Your report on cathedral health and safety rules and risk assessment procedures (17 October) provides a dour contrast to my recent experience in Spain, where I took a guided tour of the roofs of a famous cathedral.
Our guide frequently wandered away, leaving us to climb up and down bits of the roof, peer through ancient windows into the nave far below, and photograph each other in amusing embraces with stone gargoyles. It wasn’t dangerous: we weren’t anywhere near the edge.
Having become accustomed to the UK’s obsession with risk, I was surprised to be given my liberty on top of a Spanish cathedral. Sitting on a medieval roof contemplating the town and the hills in autumn sunlight was a joyful experience.
Susan Tomes
Edinburgh
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