Saturday, 7 June 2025

 

Saturday 7th June                   HINGHAM – SHERWOOD FOREST – LINCOLN

Robyn writes: Another travel day today. We were up around 7.30, and it didn’t take too long to have breakfast and finish packing everything. We had the car loaded, said goodbye to Steve, our host, and were on our way by 9.30. Dark clouds were overhead, and it began raining soon after we left Hingham. There was a yellow thunderstorm warning issued by the Met for pretty much the whole of the south of the country today – it was taken seriously, as quite a few events across the country were cancelled.

As it doesn’t take all that long to get to Lincoln, we’d decided to go via Sherwood Forest (and channel Robin Hood-type vibes), so we crossed our fingers and hoped the weather gods would be kind to us. It was a two-and-a-half-hour trip, and it rained pretty much all the way. We stopped west of Kings Lynn around 10.30 for a coffee and cuppa, and realised neither of us had ever been to a Starbucks before (they seem very popular around here.) Not sure we’ll ever go back, it was around $15AUD for a cup of tea and a coffee, and neither of us was particularly impressed by them. Our trip today was almost all on the A roads, so no single lane dodging and swerving and death-defying oncoming traffic, which made a nice change. We’ve realised that the navigator takes you down the tiniest lanes if it thinks that will save a minute, so we’ve started checking in our map book and overriding it sometimes!

We reached Sherwood Forest just after midday, so parked (6 pounds, and it took ages for Lex to get the app to work on his phone – sounds just like Yeppoon.) It was raining, so we were really grateful to get into the Arts and Crafts centre which was warm and welcoming, and had a café with a nice selection of lunches. Once we’d eaten, we headed to the visitor centre and then down into the forest. Sherwood Forest is of course the legendary home of Robin Hood and his merry men, and the Major Oak is a big drawcard. It’s between 800 and 1100 years old, and is arguably the UK’s most famous tree. There are lots of props to hold up the branches, and a fence around to stop people walking too close. We did the walk out and back from it, which took about 45 minutes, and was lovely, looking at all the ancient oak trees. We saw an adorable little robin, but he flew away before I could get a photo. Thankfully, the rain held off until we were back at the visitor centre.

                                                               Oak leaves
                                                       The Major Oak - around 1000 years old

                                                       Statue of Robin Hood and Little John fighting

It was raining again in earnest as we headed back to the car and set off for Lincoln (with the odd bit of lightning around), only about an hour’s drive. But once more the weather gods decided to smile on us, as it was clearing as we drove into the city and navigated our way to our accommodation for tonight, right in the heart of the medieval town. We’re staying in The Old Palace Lodge (though it actually looks more like an old church), in the shadow of the cathedral. We have a lovely, very comfortable room, and the bonus is having parking for the car included. So as soon as we’d booked in, and I had a cuppa, we went out and went straight into the old town.

                                                    We're staying at the Old Palace Lodge
                                                      The cathedral looms overhead

We are right near Steep Hill (very accurately named), which is a wonderful mixture of mainly medieval old shops and pubs. A hospital established in 1612 is right across the road, and the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace are next to us. We had a glorious couple of hours going down the hill (pretty easy) then exploring the nearby Temple Park and coming back up the hill (definitely not so easy!) Temple Park is on the site of a Roman temple (handily rebuilt by the Victorians) and there is even a bit of Roman wall remaining.

                                                 The appropriately named Steep Hill

After our wandering, we headed for the cathedral. I think I’m running out of superlatives for the various cathedrals we’ve seen, but this one was awe inspiring. It just seemed to go on forever, and had so many chapels, chantries and wings, it was like a small city. Those medieval craftsmen certainly knew their art. We were very lucky, as for almost all the time we were in there, there was musical accompaniment; first the organist was rehearsing some very dramatic music (shades of Phantom of the Opera!) and then the choir rehearsed, so we had heavenly music. I found the graves of Eleanor of Castile, and Katherine of Gaunt, two famous medieval women. We spent an hour or so in there, before heading outside to check out the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace, and walk right around the cathedral, which took some time.                                                    

                                                 Amazing vaulted ceilings and stained glass

By then I was starving, so we agreed on the pub, The Widow Cullen’s Well for an early tea. The building is several hundred years old, and the widow in question apparently used to be very nice and let her neighbours use her well. The well is still in existence, but wisely covered over at the back of the building. It’s also a Samuel Smith pub – they are a bit of a chain, and make their own beer, so Lex tried their stout. We had a lovely meal and I had a most agreeable glass of white wine, so immediately after, of course, I was ready to lie down! Lex walked me back to the Old Palace, then he went off to explore a bit more for an hour or so while I wrote the blog.

                                                The Widow Cullen - a gorgeous old building

So far, we are really impressed with Lincoln. Hopefully the weather will be kind and let us have a bit more of a look around before we set off tomorrow, to Yorkshire.

                                                            Sherwood Forest
                                                        Lincoln Cathedral

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