Bathers, Bathites, Bathish, Bathians....Bathonians!

A group of 5 of us decided to head to Bath for the last bank holiday weekend of the year. We were on the lookout for some sunshine and we got what we were after, all three days were brilliant and perfect for camping.

We arrived at the camping ground quite late on Saturday afternoon after I had missed a turn off and biked half way to Bristol. The camping ground was on the outskirts of Bath and was really nice, boasting a pub / restaurant and 5 star toilets as the key facilities worth noting.

On Sunday we went bike riding along the Kent and Avon canal. The others had hired bikes for the afternoon and it was perfect cycling, warm, no wind and flat, smooth surfaces. We rattled along at a pretty good clip along the busy path, passing canal boats, locks and a couple of little towns along the way.

Jenny posing as the others deal with maintenance issues



One of the many locks along the way



Perfect ballooning weather



On Monday we packed up camp and headed into Bath for a look around. Bath was really nice and we just had a bit of a wander round, checking out Royal Crescent and sneaking a peak through the pillars at the Roman baths. The main tourist attractions were quite expensive so we didn't bother going to them.

Royal Crescent.



We got back to a sunny London in good time, but slightly drained after a rigorous game of 20 questions on the train ride back.

The English Countryside

My cousin Hamish had just arrived over and we decided the best thing to do was to get straight out of London and down to visit Bevan at his patch in the country. So we took a train from London and he met us there in his fancy car which groans like a dying pheasant whenever you use the brakes and slips out of gear when you take your foot off the accelerator. It only took us an hour to get there so we had time for a personalised farm tour to absorb some of the marvels of English farming, including:

- 'The Avenue', which is a glorified farm lane. Having it tar sealed is an advantage but you have to behave yourself on it and there is not turning allowed on The Avenue for fear of ripping up the seal. The photo above looks down The Avenue towards the main family home where the 'old man' lives - this is a fair description, he is 102.

- the grain shed, Bevan's flash new tractor that he gets to drive and all the other machinery

- copious amouts of delicious wild blackberries

- fields (not paddocks) of harvested and unharvested grain

- fields that stank like shit (literally, thanks to the human waste style fertiliser used)

- no fences, lots of hedges and trees, and only a handful of sheep

- sacred verges of cocksfoot that are not allowed to be driven on or grazed (they get paid subsidies for this)

- millions of extremely hard pieces of flint which wear out standard tips on a crumbler within a day

- badger holes

- meeting the staff including the manager, the game-keeper and the chief tractor driver

- strips of maize and artichokes to provide cover for the game - see photo below



- pheasants, and partridges, lovingly cared for until rich Englishmen come and blow them out of the sky at £30 a pop.



- a buried crypt of an old church and old graveyard. This was about 50m from Bevan's door and he'd been waiting for visitors so he didn't have to go up alone.



- and of course, Bevan's pad



After the tour we drove to Salisbury for lunch and then on to a reasonably famous pile of big rocks where we paid our fee so we could walk around and get soaked by the rain, but it was worth it.



On Sunday the weather cleared so we went for a walk before heading to Winchester for a wander around and a visit to the magnificent and massive Winchester Cathedral. Very impressive. Probably shouldn't have taken any photos inside the Cathedral, but everyone else was so I did too.





After this it was back on the train to London for Hamish and which saw us safely home after a great weekend. Thanks Bevan.

Nottingham

Hamish had very kindly organised a trip for 7 to Nottingham for the purposes of cricket, running and general sightseeing. We'd hired a car from Trifty car rental and were presented with a vehicle that wouldn't have housed the 7 dwarves let alone 4 humans, 3 giants (Josh, Hamish and Angus) and all their baggage. So Hamish turned on the charm and we wrangled our way into an impressive upgrade for no extra cost, making the journey far more comfortable.

We arrived late at our apartment on Friday night only to be told by the night manager that we were allowed "no knives after 11" which left us all completely confused and slightly concerned until we realised he was trying to say "no noise after 11" - for a country that invented the language they have big trouble trying to speak it.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny so we went along to Trent Bridge to watch the final day's play between Nottinghamshire (captained by SP Fleming) and Somerset. Somerset wrapped up victory within 45 minutes and we spent the whole time complaining about having to pay £12 to get in. The Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club will be receiving a letter.

After a drink at the oldest Inn in England, we had a look around Nottingham Castle, and headed back to the apartment for dinner and an early night.









On Sunday we drove to Newark on Trent which was where our half marathon was. It was quite hot, windy and the course was flat and pretty boring. I felt terrible the whole way but all 3 of us managed to complete the course in respectable times.

We hit the road soon after, just in time as it started to rain and arrived back in London in good time for an early night.

Glasgow

Jane's birthday in Glasgow was a good excuse for me to head to Scotland for the first time. We flew up on a short (and slightly dodgy) flight on Friday night and stayed in a huge apartment which offered friendly service and full Scottish breakfasts in the morning.

On Saturday we decided to get out of town on a train to Stirling, where we did and audio tour of Stirling Castle and took token photos of the William Wallace memorial. Rather interesting. Saturday night was spent celebrating Jane's birthday.

Robert the Bruce with William Wallace memorial in the background.



Stirling Castle



Guard bird



Clearly washing line vandalism is a problem in Stirling....



It was raining on Sunday which was very frustrating given that the weather in London was a super hot 30 degrees. We had a few hours to fill in before our flight home so wandered aimlessly around town. So all in all I wasn't a huge fan of Glasgow but I am definitely keen to get back to Scotland to check out the lakes, the mountains and to go swimming with Nessie.