Synopsis: Helen’s visit this autumn was timed to coincide with Kate and Adam’s visit and Becky’s eighteenth birthday party. Mum, Helen and I also took time out for a mini-holiday to Bristol.
Saturday 9th October: Helen flew into Heathrow where Mum and I met her. We stopped off at a motorway service station for our obligatory KFC on the drive home, then later that evening had a pasta bake ready meal from Tesco at Mum’s in the evening.
Sunday 10th October: Helen did some studying in the morning whilst I printed a photo of Mum, Gwen and Ena to replace a photo of Mum’s that had faded. In the afternoon we went over to Mike and Sue’s for Becky’s Eighteenth Birthday party.
Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th October: Helen spent these days with Ricki and John, and family.
The Passage House Inn, TopshamWednesday 13th October: Ricki dropped Helen back at my place in the afternoon. I’d been in the house all day and was desperate to get some fresh air so we settled upon the idea of cycling down to Topsham. We cycled out to the RSPB River Exe estuary bird watching platform, and then stopped off at the Passage House Inn for a quick drink of beer. It was a lovely sunny evening so we sat outside to have our drink. Here’s a photo of the essential elements of our visit (nice photo Helen!).
Thursday 14th October: Mum, Helen and I set off today for the first day of our mini-holiday in Bristol. Mum came around and picked us up in her car and off we set. We were in Bristol and parked up at the Travelodge car park by a little after ten o’clock. We made for the centre of town and started the first of our audio tours, Bristol Quayside Adventure, from the Visit Bristol web site. This is based on the buildings that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island.
The Hole in the Wall pub - with spyglass slits for spotting approaching RN press gangsThe audio guide described the Royal Navy press gangs that would circulate the streets of Bristol looking for likely drunken sailors who would be press ganged into the navy. If they weren’t drunk enough, they’d be coshed on the head and would wake the next morning finding themselves at sea. The options to dispute their new found service obligations were extremely limited. The Hole in the Wall pub shows spyglass windows reputedly used to watch for approaching press gangs whereupon inmates of the pub would dash into Queen Square in the hope of escaping servility to the navy.
St Nicholas Market
Just off of Corn Street is the St Nicholas covered market, which is an old style market that’s rather lovely to wander around. This is so much more my scene, as compared with the large sprawling shopping mall of Broadmead.
Lloyds Bank, Corn Street
Something of a surprise bonus, and one that we would have missed if a passer by hadn’t alerted us to it by saying look in the Lloyds Bank building, as it’s something to be seen. This has to be the grandest most imposing bank that I’ve ever stood in. Now, this is the way all banks should look.
One of four 'nails' in Corn StreetThe ‘nails’ are to be found in Corn Street. From these it is said that the phrase ‘paying on the nail’ originates, since bargains were struck on these nails. They’re out front of the Corn Exchange building, and one is rather discreetly included within the scope of a street cafe.
The Old Vic, King Street, Bristol
Later that day we had a meal in a Pizza Express before going to see the play The Misanthrope, as adapted by Tony Harrison, in the Old Vic theatre. After a double whiskey in the bar I narrowly escaped a trip on the steps to the upper circle, so nearly missing the whole show. Entering the auditorium was a bit like travelling back in time, as the decoration appears as if it could be original, even the chairs, although not so old, had seen better times. The performance of The Misanthrope was excellent and we all enjoyed the show.
ss Great BritainFriday 15th October: The highlight of today was to be a visit to Brunel’s ss Great Britain. And in case you’re wondering what the ‘ss’ stands for, apparently it’s ‘screw steamship’, which seems odd to me, but there you have it. The ss Great Britain was moored just across the river from our Travelodge, but required a small detour down to Temple Quay footbridge to get there.
ss Great Britain - the hull
The tour started with a walk under water, or at least that is how it seems, for we descended down into the dry dock to examine the hull of the ship. From here it’s easy to see evidence of the hard times this ship has had to ordeal, as in places the hull is wafer thin. One had to commend the vision of the people who brought this hulk back from the Falklands, as it must have looked a wreck at the time. Now it is all patched up and painted, and has many new fittings such as a replica screw blade propeller and rudder.
ss Great Britain
From the dry docks we regained the quayside via a lift and then entered the museum of the ss Great Britain. This tells the history of the boat, and the various guises that it has been through. It started life as an ocean going liner primarily targeting the well-to-do, but was subsequently used as a cargo boat, whereupon masts and sails were added to it. A special rig was constructed to allow the propeller to be raised when under sail, so as to reduce drag.
ss Great Britain - Mum takes the wheel
After the museum we climbed steps to enter onto the boats upper deck. From here the position of the huge anchor chain and it’s winching mechanism could be seen. The main wheel of the ship didn’t seem very big, but that is perhaps due to the use of a balanced rudder design that required less effort to steer the ship than previous rudders. Even Mum mastered it with ease.
