Sun on Saturday: Paternoster Square

I was in town on a sunny May day and with glorious weather and enough time to walk between appointments I found myself looking up at St Paul's Cathedral on the way towards Paternoster Square.

ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

Paternoster square is according to wikipedia "an urban development" and one owned by the Mitsubishi Estate, and not as I'd assumed by the Corporation of London. In recent years it's seen a total redevelopment from the Paternoster Square I remembered. That older version was of 1960s descent and well, it was pretty grim and it seemed not liked very much.

I remember it more for the lunchtime netball games we played there for many years, which were always followed by a dash back down Cheapside in our netball kit to get back to our desks on time. And our bright yellow bottom-skimming netball skirts caused quite a stir back in the City back then. 

So it was nice to have time to explore and experience the 2003 version with its central piazza, shops, offices and walkways which do suit the area so close to St Paul's so much more than before.

PATERNOSTER SQUARE COLUMN

The Paternoster Square column is 75 ft tall is a corinthian stone column topped by a gold leaf covered flaming urn and sometimes called the 'pineapple'  

At the other end of the square is the bronze Shepherd and Sheep which was commissioned for the previous Paternoster Square complex in 1975; for this latest redevelopment it was placed on a new plinth. Which explains why there was something familiar about it, not that I'm sure I had time to stop and admire it during those netball matches!

SHEPHERD AND SHEEP

And you might already know but Pater Noster is Latin for "Our Father" and being in the shadow of St Paul's it's aptly named. But did you know that the area takes its name from Paternoster Row which was the centre of the publishing trade and was devastated by bombing during the Blitz. No me neither. Today it's the new location for the London Stock Exchange which moved from Threadneedle Street in 2004 - that I did know!

Just a few streets away is the building of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers - one of the ancient Livery Companies of the City of London and represents the knife, sword and utensil makers. Like many of the City Liveries it no longer has a close association with its trade, which mostly relocated to Sheffield but remains a charitable institution administering educational initiatives such as scholarships and awards.

WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF CUTLERS

The building though is pretty and ornate. It's facade is decorated with a terracotta frieze which shows the process of knife-making as you'd expect. And while the frieze was special, for me it was the ironwork that caught my eye.

Walking further down the street I spotted some wisteria in full bloom. I'd not expected to see it here in the City of London just a stone's throw from the Cathedral.

AH... WISTERIA

And with a whiff of wisteria I was back in the slickness and often greyness of the City - and this rather smart car and sculpture caught my eye and I felt needed to be snapped.

Then I noticed the street name - Ave Maria Lane - and I'd just walked past Amen Corner too - and with that I was back within sight of  Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece. I've walked this way often but not until now had I spotted those street names - another reminder that we should all look up more often!

Holiday prep: Tickets, information, reading and learning the lingo

In the past week the tickets and information for our cycling holiday to Bavaria have arrived, which I guess means it's really happening. Their arrival also prompts another burst of excitement and equal amounts of trepidation about our trip, a look to make sure everything's as I expected and another scan through the checklist of the things we'll need to take with us.

On this trip, one way or other we'll be cycling a minimum of 224 km over six days - eek that's the first time I've added it all up, and now it sounds an awful lot! I think that'll be our minimum as I'm sure we'll take some planned (and more likely) unplanned detours during that time...

Practical preparations 

We've had some practice recently too, with a few days in Norfolk clocking up some bike miles. I'm glad we did as from that I learnt:

• My bike saddle is very comfortable and padded. And while I have my own inbuilt padding that I'll be taking with me, I don't know how comfortable the hire bike saddle will be, so I've ordered myself a gel padded seat cover incase I need it. 

• Flies and insects appear to aim for cyclists open mouths and eyes. While I can take action on the first of these, I think I'll be well advised to keep the latter open. So with that in mind I've bought some new sunglasses with a lighter tint on the lens which I hope will work if the weather's not too sunny.

• In Norfolk we caught the sun, even though it wasn't overtly sunny and I ended up with some rather unattractive tan lines; while they've faded it's not something I want to repeat, so the suntan lotion will also be in the case and close to hand (that means in MOH's panniers) while we cycle. 

• Wet wipes are also bought and ready to pack because, well because you never know when you might need them do you?

• We'll be cycling for six days and so will need clothes for that and while I don't wear full cycling gear (unless pedal pushers count!) I am considering buying some tops that have the technology to do the magic wicking thing, but only ones that'll avoid a repeat t-shirt tan incase the weather's warm. 

• We'll also need clothes to change into when we reach the hotel, and something to wear out to dinner too; plus our swimmers as at least one hotel has a pool (which might be much appreciated for recuperation purposes!) Add to that a couple of days in Munich once the cycling's done and it's all starting to add up, though as we're staying in four different hotels we can at least recycle some of our outfits!

• Although I'm not big on full cycling gear I do wear a cycling helmet which I'm taking with me. Add to that a larger-than-I-normally-use water bottle and the same for MOH, a small cycling toolkit and a puncture repair kit then it all starts to add up. And that means just checking one bag into the hold probably won't be enough, not even with my Master of Packing skills.  

