Bath, Trains, The Pump Room, Assembly Room and pizza...

Sunday, 22nd May - (Catch-up)

It was only going to be a short trip to our next stopover, so we decided to go into Bath, and see some things we'd missed last time.

The staff at the Premier Inn told us the Park and Ride did not run on Sundays, and suggested we go and Park at Chippenham Station and get the train. Good idea, but being a Sunday, many other people had the same idea, and we had to stand up all the way in. It is only a 20 minute ride so no problem. Then, everyone spills out into Bath to take in the many sights.

 We had thought we wanted to see the Pump Room, and the Roman Baths, but couldn't find where the Pump Room was, apart from a restaurant named the Pump Room, and when we then went in to enquire about the Roman Baths, they said we should allow at least an hour, and they wanted 12 Pounds each! Didn't want to see it that much.

Instead we asked at the Visitor Centre and found we could go up to the Assembly Rooms, and the Fashion Museum, both of which were very interesting, and you could imagine people like those Jane Austen wrote about, standing around being seen by others. Lovely place.

Downstairs there was a Museum of Fashion, (no photos allowed), and it was really quite interesting, showing some early costumes from 1660, and then right up through to to the current time.

The plaque outside said these rooms were built by John Wood the Younger, in 1769-71, and were given to the National Trust in 1931. They were severely damaged in WW2, and restored in 1955-63.

On the way back down the hill, we stopped for lunch at place called "Ask", and shared a very simple pizza of tomato sauce, topped by mozzarella and rocket and proscuitto.

Then the train back and standing again, and discovered someone had parked right behind us (see photo), when there were scores of places they could have stopped!! I got his rego plate number just in case.

Next, cousin Colin...

Castle Combe, and Tiddleywink...

Saturday, 21st May - (Catch-up)

Continental breakfast, and then headed in to have a look at the town of Chippenham. Found the car park (not usually an easy thing), and headed for the main street, and shops. The centre is like many towns mentioned in earlier posts, in that it is given over to pedestrians, either all the time or when they close it because of the local market day. 

Many stalls, including an extensive cheese stall, (without refrigeration), so we wondered how they kept everything cool enough. (So much for e-coli and bean sprouts in Germany!)

Anyway, there was some local produce so we bought a few tomatoes, and some tiny bell peppers to do our own dinner tonight.

Asked at the local info centre about a laundromat and Lee found a book about Calne, and one on Castle Combe, so naturally we bought these! (see later posts about sending stuff back to OZ!!) 

Then we had morning coffee and bought some sandwiches to have for lunch, intending to have them back in our room. As it turned out we turned off one exit too soon and found ourselves on the road to Castle Combe.

Not sure there wouldn't be hoards of people there as we'd seen posters on the roadside announcing a Steam Rally in Castle Combe, so we assumed we would confront hundreds of people, and no parking.

As it turned out, the rally was in a large field and Castle Combe was spared. We were early. ({Please note EARLY, it is important)

St Mary's, Yatton Keynell

On the way to Castle Combe, you pass through the village/hamlet/cluster of Tiddleywink, and if you blink you literally miss it!! Then almost immediately you come to Yatton Keynell, where we stopped and inspected the local church and churchyard, as there had been some Bezer's there in the 1600's/1700's. Had a good look at the headstones but they were either falling over or illegible. Also saw a wall with the label "Church Farm", which is probably several hundred years old.

On to one of my all-time favourite villages, Castle Combe. We've been here before, and we should have gone down closer to the village, where we would have found a car space, but 'assumed' there wouldn't be one and so parked up the hill, and walked down. It is a long way, (at least half a mile), and you have to come back!

This is the one used in the ill-fated movie musical, "Dr. Dolittle" with Rex Harrison

Still, it was a lovely day and we had our sandwiches near the stream, and then a cup of tea in one of the local pubs. This one is a bit up-market and we were asked to have our tea in the lounge, as they wanted to keep the tables for lunch guests. (We really only wanted to use the loo anyway!)

I'd kill for this!!

Then across the road to St Andrew's Church, Castle Combe, and discovered on a notice board the names of Brian Cyril Beazer, and Patricia Beazer, both current residents, and we took down some details of the church in case we want to contact people. (Found out later from cousin Colin, that these are the well off Beazer's, and Colin said from Marshfield, and they don't have much to do with Colin and his family. There is most probably a "connection" to the family somewhere)

Next time...Bath

Chippenham, Cheltenham, Calne, Cirencester and chips...

Friday, 20th & Saturday 21st May - (BIG CATCH-UP)

Headed off from the Edward Hotel about 9.30am towards Chippenham. It isn't far and we couldn't get our room until the usual 2.00pm, so headed for Cheltenham.

It is worth a look and is a very attractive town with wide streets, and tons of shops of all kinds, from designer stuff down to the ubiquitous "Pound Shop" (read Dollar shop for Australia). Cheap and nasty stuff in shops I will go into, but hope nobody sees me coming out of!

