Monday 21 October 2013

King Alfred the Great

King Alfred ruled Wessex from 871 until his death in 899. His base was in Winchester which he made the capital of England.
He has an impressive statue on the main street of the city, and it was the first thing we saw when we walked in from our campsite.
It is a very blustery and rainy day, so we were very fortunate to disembark from our cruise yesterday after a very calm passage across the Bay of Biscay.
We met some lovely people on the cruise at our dinner table each night, and when we said we were coming to Winchester, they broke out into song. Apparently 'Winchester Cathedral' was a popular tune back in the day!
The Cathedral was very elegant, as was the Buttercross, see pic 3. Our leaflet says that it has been on the Main Street for over 600 years. Strangely, a couple of hundred years later, someone must have thought it a good idea to build a large shop within a couple of feet of it.
Still very beautiful though.

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