Learning the lingo

When we travel we also like to have learnt at least a few basics of the language too, apart from being rude not to, we find it helps us feel more comfortable and enjoy our holiday more. It's not a lot but it's amazing how much you can pick up in a short amount of time whether that's before you go or even while you're away.

Our basics usually include: hello, goodbye, please, thank you as well as days of the week and numbers, asking how much something is, how to pay the bill and how to order something to drink whether that's water, tea, coffee, red wine or beer and the word cake often features too. Yes that pretty much sums up the essentials for us! 

At restaurants I'm often found thumbing through the menu reader section of our phrase book to ensure I'm not ordering something I'm allergic too - that's mostly seafood - and because I like to know what to expect to see in front of me. And although I had German lessons at school (until I took my options) very little of it has stuck and I don't think my schoolgirl German will really cut it. Frau James, I'm sure won't be surprised to hear this, so for this trip I'm learning some German using an app - I'll let you know how I get on!

Pre-holiday reading

As well as learning some basics of the language I'm also reading the travel books I bought a while back. Partly so we know something about the places we'll visit and partly so I can plan the few days we have in Munich. And although we're only cycling some of the Romantic Road (Romantische Strasse) when I saw this older book - prices are still in Deutsche Marks - I thought it may come in useful, if not for this holiday perhaps for another trip.

And that reminds me, I've still to sort out some holiday reading - what would you recommend?

Barras Nose, lashings of ginger beer and Tintagel Castle

So today I'm sharing the final part of our visit to Tintagel Castle; last week I left it as we paused briefly to look at Tintagel Haven and set about finding the perfect lunch spot on the National Trust's Barras Nose.  And Tintagel Haven - or should that be heaven - it's not a bad view is it?

Tintagel Haven is infact the small sand, shingle and stony beach you can see in the photo (and at high tide there's no beach) but it's better known for a spectacular cave, known as Merlin's Cave which provides the only access to the small and stony Westside Cove the other side of the headland. While we'd have loved to check it out, we were heading upwards to check out the views from Barras Nose, which was the first English Coastal acquisition by the Trust in 1897. 

It wasn't long before we spotted this stone with the inscription and spent some time twisting our heads round to read it and determine where it should start and end!

Well actually some of that head twisting to read the quote was a cunning plan to pause and take in the moment for a bit. Shortly though we were off again and found the perfect place to stop and eat the picnic we'd brought with us.

And it was here that I realised I'd made the wrong choice. I totally should have packed cans of ginger beer and not cloudy lemonade in our picnic! It really was a "lashings of ginger beer" kind of place and I'm pretty sure Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Timmy the dog had some adventures at Tintagel at some point. I just wish I'd remembered that before we were there!

Ah well a picnic with this as our view wasn't so bad after all, despite the wrong kind of fizzy drink...

LOOKING BACK AT TINTAGEL CASTLE

But the more we looked, the more we saw - and then we realised we'd missed out on a trip to the lower part of the castle. We'd clearly missed the signs to get down there and peer through that hole in the castle walls you can see in the photo above. That was disappointing and most likely as a result of not having a site guide, and we briefly considered going back to visit this spot.

But then we remembered it was at least 148 steps up, then the steps down there and all that in reverse and we still hadn't explored the Medieval section of the Castle on the mainland, which also had some steep steps up to it. Yes we it was only briefly considered!  However we consoled ourselves with the fact that our lunch spot provided a view of it that many people visiting the castle that day weren't getting!

While we were on Barras Nose we had a wander around after we'd demolished lunch - there's a route for a one mile walk on the National Trust website, but it's just as easy to follow your nose (around Barras Nose!) It too had some stunning views, just look:

Full from lunch and of the views, we headed back over to Tintagel Castle. This time though we didn't cross the bridge we turned left just past the ticket point and headed up these stairs. And they are as steep as they look - I'm not ashamed to admit I had a couple of pauses along the way and not just because I wanted to admire the view!

These took us up to the section of the castle on the mainland - and the advice we got on arrival was spot on. That was to start on the headland and leave the mainland section until after as there's a path from there leading back to the village. What they didn't tell us though was that that path means no steps down again (well maybe a few, but not like the way up!). And that advice also meant avoiding a trip around the shop on exit, always a plus!

As with other parts of the castle there were stunning views every way you looked!

I tell you the seagulls in Cornwall are very photogenic - and no chips in sight for these ones either.

Parts of the castle have sadly slipped into the sea, but as you can see from the pictures it is right on the edge and it's surprising that more hasn't been lost. Huge buttresses prevent the rest of the Grand Hall from sliding into the sea, and it shows just how important the work of English Heritage and the National Trust are in preserving our history.

THIS REALLY IS CORNWALL

We had a great time during our visit, the scenery and vistas were amazing - we were lucky of course that the weather was so good, I imagine we might not have had quite such a magical time in the wind and rain! And if I'm honest, the day was better than I expected it to be - this was one of MOH's choices and somewhere he'd visited as a child so he was keen to see it again.

And after an inspiring day we took the relatively step free path back towards the village, and the pub and instead of the ginger variety we opted for a pint of the local brew and people watched while we got our breath back! Then it was onto the Old Post Office at Tintagel, which I must dig out the pictures from and share with you too.