Number 29: trip to the 'other' cathedral in Norwich

A panoramic shot with panoramic people as well as places!

Some of you probably already know that Norwich has not one but TWO cathedrals. There is the big pointy Anglican cathedral in posh Tombland which features on many postcards and is a firm fixture on the tourist trail.

And then there is the squarey blocky Roman Catholic cathedral, which sits in a residential area, a 4 lane road away from the city and with no car park.

I'm ashamed to say that, despite growing up in Norwich I have only ever visited one of these two and no prizes for guessing which one. Visitors who have been on the Norwich tourist trail with me probably don't even know there is a second cathedral.

But today I managed to change all that, through a trip organised as part of the Heritage Open Days. These days are organised as part of a national scheme which open heritage places to the public, sometimes only the occasions in the year. I noticed that there were tower tours of the RC Cathedral as part of the week and duly turned up this afternoon and joined the group.

I'm pleased to say that the tour was really well attended with the lists filling up fast. We all grouped together at the appointed hour and dutifully followed our guide.

This is the view on the way up, walking along a wooden walkway over the nave:

Then, if you can bear almost 200 narrow spiral stairs,you get the main show, and it just gets better. None of the pics do it justice, but in this one you can see the other cathedral, St Giles church, City Hall, the Forum and lots more.

We totally lucked out with a clear day and could see out to the wind turbines and lighthouse at the coast, around 30 miles away. I hadn't really noticed that the Cathedral has been built on one of the highest points in the city, which meant you can pretty much see the whole street-scape laid out, and there was much 'oooh, look - there's Mum's house!' and 'that's my office!' from the group.

It was also a bit scary standing on the leaded roof at the top of the tower - that's a big drop underneath!

When you get down, the inside of the Cathedral itself is pretty impressive too!