ss Great Britain - the barber at work
Descending to the lower decks it was possible to see the cabins of the various classes of passengers that the ship was originally designed to carry. The rooms were relatively cramped for all classes, but at least the upper classes were afforded some privacy which was denied those in steerage. There was an example of how the barber would have kitted out a cabin to do his work, and how the ship’s surgeon would have worked from one of the cabins.
ss Great Britain - the engine room
I was impressed with how the engine room had been kitted out with a mock-up of how the engines would have looked and operated. As the original engines had been stripped from the ship these would have had to have been recreated as part of the ships restoration, an amazing testament to the loving work that has gone into making this ship a truly magnificent visitor attraction.
ss Great Britain - the saloon
The main saloon of the ship is a gorgeous room, fitted and decorated just as it would have looked on its maiden voyage. The room recreates the appearance of a luxury saloon one might have come upon in the more upmarket hotels of the time. This must have been the first time such opulence was experienced on the seas, and illustrates what a revolution the ship must have been in its time.
ss Great Britain - the quayside
The dockside had been made to look just as it would have appeared to those embarking on a voyage in the early days of the ship’s life. The quayside is strewn with bags and trunks of every kind, and baggage handling gear such as trolleys and winches can be seen along the side of the ship. It creates a sense of the excitement and anticipation passengers must have felt as they were about to embark on a novel experience of a lifetime.
After our visit to ss Great Britain we retraced our steps back to the centre of Bristol where we sought out a local Tesco Express and bought a picnic lunch which we ate on the nearby College Green, facing Bristol Cathedral.
Bristol UniversityAfter lunch we had no definite plans as to what to do next, so I suggested we visit Bristol Museum at the top of Park Street, so off we set in that direction. We stopped momentarily to look into the entrance of Bristol University, which certainly impressed Helen. She said it’s exactly how a university should look, an inspiration to its students, a monument to learning in the historic tradition of universities. I got the impression Stuttgart University didn’t quite match up to what she was now seeing.
Bristol Museum - exhibition on Flight
At the Bristol Museum we discovered there was an exhibition based on the theme of Flight. Of course Bristol, with its Bristol Aircraft Company, played a significant part in our country’s aeronautical history. Helen was particularly taken with a Bristol Boxlite hung in the foyer of the museum, saying that aircraft looked familiar. It is an aircraft used in the film The Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, a film Helen knows very well. We also looked around some of the general exhibits, all of which were interesting.
Flavourz - buffet dinner (Mexican, Chinese, Italian and English dishes)It was our intention that we would eat that evening in a Chinese, but we were failing miserably to find a Chinese that was open. I mentioned a restaurant on the ‘main strip’ in Bristol, that I seemed to recall sold Mexican, Chinese, Italian and English, so we decided to check it out. The place is called Flavourz and we discovered they served meals on a buffet basis, whereby you choose what you like and eat all you wish for a fixed price. Helen was familiar with this style of restaurant, as there is a place near where she lives that she and her friends use. The food looked good, so we made that our evening meal venue. We were glad we did, as the food was indeed very varied and well prepared.
Bristol by night - Kings Street - Llandoger Inn
After our meal we decided that we’d see a little of Bristol at night. This can be a good time to capture some photos that are a bit different, and anyway, would enable us to walk off our meal. We used Helen’s mini tripod which we perched on benches, lampposts and shoulders as best we could. I think some of the photos turned out rather well.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Saturday 16th October: After another full English breakfast at the Travelodge, we set off for Clifton, which we were to explore on this our last day in Bristol. We parked up in Leigh Woods and took a brief stroll before setting off back towards Clifton Suspension bridge. We had a look around the Visitor Centre before wandering out onto the bridge. The sun was shining and the bridge looked magnificent spanning the vast expanse of the Avon Gorge. It was lovely to see it still in busy use 150 years after it was built, especially considering it was constructed in the age of the horse and cart.
The Observatory
On crossing the bridge, we then climbed the bank to the Observatory, a rather run-down building that houses a camera obscura. We decided to take a look at this, so we paid our entrance fee, and climbed the spiralling staircase to the top of the building, where we entered doors into a dark circular room with an inverted dome in the centre. A handle from the roof is spun around the room and rotates the image through a full 360 degrees.
Clifton Suspension Bridge and cave entrance
It is also possible to enter a cave used for religious worship from here, but we chose not to do this. We noticed people standing on a ledge some way down the cliff, and we think that is probably where the cave is to be found. Apparently at one time the only access to this cave was from the hole in the cliff face. We must check this out on our next visit.
