my date with robin hood

After realising I had a long weekend coming up I quickly decided I'd head off and visit some place outside of London. So last Saturday morning I caught the bus to Nottingham where I'd booked into a B&B. When I first arrived I trapsed around the city, browsing the shops, finding the tourist information centre and stopping by Frankie & Benny's for lunch. (Good food and great old classics playing.) Then I thought I better check in with Nottingham castle. It's not an ancient original but it stands in the same place. Below you can see the main gate and the Robin Hood statue that stands outside. Inside is now a bit of a museum and mostly an art gallery. I then walked a little way out of the city centre and found my room, got some food and hung out in my room watching a re-run of Merlin.

On Sunday I started slow and spent most of the day wandering slowly around town, shopping as I pleased but mostly just browsing. I stopped by the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem which is England's oldest inn. It was actually fascinating inside. It's half dug out of the cliff so the rooms are quite cavelike. I had a half-pint of Olde Trip ale in the Museum Room. All the rooms are named and the one I sat in had old chainmail, swords and sheilds on the wall. On my way back to my room I stopped by the cinema to buy a ticket and then ate some tea and chilled out for a while before walking back in to town. I stepped into the crowded cinema and found myself a seat and let Avengers Assemble entertain me. They did well. I had quite a few good laughs.

On Monday mid morning while Nottingham slowly awoke (Bank Holiday) I checked out and snuck off to Sherwood Forest where I planned to spend the remainder of the day. It was nice being out in nature again though it's a pretty public place. Sadly there's not that much of Sherwood Forest left and you can skirt the entire thing on foot in just a few hours. I wandered slowly along the paths first visiting the Major Oak which a massive, old tree. You can tell it's old coz it's all saggy, been patched and has supports to help it stay upright. They had a few activities there, one which was archery. I wondered about having a go and in the end decided I'd come back later. Out the other end there was a medieval festival going on. There was some archery competitions (more on the side of entertainment), a bunch of stalls, a few non-medieval rides and a stack of tents that people, dressed in medieval wear, seemed to be camping in. I also spent some time looking through a Robin Hood display back at Sherwood Forest Tourist Centre and the shops. I had a few hours til the next bus still so I had a late lunch in the cafe and sat reading a book on my phone for a good while. Finally I decided I better head back to the Major Oak to have a go at archery.

When I got back there, I was the only one around. The guide ran through some instructions with me--mostly just refreshing my memory from backyard play but I did learn how to hold the bow properly so the string doesn't flick you as you shoot. I loosed six arrows and decided I wanted to do some more. The guide decided to increase the fun. He called over two other guys who were hanging out with them and set the competition. Nine arrows each. If I beat either of them, the loser paid for my archery fling. The guide carried on with each shot as we took turns which hightened the buzz and had a nervous giggle going on inside me. I managed to score with every shot and even better...I won. Significantly. Ha ha. So my archery in Sherwood Forest was free.

Shooting to the back target and counting up my score. I then walked the long way round coz they had closed the gates to the public part. My bus didn't come for another forty minutes so I sat in the rain and read some more. Back in Nottingham I walked straight across town to the other bus stop to head out of town before anyone could question where I'd been. Can't give away Robin Hood's secrets. ;)