanation was a house or flat clearance and the furniture looked old and inexpensive. For a town of 7500 it has a 25 metre pool, fitness centre with squash and badminton courts at the Leisure where there are also facilities for young children. Southwell Minster school nearby is considered to be a private school but is a state funded secondary establishment which has recently been rebuilt with the latest facilities as a specialist college in humanities and music. There is an annual folk festival held in June and a race course and in August Ladies Day is the social event of the year where ladies are encouraged to dress up with prizes for best hats and shoes as well as best dressed. A final insight into Southwell life is that at the public toilet visit before I left there were tiny discrete typed notices advising that two good looking gentleman offered male to male escort service which would blow ones mind and that they could travel and accommodate. The treat of the day was an early evening meal at a nearby village restaurant converted from a former Inn which will remain nameless as it rightly should remain a treasure for local people. There is a £15 early evening menu from which I enjoyed a mackerel starter with horseradish, followed by pork with fresh vegetables and small pieces of roasted potatoes served to the table in attractive and keep warm containers appropriate for the rural setting. The third course was a slice of apple pie with a raspberry sorbet ice cream. I drank still water and regretted not having coffee. I was in such a good mood after this meal that I did not get into a state when on the way back to the motel I saw a sign Southwell eight miles after I had travelled at least eight miles from the area, not realising until afterward that this was a different route to the town. This time I worked out that I needed to go south rather than north on reaching the M1 with only a short distance before the service area and crossing over to the motel. There was not much time or inclination for recording and writing before another early to bed night. I kept in touch with the Test Match through the car radio and which revealed that there had been some play in the cricket between Durham and Nottingham, where the home side had reached 100 runs for four wickets and instinct based on experienced suggested that the match was moving towards a draw with two evenly matched sides aware that they had a chance to become county champions for the year.
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