Jan 6
Salisbury to Bath
Torrential rain outside followed by a breakfast straight out of Fawlty Towers. The problem with the Grasmere House Hotel is that no one there speaks English. Communication was harder than in the Polish hotels. As an advertisement for the UK tourism industry, it was a disaster.My attempt to order either kippers or haddock for breakfast was a disaster and the staff neither understood nor cared what was on the menu. They actually claimed that the menu, which was in all of the rooms, was a figment of our imaginations. The pub in Dover was light years better and also a lot cheaper. PLEASE avoid this hotel!
Right: Salisbury Cathedral across the meadows |
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Wilton Shopping Village was damp and the ducks were in their element. There were fewer shops there than I remember from previous visits and everything seemed a bit drab. I did manage to buy a shirt.
Left: Nice weather for ducks |
Our reason for being there was that we had to find something to do before Old Sarum opened at 11 am. We arrived in time to see the man from English Heritage opening the gate and followed him up the hill towards the castle.
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The man in there was very friendly and welcoming. He gave Valerie a tasting of ginger wine - the real stuff - which got him an instant sale.
The castle was wringing wet and there was an icy breeze. We wandered around, looked at the stones and then returned to the shelter of the car. Last time I visited, the weather was near perfect and it was a much more pleasing experience.
Right: The castle was wringing wet |
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The drive to Cerne Abbas took about an hour, including lots of narrow lanes and a few missed turnings. At the edge of the village, we found the viewing point and climbed out into the drizzle to take lots of photos of the giant.
Right: The Cerne Abbas Giant |
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With another item ticked off the wish list, we found a pub for lunch. One of several in the village, this one seemed much cheaper than the Le Routier one across the road.
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It turned out to be a good choice and, after a reasonable wait which we
were warned about, we were both served with large lumps of granary bread
and bowls of soup - broccoli & stilton I think. Excellent and perfect for
the weather.
A quick walk around the village revealed lots of interesting buildings. I was particularly taken by a beautiful Georgian shell porch but there were lots of other interesting buildings to peruse. |
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Another hour and a half along reasonably big roads got us to Bath, where we dived into an underground (apparently) car park and went off in search of Sally Lunns. We had to wait for a few minutes for a table, investigated the basement museum and then climbed the narrow stairs to the dining room. The tables were all full so we squeezed ourselves onto ours and made intimate contact with two pots of tea, two sally lunns and lots of clotted cream and jam. I should have used flash to get a decent photo but that would have destroyed the atmosphere. |
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Once out again, I lost the car and got increasingly tetchy as Valerie seemed to have a far better handle on things than I did. She eventually found it and we drove up the hill in the rush hour traffic to Coombe Down, where I had little difficulty in finding Russell & Chris's house.
We settled in for lots of chat, mainly about their impending visit to New Zealand, and also a huge dinner.