Bristol (Brizzle)

Our narrowboat adventure was a great success. We covered about 75 kilometers of the Thames river, went through about 20 locks, and didn't crash or sink. Narrowboating is a really interesting and relaxing way to see the English countryside. It is easy to do. Give it a try.

After returning the Silver Swift to Anglo Welsh boats in Eynsham, we walked the 10 minutes up to the bus stop and caught a double decker back into Oxford. The bus had free wireless onboard! Brilliant! The bus got us to Oxford in about 20 minutes. We had another 20 minute wait for our train to Bristol. The number of bicycles at the train station and around Oxford was amazing.

 Royal Mail delivery bike.

 Bikes at the train station.

 Bikes downtown Oxford.

The train to Bristol (an hour and a half) was packed with people on their way to Bath for the day or the weekend. We had difficulty finding two seats together. The train was almost empty after Bath.

The crowded train to Bristol.

Fliss and Jon, our hosts in Bristol, took us all around the area. Bristol is the home of some very famous folks including the notorious street artist Banksy and the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the builder/designer of the first propeller-driven ocean-going iron ship and many other engineering feats.

 I.K. Brunel and me.

 The Clifton suspension bridge by Brunel.

Bristol is also the “spiritual home” of apple cider. Here apple cider is taken very seriously. There are sweet ciders and not sweet ciders ranging in colour from pale yellow to bright orange (Cheddar Valley cider) and there are refined ciders and rough ciders. The strength varies from the strength of light beer to that of wine. Regretfully, we made an effort to try as many different kinds as we could. In local Bristol speak, we got “appled up.” They were all delicious, but I suffered the inevitable the next day. Strangely, the toilets in The Apple, the floating bar where we sampled the variety of ciders, was unisex. That is, after you went through the door into the heads, there were both men and women scrambling to get into the stalls and primping in the mirrors over the sink. The only indicator of the gender of the person in the stall next to you was the way their feet were pointing when they whizzed. It seemed to be de rigeur for the men to piss as loudly as possible, all the while farting and burping with great pride. An interesting display of manhood, where for once I could compete on even ground.

 Various ciders. Blame Nancy for the decapitation Jon.

We also had the best Ruby (Ruby Murray – curry, Cockney rhyming slang) ever at the local curry house called the Chili Inn. It was a “Bring Your Own” booze place which compounded the cider tasting excesses of the afternoon.

The next day we were taken to Bath by Fliss and Jon and spent the day walking around the historic city that dates to Roman times. It was full of tourists and everything was a little on the expensive side. £12 each just to look at the Baths. I saved the money and peered over the wall. Nancy bought a post card to look at the baths.

Bath.

The weather has been interesting both days. The wind was howling bringing a couple showers and some bright sunny periods. It changes even faster here than in Victoria.

Put Bristol and Bath on your list of places to see.