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Published: February 9th 2006
King Arthur's Birthplace
Re-enactment on the hill.
Acting needs some work!
Not a very big night out last night. 95% of us were in bed by midnight. Only about a dozen of us made it out last night. As all group dynamics go, especially when we don't really know one another all that well, it took forever to make a decision on where to go. It was narrowed down to the Walkabout or Belushi's which is at our hostel. Some didn't want to pay the £3 cover charge at the Walkabout but Sarah really wanted to go for a taste of Australia. Apparently Walkabout is a typical Aussie bar AND being Tuesday the theme is Beach night. Plus rumour has it that wet t-shirt contests, stripping and games like that are quite popular. If you knew even a little bit about what the people in our group are like (me included!) this isn't really the scene for most of us. So we ended up going back to Belushi's and hung out on the outdoor terrace. It was pretty nice chatting with some new people on tour and people were actually quite chatty - a bit of a change from the
Bizarre Bath Walking Tour
One of the stunts performed by our bunny friend.previous 36 hours. We eventually had to go inside because the outdoor terrace closes at 10:30. The move from outside to inside, there were a few people that just went up to bed. We were lucky to find a table and some seats quite easily and settled down with some drinks. The music was a lot louder inside so conversation was a little more difficult. It wasn't a particularly interesting night out but there were a few funny moments like when Sarah was trying to pronounce Tsubasa's name, or when Chihiro and her two friends wanted to take pictures with everyone "Japanese style". “Japanese style” translates to giving the peace sign with both hands and having your arms in the air. Then the two Brazilians Caren and Bruno started telling me that the "ok" sign (forefinger and thumb forming and "o" and your other three fingers up.) means something totally different. We had a good laugh about that one.
This morning was pretty relaxed. Mind you Olga takes forever in the bathroom so that meant the other five of us in the room had to wait forever. I guess since I don't have much stuff with me I was ready and waiting 15 minutes before breakfast was ready...just needed a sink to brush my teeth!
For breakfast it was the usual toast, cereal and coffee. I think I'm slowly becoming a coffee drinker...aah! Well, I'm not quite at the point where I can't function without one but have noticed I go for coffee over tea more often these days. Mind you, I do put a lot of milk in my coffee.
Anyhoo, our driver and guide stayed overnight at a local bed and breakfast last night because the night before their room was on the first floor and they didn't get much sleep because of all of the noise and ruckus that was going on. So they were a bit late picking us up at 8:30 this morning. But that's okay since it was nice looking out onto the beach listening to the waves while we waited. Hmm, maybe the spunky sword of justice should have been used on them! haha Oh, I guess I should explain the spunky sword of justice...it is a plastic sword that is whacked on your backside if you're late coming back to the bus at the assigned time. I think there are a few people on the bus that really enjoy the little whack because they are chronically late!
Right now we're on our way to King Arthur's birthplace. It was a nice walk up and down the hills around Tinagel Castle. Apparently this is the birthplace of King Arthur. Go figure. Haha Cai with the help of some of my tour mates re-enacted the battle between King Arthur and his men (the Celts) against Sir Dick (I can't remember the entire story and I'm sure there was a bit of embellishment in there!) There was also a bit of a side story where Lady Guinevere and Sir Lancelot (one of the men around King Arthur's Round table) were caught in a love affair. King Arthur and Sir Lancelot fought and both died while some say Lady Guinevere went into a nunnery. It was all very amusing and the setting on the cliffs couldn't have been nicer. We were given sometime to explore the area like the beach and caves and the gift shop before getting to the top of the hill and the town where we picked up food to eat for lunch. I'm a bit Cornish pastied out so went for the oh so healthy cheese straws, muffin and apple turnover. lol
We were back on the bus by noon and drove for about two hours before we reached our next stop which was Sheppy's Cider Farm. Bit of a joke since the power was out and we walked through the "museum" which consisted of old farming implements in the dark. That took about five minutes. So we headed over to the back part of the property where there were a lot of animals to look at. Most noticeably a ram, two donkeys and lot of chickens and other caged birds. Hmm, 45 minutes at this place maybe a bit too long! There were free cider tastings and I have discovered I'm not a fan of the cider. So I sat outside with Laura and Steph and we sat out by the picnic benches just chatting. We all discovered our love for scrapbooking and they were telling me all about the scrapbooking retreats they've been on in the past. I heard about the one in Harrison Hot Springs before and apparently there's one in Surrey as well. Scrapbooking with others whilst wearing your pj's...what an interesting concept. Perhaps one day I'll partake in such an event...or not! lol Hmm, now I can't wait to start scrapbooking photos from this past year. As I've always thought. It's gonna be a real huge job sorting through my photos and the being selective in the ones I print out and use. I guess one of the most time consuming parts of scrapbooking, the journaling, has more or less been taken care of since i can just cut and paste from this blog! Score!
