Rick has no idea what lies ahead!. Tuesday started with a walk around Bourton-On-The-Water at 6:30 for Jeanette and Myself. We awoke to a beautiful morning with just a little mist around. We walked for about 4 kilometres and found interesting stuff here.
The river in Daylight was great. Meandering through the centre of the village. We wondered what happens if/when it floods.
Town sign posts rage from boring to quirky. Bouton’s sign was classy.
Even the houses are picture postcard perfect.
Bourton-On-The-Water also boasts a motoring museum which was not open when we walked by. Only able to get the ‘Living Mini’ in a photo.
Back to the Hotel for a wonderful breakfast. I am sure we will come home heavier than when we left. Oh well can always lose the extra kg’s we collect on this trip once we get home.
Today we travel from Bourton-On-The-Water to Bath.
But before we started South we decided to check out ‘The Slaughters’. Our friend Mike and Kay came here a couple of months ago and loved them. We had to go see what the fuss was all about. Lower Slaughter is much prettier than Upper Slaughter and the Manor House are just unbelievable. We drove around both before parking for a walk around Lower Slaughter. Beautiful village which has won the Most Beautiful Village three times over the last 15 years. Jeanette felt tall for the first time in her life. Check out the height of the house door!.
The pictures we show do not do this place justice. It is idyllic in every sense of the word. If only those pesky tourists would leave and not come back!
We walked up to the old water wheel driven mill which is now a shop / ice cream parlour / cafe. Here Jeanette bought a Red Leather handbag, but only after panicking for 20 minutes as she could not find the handbag she brought with her. She retraced all her steps and her fit bit showed her heart rate was way up from the stress from losing it with all her credit cards and Money in it. Eventually she calmed after finding Dianne had the handbag after Rick took our photo at the river.
Overall the scenery was fantastic. The Manor Houses are incredible. Huge – The class gap was significant yet the people of the area loved the Lord of the Manor because he provided employment and income for all the people in the area. The same gratitude is often absent today as the employed feel that it is their right rather than their privilege to be working and earning an income to support their families.
Dianne really wanted Jeanette to ‘Cool Down’ after losing her purse and tried to dunk her in the river.
I resisted the encouragement to buy a sign for the Office Bathrooms that Jeanette Found. It Just Wouldn’t work because the Men’s is on the Right.
Eventually we left ‘The Slaughters’ and continued on the journey. It was again a beautiful day and the scenery was wonderful. We stopped at a small settlement called Aldsworth. This had very old houses and was very Quaint.
We climbed the hill and found a nice wee pub called ‘The Catherine Wheel’ where we stopped for a toilet visit and a beverage.
Again the doors are really short. Don’t know if it was the Saxons, Normans or Romans who were short, but so many doors you need to duck to go through.
Back on the Road Again. Time for a Royal Visit. Went to Tetbury – Where? Yes Tetbury to Visit Charles and Camilla. This is where he has his country residence. Couldnt FInd hs house but found his shop ‘Highgrove’
Dianne could have spent much longer in the store checking out all the essentials like Padded Jackets for the Corgi’s, housewares galore, even Charlies own special brew (Have you had one of these Tim Love?)
Feeling Hungry we consulted TripAdvisor for Lunch Recommendations. Settled on Cafe 53 which was hard to find because the frontages give no clue as to what lies behind. This one is effectively a Door.
Behind the door was a great Quirky cafe. Very Rustic with mismatched chairs, outdoor patio/garden seating and really good food. With the hunger dealt to we got on the road again. I wanted to go see one place purely because of its name.
Other than the sign and two houses there was nothing there. We wished we had brought some Tiddleywinks to Tiddleywink and had a game. But we didn’t so we continued on through Castle Coombe famous for Motor Racing.
No racing today and we were in the Citroen and not the Maserati. On to Bath where we found and checked into our hotel; The Boathouse.
The rooms were large but the place was a tad run down. Had a great relaxing time on the patio with a glass of Pinot Grigio before we took the Bus into the centre of Bath for a wander around checking out the sights.
Bath is an amazing place. Bustling yet compact. About the same population as Palmerston North but there the comparison ends. Very popular with tourists, we walked up the hill to ‘The Circus’ and the ‘Royal Crescent’.
As part of our trip our friends Peter & Julie set us some photo challenges. We added to their challenges by replicating other photos that they posted online such as this one. Peter and Julie live on Church Street and they have a photo of Julie exactly where Jeanette is in this Photo.
We picked a great time to wander around as there were fewer tourists around to get in the way. Wandered past the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey before deciding on where to go for dinner.
We tried to get a table at Trip Advisor’s highly rated SottoSotto Restaurant but they were fully booked. We ended up a couple of steps away in an underground Cavern Greek Restaurant called Opa’s. We had never had proper Greek Food before and were really surprised that Jeanette could select straight from the Menu with no Changes. Such a change for her with the dietary issues she has.
After dinner we wandered the streets at night and with Bath mostly deserted the city was beautiful. Buildings were lit up, the river was spectacular, the Abbey amazing.
The Buses had stopped for the night so we called a cab, piled in and he nearly got us all killed attempting to run a red light. Fortunately out shouts caused him to stop Just in Time! We made it back to our hotel and turned in for the night. Another Big day coming tomorrow.
The McGrath's Travel Adventures 