18 January - The Greenman

After our little excursion of Monks Wood on Saturday we thought a roast beef dinner at the Greenman was an excellent outing for the day. The dinner, as always, was very delicious and very, very filling. Unfortunately I had my first mediocre cask ale, a Davensports Busy Man. It was a very light, very sweet ale that was not to my taste; ah well, I have to expect a few of those in my travels. After the carvery we checked out the self-serve eggs and vegetable stand across from the pub. Pick out what you want and pop the coins in a cup.
From there Jeff took us to St Swithin's church to see the graves of four Canadian airmen buried in the cemetery. If you go to this link, the four airmen are listed at the bottom of the page. The story is that these four airmen while on a training mission during WWII, struck the top of the steeple of St Swithin's church and died in the crash of their bomber. The steeple was replaced and the new addition can be seen as a light grey in the photo. The old top of the steeple is still on the grounds of the church.
Last year Canadian soldiers held a Remembrance Day service at the cemetery presided over by Jeff's mother Chris, a United Church Minister.
From there we made our way home via St Andrew's church, Wood Walton. The earliest part of the existing structure is the South Arcade which dates from the mid 13th century. The church was declared redundant and officially closed in 1972. Vandals all but destroyed the church in the following years. It was saved by the charity The Friends of Friendless Churches.
Another full day and by full I mean I ate too much at the Greenman and had to almost rolled into the house where I slowly recuperated enough to have some dinner.