Found a good car park and Lee bought a shirt, and then we walked around a bit. Very nice stone in the buildings, of Corsham or Bath stone, and it was a pleasant sunny day with lots of people around. We think it is quite an affluent town compared with Gloucester, which is only a short distance away.

On to Chippenham via Cirencester, which we had been to on the last trip in 2007,but this time came in from another direction and the houses are really attractive in that lovely stone used everywhere in the area. From just out of Cirencester we kept seeing signs indicating the direction of "Amy and Anton's Reception". Obviously a wedding, but the signs appeared for miles and miles, almost all the way to Castle Combe.

As we came into Chippenham, we decided to go on to Calne, which is an area in Lee's family history for the ancestors with names like Parfit/Perfect; Sage, and Little in her Loveridge family. Walked to St,Mary the Virgin Church and spoke to a very helpful local man, who told us some of the history of the area. Then we did the required look around the graveyards, but some of the stones are so old and are of the same stone as the church, and they don't work well as headstones.

We had a really nice lunch at a little cafe, and they did simple salads, of ham and salad or cheese and salad, and so we had one each and shared the ham & cheese. Just nice plain simple salads like you used to have when you were growing up.
Another Premier Inn tonight, but this one didn't have such an interesting menu as some others, and you start to get sick of "pub" meals. They all seem to come with chips! Lee had lasagne, and I had a very disappointing plate of slow-cooked pork ribs with a glazy sauce. Trouble is the pork ribs were probably sitting there and all they did was pour a sauce over them! And, the accompanying veg was a poor overcooked piece of corn on the cob, grilled tomato, chips and coleslaw!!! Not a combination I would ever think of having on one plate.

When you stay at Premier Inn, (which we am more than happy with for many reasons), it usually comes with a chain restaurant "attached", like 'Brewers Fayre', 'Table to Table', 'Beefeater', and 'Brewer and Chef' , and they all have their own cooks and staff. Most are excellent, but just sometimes things tire a little, and they drop their game. It can't be easy having such extensive menus, and wondering how many servings you will need, but if you're out there in the market, the standards have to be maintained or people will stop coming.

Oooh wah, guess what I did????...

Filled up the diesel tank with petrol!!!!

We are at Sandwich, and we'd come across from Winteringbury. Before we left there I went into the Shell garage, and topped up the tank with 'diesel', but although I have been very careful in doing this, the more I think about it, the more I believe that the person ahead of me had put the filling nozzle in the wrong holder, and I didn't notice it. 
This may well mean that other people before me have also done the wrong thing, but I know I put the nozzle back in the diesel holder after I finished, and therefore I might have screwed up the next person!

So, the upshot of all this is, that at the point we were to drive off to find a nearby launderette, the car wouldn't start! No real panic, just called the Hertz rental people emergency number, and within minutes they had told me that an AA person would be with us within the hour. They came in 30 minutes, and soon told me the bad news. Then, that AA man arranged for someone else to come out and drain the tank and refill it with at least some diesel to get us going. Very efficient, and I am so impressed that it all happened on a Saturday morning as well.

The good thing that came of it, was that whilst I was stood outside waiting for the AA man, I discovered that there was a market going in the Market Place. (Good place for a market that).

The better thing, was that the market stalls were selling all things French, and Lee wandered over there and bought some fine delicacies for our lunch, like fresh-out-of-the-oven baguettes, still warm! Plus, some beautiful squidgy-raw milk-creamy brie cheese, and some freshly made chorizo, and some olives. Just the sorts of things you can deal with in a self-catering place.

The car was fixed, and we then had our yummy baguette lunch, and we can still do the washing tomorrow. Who knows what Hertz will say, or do, or charge us for any "damage", but at this point I don't care, and we do have some sort of coverage with the travel insurance.

Interestingly, the second AA man said he sometimes does this drainage/refill thing about 5 times a day! You would think that manufacturers would invent something that doesn't allow you to put the wrong fuel in your tank, like a petrol nozzle that won't fit in a diesel tank, or vice versa!!??

I can't believe I'm so far behind!!!!...

Thursday, 9th June

We are still here, but we haven't enjoyed the same level of internet access we thought we'd get. I did a couple of posts by doing them in word, and then copy/paste them, but I really prefer to try and do them spontaneously, even if they are late!

So, at least to bring you up to where we are physically, it is now Kent and we are at a place called Wateringbury, near Maidstone. Yet another Premier Inn, but we'd done what we wanted to do near London, and so cancelled one night and got another here. They are very good on cancellation if you let them know before midday.

This one tonight at least has a different option for dinner, and one we haven't had in a Pr. Inn before, so we are looking forward to the change in menu.

Today's trivia:

1. in getting here today we have driven over 3,600 miles ( 5799 kms) ish., since we picked up the car at the beginning of April!!!

2. we are still under budget!

3. all English ham is good

4. they still haven't got coffee down pat yet. Some places are good, but at most others, you may as well have a cuppa tea.