We settled upon visiting Bristol Zoo next. This would be a nice diversion from the sight seeing we had been doing, and we could also obtain some lunch there. Bristol Zoo was a place we’d occasionally visit when I was young, and Mum was able to recount the picnic lunches we’d eat on the Downs before entering the zoo. No doubt Dad would have had the kettle on the stove for his cuppa tea.
Bristol Zoo
The entrance to Bristol Zoo seems to be the classy original, slightly Art Deco style, entrance. The zoo itself does not cover a vast expanse of land, but all the animals were nicely exhibited. The lion was particularly active, and rather grumpy sounding. My camera hasn’t a powerful zoom, and therefore isn’t that well suited to such places. I believe Helen will have captured the best animal photos, using the zoom on her camcorder.
The George at Norton St PhilipMy plan for supper that evening was to visit The George Inn. Helen had recently mentioned how she liked the dark and cosy atmosphere of old English pubs, and there are few older rustic pubs than The George Inn. Our route took us right across the centre of Bristol, but this was accomplished with relative ease, and we were soon in Norton St Philip. Helen was immediately struck by the old medieval look of the place, with hardly a straight line or a right angle to be found. Inside the bar room looked as if it hadn’t changed in hundreds of years. Helen and I ordered our Steak and Ale pie, Mum her lasagne, and we soon tucked in to a delicious meal.
Sunday 17th October: A large family gathering was planned for today, in honour of Kate and Adam’s recent wedding in Australia. This was to be a sort of second reception for them, with English family, not able to attend the main reception. Colin and Wendy had hired the Thurloxton Village Hall for the occasion, which we were able to fill.
Kate and Adam's second wedding reception in ThurloxtonWe broke off momentarily from proceedings to head for the church cemetery, the only grass that we could find, so that we might take some family photos, making the most of us all being together. We particularly wanted to take a shot of the seven granddaughters of Mum (Laura unfortunately wasn’t able to be there). It’s become something of a tradition to have these photo shots, since the first was taken in 1997.
Monday 18th October: Helen was keen to see Lyme Regis and our original intention had been to do a bus-walk along the coast, but this however wasn’t feasible. Today I had to attend an interview at the Job Centre, and Helen needed to get to the bank, so time was limited. We instead, after doing our chores, decided we’d travel to Lyme Regis by car, which would also allow Mum to come along too.
A trip to Lyme RegisOn arriving in Lyme Regis we first explored the lovely landscaped gardens recently renovated and looking splendid. Then we strolled along the promenade by the beach before getting ourselves fish and chips which we ate on the Cobb overlooking the harbour. After lunch, Helen and I climbed up on the Cobb wall where we discovered a fresh chill wind was blowing. We sought out the steps made so famous by Jane Austen in her book Persuasion, the steps on which Louisa takes a fall. We managed to negotiate them without injury, although they are rather daunting, needing steady footing to traverse in safety.
A trip to Lyme Regis
We walked into the village and up to the church of St Michaels the Archangel. There are some interesting, though modern, stained glass windows with commemorations to those who fought in World War I.
We decided that we’d have a light supper, so we bought some salad food in the Tesco Express and then made our way, across the gardens once again, in the direction of our car. We then headed back to Mum’s for our supper.
Castle Drogo walkTuesday 19th October: This was to be the day that we’d meet up with Kate and Adam, and Wendy and Colin too. We thought it would be nice to do a walk and the weather forecast was good. I suggested we walk the Teign Gorge near Castle Drogo, a favourite walk we’ve done a few times before. We left one of our cars down at Fingle Bridge, the end of our walk, such that we could do the walk one way, down.
Castle Drogo walk
I had hoped the trees might have turned and that they would be displaying more autumn colour than they were, but we were obviously a little too early in the year for that. But this is a very scenic walk, and the variation between the views from the high valley path, and the path that follows the river at the valley bottom, gives this walk a lot of interest. There’s only one part that is difficult going, where the path climbs steep steps in the gorge, but Mum managed these with just the merest hint of a shove.
Castle Drogo walk - lunch at Fingle Bridge
We arrived at Fingle Bridge around 2pm, with everyone feeling quite hungry, and no real plans for lunch. Luckily we discovered that the Fingle Bridge restaurant was serving lunch till 3pm, so we opted to eat there. Colin and I set off to retrieve our other car whilst we waited for our meals.
Wednesday 20th October: Sadly this was Helen’s last day in England. We popped over to pick up Mum and said our goodbyes to Kate and Adam who had spent the night at Mum’s. Not knowing when Helen might see them again, it was a sad parting, and Helen was in tears. We set off for Tesco, for one last stock up on English goodies, before heading out for Heathrow. We managed one last KFC service station stop for our lunch before the final leg to the airport. As always, it was a sad goodbye to Helen, as we’d had so much fun together this holiday. Once again, we’d crammed so much into just a short space of time, Helen seeing so many people. Hopefully it’ll not be too long before we meet up again.
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