A Deva weekend

Where better to try out our camper van for our first "stop-over" than near Chester?


We stayed on a small site at a farm in Guilden Sutton, just over 2 miles from Chester

On the Saturday morning we cycled to and from Chester along part of National Cycle Network Route 45 - for much of the way along the Shropshire Union Canal.

So why Chester?

The name Chester is derived from the Latin for a Camp 'Castra' and the Roman name for Chester was 'Deva' - named after the goddess of the River Dee.

Among Chester's claims to fame are:

- the oldest race course in the Country;
- the Largest Roman Amphitheatre in the Country;
- the only surviving rock cut Roman Shrine in the Country;
- the most complete set of Town Walls in the Country;

... and did you know that Henry Gee was mayor of Chester in 1540. He cancelled the Traditional Shrove Tuesday football game and replaced it with a horse race. His surname is where we get the informal name for race horses - 'Gee Gee's'.

Here are some of the sights we saw as we walked through the city centre and all the way around the City walls

The Cathedral

The Town Hall

We started our clockwise circuit of the Walls at Northgate

We visited the Roman Gardens and Hypocaust

... then set off back to Guilden Sutton

... a grand day out