Tiki tour: part 1

Over a month has passed since my last update. The only excuse I have is that I have been busy seeing more of the English countryside.

The first Monday in May is a bank holiday here in England. Our destination for the long weekend was the Bath/Bristol area. We didn't have much of a plan. It wasn't until the Thursday before we left that we finalised accommodation in Clevedon on the coast west of Bristol. This was at a Holiday Park in a pre-fab type thingee. Bascially one large living room that adjoined the kitchen and dining area, 2 bedrooms and a wee bathroom. Ample space for the 4 of us. The central heating made it like an oven. We quickly turned it off and opened all the windows and doors. It took about 24 hours before we got the temperature to a comfortable level!

En route to Clevedon we stopped off at Winchester for a picnic lunch outside the Cathedral.

Winchester Cathedral

Next stop en route was Stonehenge. I have to admit not quite as impressive as I had imagined. It was slightly strange approaching Stonehenge to see hundreds of people walking slowly around the perimetre, many looked like they were talking on cell phones. I later discovered these were the audioguides that inform you about the history and theories surrounding Stonehenge.

Stonehenge, a photographer's paradise

M & M @ Stonehenge, (Mark G and Mark M)

Final stop for the day was at Clevedon. Phew, we arrived just in time to have dinner at the holiday park restaurant. Oh, and sample a fine NZ Sauvignon Blanc - if it has been flown half way around the world it must be good!

With a full day at our disposal we decided to head off to Bath to explore. After a slowish start in the morning we made it to Bath in time for brunch. No point seeing the sights on an empty stomach. We spent a couple of hours exploring the Roman Baths.

Roman Baths, Bath

As the rain had subsided in the middle of the afternoon we parked the car and enjoyed a walk along the river. Also took in a little women's cricket that was being played at the Bath Cricket Ground. This was followed by a bit of a drive around the streets of Bath. In particular to find a special circular street, that is round, like a circle, you know, it's round. Mark G had been particularly intrigued by this street on his last visit to Bath and was very keen that we saw it. So, we did find it and drove around "The Circus" in a circle.

The Circus, Bath (Mark G)

"The round street, that is like a circle, it's you know, like round!"

A pre-requisite of going to Bath surely has to be a visit to the mineral pools. That is if you can find them! We drove around in circles for bit, around the one way streets in the centre of town, trying to follow the signs, even asked people for directions. After 20 minutes of this I was a little bored so jumped out of the car at some lights and set off on foot. The trouble was the signs were really directing pedestrian traffic so they were difficult to follow in a car. Soon enough I found them hidden away in some back streets. I headed in and got information on prices, times etc. By this stage it was about 7pm so as food is always on my mind I voted that we leave it for the following day. I won!

We are getting a bit more organised on these excursions now and managing to fit in a bit of cooking in the evening instead of always going out. It is my sneaky way of increasing the two Mark's cooking repertoire. Hopefully it will pay dividends in the future. You have to plan ahead on Sunday because shops here close around 4pm. We had picked up all the necessary ingredients for pasta with bacon and creamy white wine sauce. Very yummy and pretty quick and easy too!

On Monday we had an earlier start as we wanted to go back to Bath to pay our visit to the mineral pools. I was slightly nervous about this as my body tends not to respond well to hot baths. I needn't have worried though. The New Royal Bath and open-air rooftop pool were both pleasant temperatures. We also tested out the aromatic steam rooms. They were almost intolerable - very hot and quite strong aromas. Not recommended if you are wearing contact lens'.

The open-air rooftop pool, Thermae Bath Spa, Bath

After a relaxing morning it was time for the longish drive home. It is difficult for us foreigners to know what bank holiday traffic is going to be like. Partly by accident we stuck to smaller roads for a while and stumbled across a sign for New Zealand. This couldn't be ignored so we took a detour half a mile off our path to check it out. Didn't actually find anything of note. The only evidence that this place exists is the photo's we took under the road sign.

Home away from home.