A weekend in Nottingham

We have been having such a pleasant time in Nottingham - moored in the very nice Nottingham Castle Marina since Friday, where the staff and boaters have been so friendly and helpful.
Yesterday we took a walk around the city – the very warm weather seemed to bring the crowds out in the centre of town. 

Nottingham centre with its fountains in front of the town hall.
We visited Nottingham Castle which, for some reason, we didn’t see last time we were here.  The actual “castle” was left to ruin and the mansion built in it’s place was gutted by fire (very careless the people of Nottingham!) so the internals of the building are virtually non existent.  Most of the building is taken up by an art gallery which, sadly, exhibits the paintings very poorly.  The basement is taken up by a very interesting “History of Nottingham” exhibition but for £5.50 it was worth it. 
Doug outside the front door of the castle.
From some very timely advice (thanks to Ian and Karen (nb Tacet) we visited the oldest pub in England -  the “Trip to Jerusalem”.  Amazingly, its all built into the rock at the bottom of the castle so inside a lot of the rooms are like caves.  Below the castle there are caves and tunnels which can be visited at certain times – sadly we didn’t have the time!

“Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem” - a very busy place especially on a sunny weekend.

Nottingham Castle sitting high on the rocky outcrop.

Today (Sunday) we planned to meet up with friends Di and Steve, as they were over here from their home in France and visiting their daughter in Nottingham.  We took them out for a trip on ‘Chance’  through Nottingham for an hour or so before lunch.

Steve taking to steering ‘Chance’ “like a duck to water!”

while Di did all the heavy work at Nottingham Castle Lock!

Steve, Di and James enjoying yet another warm day in Nottingham.  Yes, that is Champagne in those glasses!

Steve being so confident at steering ‘Chance’ with his glass of bubbly as well!  Show off!!!

We moored up again in the marina and had a lovely meal at the Waterfront Bar in glorious sunshine.  A lovely day and we hope to see you both again very soon…..
Tomorrow we will head out of Nottingham and back onto the Trent and Mersey Canal towards Burton on Trent.