Wednesday
14th August
BRISTOL - WELLS
- GLASTONBURY -
PLYMOUTH
HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, JIM!
As it says
above, it is indeed 40 years since our beloved firstborn arrived! Sadly for
him, it’s not a very happy birthday – he is sick, coughed all night, and in his
opinion, being 40 sucks so far. Sad.
On the
other hand, for a travelling day, we’ve had an excellent day. We are now happily
ensconced in our Plymouth flat (3rd floor, so lovely breezes) and
Glen joined us this afternoon.
We woke up
quite late this morning, but were organised enough to get out of our Bristol
flat by not long after nine, and headed south. I wanted to see Glastonbury, so
we set our course for there. Very soon after leaving Bristol, we started climbing
into the Mendip Hills, and some lovely rural scenery. When we saw that Wells
was close by, we decided to take a detour into there. Lex had gone there in
2014 and seen the outsides of the Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace, but I’d never
been. We navigated into the Cathedral Close, and by a miracle (thank you, Lord)
got a park right next to the Cathedral! Superlative time again, but it really
is awe-inspiring and HUGE. Our first port of call was the café, The Loft, where
we had a lovely morning tea with proper bone china. We walked into the entrance,
and when I saw that tickets were 15 pounds each, I wanted to just leave and
take photos of the outside, but Lex talked me into it, and I must say he was
absolutely right. I am so glad we went in.
Wells
Cathedral dates back to the 11th century, and is one of the great cathedrals
of England. It’s miraculously survived not only the Cromwell of Henry VIII’s
reign, but also the Cromwell of the Civil War – his thugs did a lot of damage,
too. The architecture is amazing, with painted floral details on the ceiling I’ve
never seen before. We spent nearly two hours in there – Lex did a guided tour,
while I preferred to just wander around on my own. The cathedral has a
wonderful medieval clock, which chimes every quarter hour, and has models of
knights on horseback that chase each other around! It’s also a calendar, and
shows the cycle of the moon as well. I have never seen anything like it. There
is a model of a puppet up from the clock which rings or kicks a bell to make
the chimes.
Medieval clock
I also
visited the Chapter House and the Library, which is a proper medieval chained
library, and also still has the original medieval stained glass – apparently even
Cromwell’s thugs couldn’t think of a good reason to smash it like they did a
lot of the glass downstairs. The cathedral is full of the graves and effigies
of the bishops through the centuries – and given that it’s nine centuries or
so, there are a lot of them!
It was getting late so we thought we’d better move on – we set a course for Glastonbury, and the parking area that the National Trust had suggested. However, once we arrived, it was the middle of the day, and the place was thronged with tourists. It looks like a lovely town, but we had no chance to find a park anywhere, so we just decided to head out of town and drive around Glastonbury Tor to see it. It is a huge mound, and the one tower, remnant of the monastery church which was once there can be seen for miles around. It was a shame we didn’t get the chance to climb it; I’m sure it’s an amazing view.
From there, we continued south, and made our way across to the M5, which was much faster. It was about 2 hours altogether, and by the time we arrived we were able to book right into our flat. Glen arrived soon after on the train. It’s on the third floor (no lift – ugh!) but has lovely big windows, so we have been able to cool it down nicely. Today it was only about 25 degrees, so not too hot anyway. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, so quite luxurious! We are right near the harbour, so after we’d walked to the nearby Sainsbury’s for food for tea, we walked down there for a look. Lex and Glen went next door to the bar for a drink, while I nobly stayed home to start the blog, sip the wine I’d bought earlier, and put tea in the oven. We’ve since had lovely BBQ pork ribs, cauliflower cheese, potatoes and greens, and are enjoying the nice cool evening.
We had a
lovely surprise after tea, when suddenly loud bangs started coming from the
harbour at 9.30, and we realised it was fireworks. Glen and Lex decided to go
down and see them, but I was sure they’d be over by the time we got there, so
elected to stay. Wrong! I googled, to find that Plymouth is hosting the British
Fireworks Championships, and there would be two more displays. I sent off texts
to both of them, hoping they’d come back and get me (we only have one set of
keys – it’s a real pain.) Unfortunately neither of them noticed, so after the
second display, I rang and plaintively asked to be collected! They came right
back – Lex was tired, so stayed here, but Glen and I went down for the final
display, which was just lovely. A perfect night to be watching by the harbour.
Tomorrow, the plan is to go and explore Cornwall.
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