7/1 Walking the Old Walls in Chester

Chester has one of the most complete surviving Roman walls surrounding the main part of the city of any city in the UK.  There were started as just piles of earth, but were rebuilt with stone beginning in about 100 AD but not finished until 100 years later.  After the Romans left, the walls were improved in about 907 AD and completed to form a circle around the city in Medieval times.  

They are a couple of miles around, and one guide says it takes 41 minutes to walk completely around them.  Based on my experience, that would have to take a very athletic person who did not stop to read all of the historical markers.  I walked about 2/3 of the way around and spent a little over an hour.  

I started my walk at this clock, which is located in one of the busiest areas of the central city, and sits on a section of the wall.  

 

 

The sign says this was erected as a result of public donations.  By the way, it was about 10 minutes off, which is not too bad for a 126-year-old clock.  I have no idea how often they set it.  

 

 

Viewa looking down at the street from the clock.  

One of the sections of the wall.  Very easy to walk on.   

 

Occasionally, you will find watch towers that the Romans built along the wall.   

 

 

View of a quiet residential street.   

 

 

 View of the back of the cathedral. 

 

 

More sections of the wall. 

 

 

A river runs along part of the wall, and this is a lock used by riverboats.  While these long, narrow boats used to carry cargo, they now are used for homes and vacation rentals.  You can sometimes see them moving slowly along the web of canals in England.  

The water tower below was built between 1322 and 1325 to monitor river traffic and protect the city.

A section of ruined Roman construction. 

 

 

At this point, the wall walk goes along a city street, and I got a bit bored with it, so quit.   

 

 

The best part was that when I got off the wall and started to walk back to the center of the city, I walked down this road and found a hair salon that was not only open but had a big sign advertising walk-ins, I was happy to get my hair cut!! 

It was a good day's exercise.  Amazingly, even though I was getting out of breath walking earlier this summer and spring in the U.S., I have been walking up to 3 miles per day when I am in a big city on this trip, which makes me happy.  Part of the reason I have been able to walk these distances is that it is not all in one period--lots of stops to look at things and go into shops, plus opportunities to use a bench from time to time.