Many UK towns and cities have a twinned friendship with a European town, one of these friendships is between the City of Lincoln and Neustadt in Germany.
One Christmas in 1982 a few stall holders from the German town decided that they were going to introduce their wares to the people of Lincolnshire. The original market had 11 traditional style German stalls and introduced a new culture to the UK.
Having been on the mailing list of North East Railtours for some time, this trip was always difficult to access as it runs on a friday. The charter company use the SRPS coaches and volunteers from Bo'ness in Scotland to serve meals on board and this particular trip has an end of year Christmas party atmosphere ! Cereal, Bacon Roll, Mince Pie and Mulled Wine on the outward journey with Christmas Dinner on the way back. I first took the plunge back in 2004 to book an Annual leave day from work to sample the experience and have done so six times since that first adventure. For me it's about the whole experience of the train, the food, the market, Christmas and a heavy dose of nostalgia !!
Class 55 Deltic "Royal Scots Grey"
A railtour running on a friday doesn't seem like it's going to be a great success, but with the added interest of some heritage Diesel traction (London Kings Cross - Edinburgh - Aberdeen route 1961 -1981) is a guaranteed success with the diesel fans particularly as it uses most of its former stamping ground. The nostalgia element for me was when I was a young boy I used to watch these powerful machines standing thundering away in Newcastle central station. There were 22 of them named after regiments and racehorses and sat in the time zone in between the Mallard and the Inter City 125.
"Steep Hill" Lincoln
The City of Lincoln has always attracted visitors from an early age due to it's original location high on a solitary hill amongst the flat county of Lincolnshire.
There was a Roman garrison at the top and as the city expanded, the need for an inland harbour that utilised local waterways became essential.
Lincoln Cathedral East End
The Normans arrived and brought the gift of the Cathedral which was completed in the 13th century.
Modern visitors ... shoppers and shadows !
I was last here for a concert in 2010 and it was unusual to see the City so quiet. The 2010 Christmas market was even quieter as it was cancelled due to snow and bad weather. Here are some images from my June 2010 blogpost when I was a young blogger with about 3 followers !! ... post number 10.
A quiet moment in the market on a friday
The market has grown to nearly 300 stalls that commence next to the Cathedral in the first image and continue into the Castle grounds (above) and then into an adjacent park and nearby streets. In some ways as one commentator says that it has become a victim of it's own success that the organisers do not seem to recognise as a lot of saturday visitors dislike the experience of pushing through crowds as trip advisor demonstrates. It is unfortunate that it becomes newsworthy for these reasons...
One of the best moments of my earlier 2010 visit was saturday lunch time when I sat having lunch in the sun near the tower for a while. I managed to peek over the market perimeter fence and dream that was me for 30 minutes ... it must have been a Castle worker.
Anyway, enough of waxing lyrical and dwelling in the past ... for the moment ( ! ), it was time to take in some sights ...
Souvenir hunter
Bubbleologist !!
Hans handy with his hands !
Somebody else handy with their hands.
Exchanging Plastic for wood !
The ultimate burger ?!
One of the burger stalls neighbours for the weekend !
With all of this, I was left in a spin ...
... as I didn't know who was a local, a visitor or an official anymore !!
As I made my way back to the railway station, one thing was certain that there was more effort made...
... in the local bakery shop ...
... than what there was on the wall outside ... need to spread the love around !
All to soon, it was over for another year wondering if I'll repeat the experience again next year all in the name of nostalgia !! I didn't plan on taking the last image but the engine was standing there for some time and I was left wondering if this engine would ever work this charter to Lincoln again...
Newcastle Central station ... Deltic 22 ...or ... ISO 1600 !!
And just to re-live my childhood one more time, it's arrival and then later departure as I stood next to this film maker ... the most powerful Diesel in it's day ....
Even though it raced up the East Coast mainline back home to Newcastle and beyond, it was a named after a regiment and not a racehorse ....
After visiting the Lincoln Christmas market several times on a North East Railtours / SRPS charter, I always wanted to come back and see the place operating under normal conditions. The opportunity never arose as a lot of my spare weekends were spent in Bristol during the last few years. A band I followed for quite some time (Iona) were doing a limited UK tour and as the brains behind the outfit came from Lincoln, this was an obvious choice for one of the dates.
Lincoln is probably best known visually for the cathedral's distinctive west front. The above view was taken from the castle tower and i waited specifically to get the sun shining on it in such a way that it highlighted the building effectively.
Lincoln Cathedral
As night photography on floodlit buildings used to be my thing years ago, I wasn't going to miss this opportunity considering I was staying overnight. Observers of my pictures may notice that I try to incorporate arches and frames to the subject. The picture didn't break that rule and i tried to add an extra dimension of people enjoying the view.
After this late photo outing, it was time to return to the Eagles guest house which was a modern house and provided a great en suite room for the price. It can be found via their own website and trip advisor (the first time that I was asked to put a review on !...must be desperate).
I went for wander in town and came across this house on a bridge, not quite Florence or Venice, but it was called the Glory Hole.
Nearby was a spiral staircase which provided a bit more if not unusual photographic interest....
....as did the artwork called Empowerment. The hands don't touch, but I was fortunate to get a viewpoint where it looked as if they did. The sun proved more of a problem as the picture is not perfect, but it provides some mystery to the point of the artwork.
Lincoln Castle
... and the shopping arcade was not that exciting but there was plenty of potential for photograph opportunities, I opted for this particular view.
Lastly, the Iona concert was an interesting experience. A show of hands after the first song demonstrated that most of the audience had not heard the band before and seemed to be pressganged by locals to attend for fear of cancellation perhaps. People near me were surprised at the distance that I and others had travelled and thought that they were coming to an evening of Scottish music. Frank van Essen's dutch drums rectified that .....as a few had fingers in their ears or left early...... nice quiet place, Lincoln is usually !!
