Well the first week of Jury service was less busy than expected as we got sent home after a day and half without ever being picked for a jury. The judge was kind enough to come up and explained what had happened with the case we were going to hear and without us sitting around prepared to serve on the jury the trial process could not function so on with my daily walk for the last few days.
There are 2 main rail stations in Exeter St David’s line runs along the River Exe and serves the London Paddington route.The journey from Newton Abbot does usually involve a change of trains here as Exeter Central is on the London Waterloo southern route and is as you expect more in the centre of the city getting off at this station is the shortest walk to the Crown court and the 15 minute walk is an interesting one.
Leaving the station it takes you across the High Street and a quick coffee stop.
And down Martins Lane past the Ship which is the oldest Pub in Exeter
It may seem a bit dark and dingy but this is mostly due the scaffolding and shuttering from the fire at Royal Clarence Hotel in 2016.
From there down to the cathedral and goes past some of the oldest buildings in Exeter around the Cathedral Close.
The marble statue of Richard Hooker guards the path down to the cathedral. Born in Heavitree Exeter in the mid 1500s Hooker was an eminent Anglican theologian
Walking along Cathedral Close the cafes and shops are based in som really old buildings.
With some fascinating doors.
There are also a couple of blue plaques identifying buildings where significant historical figures lived or events happened
Finally before you leave the Cathedral grounds you pass under an old iron work foot bridge erected in 1814 over a cut through the old city wall made in 1753
Under the bridge and your back in the modern world of Southernhay Exeter with its solicitors offices estate agents and the Crown Courts
