Chester

The north west of England starts to get a bit full as Damian covers the historic city of Chester...or at least some of it as it turns out the place is packed with bridges.

I used to come to Chester when I wanted to buy things. Then I came to Chester whenever I needed a reminder from the optician about how blind I was. These days, however, my visits are purely for these things:

Chester has millions of bridges, so many that I couldn't fit viewing them all into one trip so I am concentrating on those to be found around the city centre and down by the river. These three all span the canal that runs through the city. The first is located next to a pub, which has the honour of being the only pub in Chester in which Damian has sat and drank whilst dressed as Darth Vader.

The second is a view from a bridge, as I couldn't really get a proper view of it. There were big gates and locks in the way.

The third photo is rather interesting. It shows what can happen when people put buildings in the wrong place. Obviously the bridge at one time allowed people to cross the canal, however due to some crazy building ideas, the bridge now ends in a brick wall.

Now, as anyone who's ever seen any of the vast amounts of promotional material Chester churns out will know, there's a great big wall around Chester. Originally this was to keep the Welsh scum out, but these days most of them aren't annoying us too much so the soldiers are gone and the gates removed. With the gates no longer there, these entrances to the city can now be classed as bridges.

This is just a random bridge I spotted whilst walking around. It make be part of the wall, but I couldn't really tell from this distance. Anyone who's that bothered can go and check it out for themselves.

Bridges are held in such high regard in Chester that they've even named a road after them. This is Bridge Street, at the bottom of which (quite a long way down as this is no small road) is this bridge:

This bridge crosses the Dee, just below the weir. Its a very useful bridge in that it indicates where, if you're driving a boat, you should really think about turning round before you find your vehicle torn to bits on the rocks.

Chester has built up a big industry around bridges, such as the one above which provides cruises to see many of the nearby bridges.

Further up the river is this bridge, the Queen's Park bridge. Look familar? No? Maybe if we view it from an another angle...

Yup this is the bridge seen at the beginning of that high-quality Channel 4 soap opera 'Hollyoaks'. I myself make sure never to miss the opening credits so that I can catch a glimpse of this marvellous construction. After the opening 30 seconds, however, make sure you are quick with the remote or you may find yourself experiencing 30 minutes of pure, undiluted pain.

There are of course many other bridges in Chester. As I was sat on the train home, I spotted several around the station that I'd missed and will have to go back and review again later...unless of course someone else wants to do it, which will save me a 90 minute train journey and £7.60.

- Damian, September 2005

uk europe world