Carlisle

The need to get the boy over to the University of Cumbria applicant day made for an early start but got me to Carlisle by nine o’clock, and into the Olive Tree café for a bacon sandwich by nine-thirty, from where I sauntered the sunny streets admiring the town’s distinctive character – the fine market square fronting the old town hall, the cathedral, the castle, and Tullie House; attached to the last mentioned was the museum and art gallery that kept me occupied for a few hours with Roman relics, Viking artefacts, Pre-Raphaelite paintings and Cumbrian landscapes, and when I had my fill of culture I settled in the café and had my fill of lunch.