"We will leave by 7:00am," said I, rashly, thinking the day's entertainment began at 9.
I checked the schedule.
Ringing began at 10am, so we were not in such a rush.
As a consequence, it was around 8:00am before we left.
We trundled up the M5,crawled at the regulatory 30mph through five miles of roadworks
on the Oldbury Viaduct
before joining the M6,
then the M54
and the very long and winding A41 -
passing through towns and villages,
overtaking tractors
and enjoying the sunlit countryside.
"Are those the Welsh mountains?" enquired the KHT.
I checked the map.
To my surprise, we were only about 5 miles from the border.
"Yes, those mountains are definitely in Wales."
They may look small and insignificant in the photo, but they were some way off.
Lunch had been prebooked at a hostelry.
We passed a pub by the name of the Black Dog.
The original plan was to have lunch there,
but unfortunately, it had recently closed with no warning,
following a modern trend.
We passed another establishment - The Cheshire Cat.
"Are we eating there?" enquired the KHT, approving of the name of this establishment.
I checked the itinerary
"No, sadly not. We are having lunch at The Plough in Christleton."
Our first tower was Chester Cathedral,
with its distinctive detatched Addleshaw tower.
The bells used to be located in the central tower of the cathedral. Unfortunately, it became apparent that the weight of the bells created too greater strain on the building.
To solve the problem the bells were relocated to a purpose-built belltower, situated in the cathedral grounds.
Given the long and arduous climb required to reach the ringing chamber at most large churches and cathedrals, this was a welcome relief.
Our instructions were to park in Abbey Square.
The entrance was narrow and through a low archway.
We missed it the first time and had to turn around.
The bollard was down, so we drove in.
On the ground floor were chunky modern stained glass windows which reminded me of the modern glass at Coventry Cathedral and Buckfast Abbey.
A single turn of a modern wooden spiral took us to the ringing floor - much less physically challenging than the long and winding staircases and narrow passageways required to ringing at most cathedrals.
We arrived just after they had started ringing, but were not the last.
Another ringer arrived about ten minutes after us and explained that he had been directed to park in the nearby multi-storey.
In the general discussion that followed we realise that none of the other ringers had managed to gain access to Abbey Square. When they arrived the bollard was raised and the person on the other end of the intercom was redirecting ringers to a nearby car park.
"We just drove in..."
The rest of the ringers turned and looked at us.in amazement.
"The bollard was down so we assumed they were expecting us.." said DH
Maybe the Bishop drives a similar coloured Ford with tinted windows...
"Let's hope we can get back out again!" I
"Oh, it will be fine. Getting in is the tricky bit. The bollard will just lower to let us out."
Fortunately, he was right. The bollard obediently lowered itself allowing us to escape when we had finished our ringing.
Our second tower should have been Eccleston, but the organiser had not been able to confirm that we could ring there. Fortunately, we were able to ring at St Mary's-outside-the-walls instead.
As both would have been new towers for us we were happy with either. St Mary's had a most impressive church centre adjacent to the church. The people on reception kindly allowed us to use the facilities - which was very much appreciated.
Lunch was next. Fortunately, the tour organiser had found another pub that would happily accommodate a quick influx of about sixteen visitors on a schedule.
DH and the manager had a quick conflab as to what he could eat - gluten-free sausages, new potatoes and mixed veg were selected.
Three towers followed after lunch - Christleton, Tarporley and Malpas - all of them grand in their own way.We read the peal boards at Christleton with great interest,
admiring the lengths rung to celebrate royal events so long ago.
Noting that the date touch for 1901 was 1903 changes long!
These days a date touch would be expected to match the number of changes, to the year, precisely.
Things must have been different back then.
Prior to this outing, I had only passed through Cheshire en route to a further destination.
Tantalising glimpses of canals and countryside,
small towns and little villages,
as well as the interesting architecture of Chester itself,
tempt me to return.
After all, we never set foot in the cathedral proper!
The question is, how many years will elapse before we revisit Cheshireland?
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