King Alf's Backyard. Winchester 9/501

There were three reasons why Winchester was always going to be better than Brigthon. Firstly it is enshrined in English folklore and holds the Round Table that Merlin, Arther and Lancelot all partied around. Secondly Frank Turner just wrote a song about the place. Thirdly King Alf has his own Twitter account telling tourists exactly where the fun is. These things alone should persuade anyone that the drive there is undoubtedly worth it.

I went with a clear view of what I wanted to see in the 4 hours we had to spend in the city. I wanted to see the Cathedral, I wanted to see the round table and I wanted to do the Mizmaze, if I wasn't to hungover. All of this was swept aside when we got to the high street and were blown away (quite literally they were quite loud) by the Meridian Drum Corps who were busking quite merrily outside Monsoon. Treating us with the delights of Downtown, Total Eclipse of the Heart and Aga Du, they brought the entire street to a stand still. It was just what we needed to kick start our exploration as we were running on nothing but hang overs and very little sleep. Yet again Neffi and I were impressed by the calibre and quality of the buskers, but I am beginning to think that maybe everywhere except Birmingham & Wolverhampton has a thriving busking scene as all the evidence seems to point this way...

After purchase of the obligatory coffee, we wandered into the Cathedral grounds to have breakfast and watched the very well dressed people dispense from the Sunday morning service. The Cathedral itself is both impressive and informative. The staff were very friendly and there was ample reading material explaining everything from British history to procedural information, with a bit of pop culture thrown in to boot. Much better organised than Bristol cathedral and with a lot more to see than in Chester. Although, we may have been a little biased as we are Austen fans; reading so much about her and seeing her grave site was a bit of a pilgrimage. I also learnt and actually managed to retain quite a bit from our brief tour. Having never studied English history that far back at school most of King Alf's story was new to me. I feel like I might be able to add to a conversation between Nick & the guys now, or at least follow what they are saying.

Another good find was Buddy's Dinner. Neff was severely lagging by midday and this Retro American diner was a pretty good bribe to keep her both happy and awake long enough to do a bit more site seeing. We recommend the milkshakes (especially the Oreo Cookie one).

We really enjoyed Winchester. Its up there with Cambridge as our favourite city so far. The place has plenty of history to immerse yourself in, and in an extremely accessible and way. Alas we were to hungover to find St Catherine's Mizmaze and ran out of time to see where Anne Boleyn got married. But now I know how to get there, there is very little stopping us from visiting again.

Also I stumbled across this Diary of a Busker whilst researching the trip & I recommend the read!