5. most cars are dark colours

Forest of Dean and Puzzlewood, and Gloucester...

Tuesday, 17th to Thursday, 19th May - (Big catch-up)

Lee had always wanted to see the forest of Dean, and we headed that way, but it was pretty complicated, and we had to do double backs and stuff to get on our way, like heading North to get to a roundabout to go South!!

Still, the roads aren't bad but they should definitely ban semi-trailers from these smaller roads!

The forest is lovely, and we decided to head for a place called Puzzlewood, which was used in the Harry Potter films, and it is an area of woodland of about 7 acres, and the most amazing/ strangely-weird/ spooky place we've ever seen. There are no arrows to guide you through, and so many ways you can go, with rickety little bridges and meandering paths, and very spooky little hollows and tree trunks. Just so different, and you can understand why they use it in movies.

 Our photo's won't do it justice, as Gordon's camera seems to compensate for darkness, and it is much darker and more sinister than it might look, but so much fun too that we were in there for an hour! 
The other part of the forest has all those close-together trees, and you can imagine Harry, Ron and Harmonium running through them.

On to Gloucester, and the Edward Hotel. I can't remember asking on-line for a ground floor room, but we got one, which was actually two bedrooms, so we were able to spread out a bit. It is on the main road, and about a 10 minute walk to the centre of the city, dominated by the cathedral, which seems to float ethereally above the town, and with the colour of the stone, looks like a painting.

Wednesday, 18th

Lee had arranged herself to go into the Records Office to do some research, and so we walked down and I left her there, and went to do some shopping and try for a haircut.
(Bad idea, as it turned out to be one of the worst haircuts I've had, and even a few weeks of new growth hasn't helped)

Managed to get some new trousers and some other bits and pieces, plus a small pair of binoculars to use on the cruise.

Thursday, 19th

Lee went back to do some more things and we met up at lunchtime and walked to the cathedral, and had some lunch in a place called The Comfy Pew. Nice tart of Gloucestershire cheese and red onion,with salad.

The cathedral is abs. beautiful, and some of the detail in the stonework is like filigree, and quite delicate. Inside is magnificent, and the East window is the size of a tennis court, and some beautiful fan-vaulting in the cloisters, also claimed to have been used in Harry Potter, but we've heard that in other places. I suppose it would be easy to check location filming on-line.

The city is a mix of periods, with some old and new, including some Tudor black and white.

 Gloucester is very nice, but to my mind is quite dirty and some parts badly neglected and tired looking. Not my favourite city by any means.

We used the bus a couple of times and the drivers are always very helpful, and cheery. But the rest is walking and I guess we aren't used to doing so much for such extended periods. Trouble is as I might have said, you cannot park anywhere near where you want to go, and so you simply have to walk. The English must have been used to it for all this time, and we are often amazed at the stamina of people much older than Lee and I!

 Dinner at the local pub down the road, and not a bad steak, but like so many places, served with enough chips to feed a family.

Noticing things...

It is probably the same for most countries, but I said to Lee at dinner tonight, that I had noticed more people in the UK who used WALKING STICKS, walking frames, motorised scooters, and/or who had some form of walking aid. I know there is a bigger population here, but every day you see so many.

DOGS. I have never seen so many dogs in my life. Everywhere you go there are people walking dogs, of every description!!! They are allowed on many forms of transport. Hotels and other accommodation places allow them into rooms and lobbies, and everywhere.  They ride on trains, buses, and ferries, and appear in every place we've been, from stately homes to grand gardens, to shopping centres, on most beaches, in all parks that we've seen.
Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, but they seem to dominate peoples lives in so many ways.
As for cats, I think I've seen three!! 
(Cats are OK in their place, they just haven't dug all the places yet!!!) Old joke.

Most small CHILDREN we've seen in hotels and restaurants are extremely well behaved, and when you watch some families, and the way they interact with their kids, it's lovely to see.

QUEUES are something else. Do not try and jump one, and get ahead of everyone else! If you do you will receive glares of the most horrendous kind, and you quietly get back in line. People expect to queue and that's that.

DRIVERS. Whilst the practice is not necessarily restricted to the UK, there are some drivers here who seem to cruise along, thinking that nobody else might be on the road. And when many of these roads are barely wide enough to accommodate one car comfortably, it makes for some pretty hairy situations! Then there are those "roads", which are really small one-lane tracks, through which you have to drive, and the only way you will get past the on-coming driver, is to stop and wait and hope he/she can squeeze past you, or use a passing place. These are no more than small areas to one side of the road into which you can pause, to let someone pass. 


When this country had no more traffic than horses and carts, it might have been enough, but with these tiny villages, you still get trucks driving through them!! 
I am totally surprised we haven't yet lost a side wing mirror.

Also, there is always someone on a bicycle, there is always a young mother pushing a child in a pram, and very sadly, (in most of the bigger towns and cities), there are people sitting around begging and/or drinking from bottles in brown paper bags.


More soon...