Day 19: So near and yet so far from Cambridge...

This morning we waved goodbye to our charming bolt hole (and the donkeys) at Uffington, Shropshire and headed first for Wroxeter, a few kms away, to inspect another Roman city before making our away across the midlands to Cambridge.

This pic on the left is probably the most spectacular part of the brief bit of Wroxeter we saw.  I have no idea what it is, alas.  On arrival, we saw that the complex was closed for winter and due to reopen to the teeming multitudes on 1 April.  We decided we'd sneak a look anyway, given it's out in the open, but some old trout suddenly leapt out of the nearby Visitors' Centre, waving her arms about and ordered us to bugger off.  I managed to get this pic as she was attempting to escort us off the premises.

 

I did say to her that we had come a very long way to see Wroxeter and that we had not been informed that it was closed.   She lightened up a bit then and said we could take pictures from the street and view the Roman forum foundations on the other side of the lane if we wished.  Also, if we cared to walk for 10 or 15 minutes up the lane we could see the little church whose builders had pilfered large amounts of Roman rubble for use in its construction.  We passed on that.

 

Not sure what this bit is either but it's adjacent to the whatsit above, a tiny bit of which appears on the left.  It was taken outside in the lane, after we had been frogmarched off the property.

 

This pic on the left is some metres away from the whatsit and the thingummy above.  Who knows what it was - a Fosseys perhaps? I wasn't allowed in to read the signage in the centre right of the pic.  

 

 

I do know what this pic on the right is as this was on the other side of the lane and the signage explaining its function was close by.  It's the remains of a colonnade that formed the front part of a forum and marketplace.

 

So that was it for Wroxeter.  Very disappointing that we were unable to inspect everything at close range.  Still, we saved ourselves the 3.5 pounds entry fee, so moosn't groomble.

 

Then  our long trek across the midlands and down to Cambridge began.  We tried to stick to minor roads but there were a few hair-raising motorway and roundabout negotiations around the Birmingham area.  Must say the midlands is pretty damn horrible - everything seemed grey and sooty and the villages we saw were grim and unappealing.    

 

   Our real ordeal started on the outskirts of Cambridge, which we reached a little before 1pm.  However it was 3 pm before we actually found our digs: the Days Inn motel at Junction 28, Cambridge.  Junction 28 is a just a motorway exit.  It was such a bastard to find and we were really stressed out and cheesed off.  However we did see some very pretty Cambridgeshire villages, some of them two or three times. ;-)

 

Our first priority should really be doing some washing.  Unsurprisingly there is no laundromat at Junction 28, although every variety of Krispy Kreme donut is available - sigh!  But we're too buggered to do anything this arvo apart from veg out, so that is what we shall do!

 

XXXX