27th May 2022

We moored outside one of the oldest buildings still standing in Lincoln, built in the 13th century, with  a tomb within one of the walls, is just one of the buildings more unusual characteristics.

A myth would have us believe, a 17th century woman fell down the stairs, broke her neck and died.

She now haunts the Witch & Wardrobe (she didn’t offer a free drink through)😥😪.

This pub was once a Trading Post, a Gentleman’s Retreat, A Bakery and a Fish & Chips shop, where people would travel miles just to eat there.

Thank Goodness it has been a pub for the last 30 years or so, still serving good ale at a reasonable price.

The evening we arrived, after a drink in the “Witch & Wardrobe”, the captain of NB Sefton, suggested eating out tonight, rather than slave over a hot stove. That man always makes a lot of sense and we didn’t need to be asked again. So off we went to the “The Greek Brothers”, all of 5 minutes’ walk. The food was very reasonably priced and brought back memories of our visits to the Greek islands over the years.

We definitely recommend this place.

The next day, Steph took the 09:35 train to Derby while Tilly took Paul for a long walk along the canal.  Tilly never complains but she prefers to run loose in the countryside, they later met up on Steph’s return in the Witch & Wardrobe.

On the Saturday morning, we set about exploring early, as we were limited to the number of days we could stop at these moorings. We climbed the hill to the magnificent cathedral we had seen on our approach to Lincoln the day before.

WE WERE NOT DISAPPOINTED.

A building steeped in history, Steph paid the £9 entrance fee and said it was worth it but as Tilly was not allowed in, her & Paul spent the time exploring the outside in the sunshine.

Alfred Tennyson, was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu".

Lincoln Cathedral:-

Building started in 1071, consecrated 1091, before being ravaged by fire some 33 or so years later. If that wasn’t enough, the Cathedral was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1184, there were also smaller earthquakes in 1990 and 2008, but these only shook the Cathedral. Henry III approved the removal of part of the Roman city wall in order to extend the Cathedral in 1254 and 56 years later the Central Tower was replaced with a spire. This made Lincoln Cathedral the tallest building in the world for over 200 years at 160m. The final scenes of one of Paul’s favourite films ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was shot within the Chapter House in 2005.

Our historical thirst, had not yet been quenched, so we thought would take a look at The Magna Carta,,, NO NO NO … not the document issued in June 1215 but a dog friendly pub next to the cathedral.

On our descent we were in for another treat, as Paul bought an ice-cream from a shop he had seen earlier when going up the hill, JUST ONE LICK and it was on the floor, Steph!!!!🤬 but Tilly was now in heaven 😊.

Paul had to retreat to the Witch & Wardrobe to console himself, while Tilly needed a lie-down after consuming that VERY VERY expensive ice-cream.

The mood was soon lifted as we met more members of the lady’s family who were going to see “Top Gun: Maverick” but before leaving they wanted to see the inside our boat.

Sadly, our time to leave Lincoln came all too soon.

Lincoln is a place well worth a visit and sadly we are not convinced we have truly done it justice in this blog, so please see the Instagram reel.

Steph returned to see “The hunchback of Notre Dame” in Lincoln Cathedral a few days later following our return to Saxilby. She thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic performance thanks to Lady Rosemary’s family getting her a ticket 😃

We look forward to returning again😊