Martha's Marvellous Munchies

You may remember that I recently mentioned people doing weird and wonderful things. Well, I found another one. Last year, Kenneth Wilson visited all 42 English cathedrals. On a bike. With a cello. It was a cargo bike; the whole setup, cello and all, weighed about 50 kg; and he mostly managed a rate of one cathedral per day, with occasional rest days and train journeys where absolutely necessary. That's a lot of cycling. Of course, he wrote a book about it, and when I found out he was on the schedule at Newark Book Festival, I had to go. It also provided the perfect excuse to visit Southwell Minster. Newark-on-Trent feels like it is in the depths of the Nottinghamshire countryside, but it isn't actually hard to get to, I thought as I buzzed along the dual carriageways of the A50, A453, A52 and A46 on a sunny Sunday morning. All along the route, the grass stood bleached and crispy, scorched by the summer heat.  Newark Castle with crispy grass The author event was at the National...

I read another blog post which started, "There comes a time in everyone's life, when one simply must go to Rotherham." And I thought that was such a good first line that I've nicked it. I had not, it is true, previously given much consideration to going to Rotherham. Then I worked out that Sheffield Cathedral and Rotherham Minster were not far apart, and the train ride from Derby was reasonably cheap. Moreover, my cousin Vicky lives in the area and I could pay her a long-overdue visit. Great, I thought, I'll schedule a trip in a few weeks' time. On Friday morning I looked at Rotherham Minster website and discovered that the church isn't usually open on Saturdays, but there was a Community Day the very next day. A bit of hasty texting later, and I had a plan: Rotherham Minster in the morning, Sheffield Cathedral in the afternoon, and Vicky would meet me in Sheffield city centre after that. Rotherham Minster The train to Sheffield was busy but uneventful. A...