The Trip Back to London
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2007
1
18
31
Trip End
Oct 22, 2007
London,
United Kingdom
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
to head back to London on Monday. I didn't have to be till Thursday to
get my flight to Amsterdam.
I had organised with Mark Willis (a.k.a Wilbur) to stay with him in
Bristol for a few days. This was handy as Bristol is an easy 40 minute
train trip directly from Cardiff. So I arrived in Bristol about 3pm and
found my way to Wilbur's apartment. Wilbur had left me a key in a
strategically well hidden position so I let myself in and decided to
get comfortable on the lounge watching some classic TV - Knightrider
(this was the Hoff at his brilliant best)
Bristol Cathedral
. Wilbur got home from workand we headed out for a few quiet beers and a bite to eat. Over a few
ales our discussions ranged from the good old days back home, the state
of current world affairs and what tourist sites I should check out in
Bristol with my free day tomorrow. We ended up staying till last
drinks were called and then wandered off back home and to bed.
The next morning I found Wilbur had left me a list of places to visit
in Bristol. I walked down into the centre of town and stopped at the
visitor's centre. There was plenty of information here on the things to
do in Bristol but more importantly I could get a map of the city with
all the tourist spots on it. My first after here was to have a quick
walk around the cathedral and then down to the harbour
The SS Great Britain
. I walked alongthe wharf front till I reached the S.S Great Britain. The S.S Great
Britain was the first of the great steam powered sailing ships to be
built around 1840. I was designed by a bloke by the name of Brunel in
the current dry dock it now occupies in Bristol (the dry dock was dug
specifically for this ship). It took about 3 hours to do the whole tour
which included a small museum telling the history of the ship followed
by actually walking on the ship and a few of the decks below. From here
I walked back to the centre of Bristol to get a bus to Clifton Village.
Unfortunately I missed the bus stop and ended adding a extra few
kilometres walking onto my trip. Once at the village I walked around
the area checking out plenty of cool little shops and walked across to
the gorge where the river Avon flows. Here at the gorge is one the
first suspension bridges that is still in full operation today. It too
was designed by this Brunel character, so I presume he was a smart
cookie and probably a local. From hear I caught a taxi back to the unit
and wait for Wilbur to get home
The Suspension Bridge over Avon Gorge
. Once Wilbur got home we jumped back ina taxi and head back to Clifton Village and checked several of the
local pubs until closing time.
Next morning I got up nice and early and said my farewell to Wilbur. We
had worked out the night before that the cheapest way for me to get
back to London now would be the bus (only a third of what the train
would have costed and only just abit slower). So just after lunch I
jumped on a coach heading to London.
The coach finished at Victoria coach station which is right across the
road from Victoria rail station where I met back up with Rick Bridge
(a.k.a Bridgey). We then caught the train back to the apartment where
he was living dropped my luggage and headed out for dinner. At dinner
we caught up with Mick McKensy who shared the apartment with Bridgey,
Megan (Bridgey's better half) and another couple of old friends from
back home Ryan (a.k.a Coulo) and Jacinta. We had dinner at some
Brazillian place where you got your vegetable and salad from the buffet
and then blokes come around with a variety of big chunks of meat to
your table and carve pieces off for you. Seeing it was all you can eat
nobody left hungry. We stopped off for a few more quiet drinks just
down the road before heading back to the apartment and another lounge
to sleep on (I'm not complaining about this, it's just that I have now
slept on about 6 different lounges on this trip). The next morning we
had a another group of farewells and I continued on my way. I caught
the train out to Gatwick airport where I had to tackle a huge crowd. I
got my luggage checked in just before the checkin system there at
Easyjet crashed. This delayed my flight by a few hours but we
eventually took heading towards Amsterdam.