We had a long break (about 1.25 hours) in Glastonbury. Didn't really want to shell out the £4 for entry to the Glastonbury Abbey where it is rumoured the remains of King Arthur and Lady Guinevere were found but a more cynical view is that they monks in the 1100's made this "discovery" to bring back the people to Glastonbury and since then tourism has been "booming." I didn't climb up the Tor either. Just wandered the streets and eventually stopped off at a cafe to sit down for the remaining 40 minutes. At the cafe we met more and more of the people on our tour as they passed by on their aimless wanderings. There were a few interesting shops to visit like the Lolly shop and the Hemp store. There were numerous crystal/new age/Indian-Ganesh laden stores. One of the real estate agents had interesting write ups as well..."If you're laying low. This discreet bungalow is for you..." That was my fave.
Another half hour drive and we came to the town of Cheddar and drove through Cheddar Gorge. No, not really made up of cheddar but has been dubbed the Grand Canyon of England. We stopped to take photos but in my opinion we were really too close to take good photos.
It is currently 6:30 and 16 miles to Bath. Another late check in at our hostel but I hear we have a bit of a sleep in tomorrow.
Even though we got to Bath and were checked into the hostel just past 7PM, I had to rush out and get something to eat and be ready by 8PM to catch the Bizarre Bath walking tour. Sarah, Caren and I wandered around for a bit before finding some Chinese take away - I have been craving sweet and sour the last few days ever since Sarah mentioned it and put the thought into my head. Doh! We took our take away back to the hostel to eat in the chill out room. I had about 20 minutes to scarf down my dinner and make my way to the meeting point for the Bizarre Bath Walking Tour. Piece of cake. Good thing I’m a fast eater. Lol It was only a three minute walk to the meeting point and already there were I’m guessing 75 or so people milling about.
By the time he collected money from everyone and then went around a second time to stamp their hands it was 8:15. I guess quite a process since there were so many of us. The Bizarre Bath Walking Tour doesn’t claim to give historical facts and figures of Bath which I’d say is a good thing because the performance was just hilarious without having to get bogged down by extra details.
Our guide started the tour by saying he doesn’t tell us the history of Bath but then proceeds to point out some “obvious” things. EG: Red box on the wall = the Red light district; Pointing to a sign stating the name of the building and the year it was built (I can’t remember the details) but basically started to tell us about the building based on everything we could read for ourselves…totally obvious. I guess it’s funnier to see in person than for me to have to describe it all. We didn’t walk all that far but he kept the crowds moving and performed a few notable tricks for us.
Stunt #1 A stuffed Rabbit that was chained up and weighed down with some lead weights. The Rabbit then gets dumped into the river and 10 seconds later he comes floating to the surface without any of the weights and chains. It is amazing the lengths that these guys go to, to pull off this trick. In other words they had a scuba diver in the water!
Stunt #2 Our guide is walking around with a blindfold telling us his psychic-telepathic powers will lead us to the next stop. Then when he pulls off his blindfold and he has us safely on the sidewalk, a blindfolded bicyclist rides on by.
Stunt #3 There are four keys to unlock £200. Using mind games he tricks the three “chosen” ones to not pick the correct key. I don’t know how he does it!
Stunt #4 He gets a ring from a member of the audience. Ties it to a balloon and “accidentally” lets go of the balloon and you see the ring float off. In the next minute or two you see the Rabbit drive up on a toy car and the Rabbit is carrying a wrapped package and when it is opened up the ring is inside! I’m not sure how they pulled that one off!
The Bizarre Bath Walking touring was a super amusing tour. One of the funniest parts was when he said, when he gives the signal (put up your hand if you have a hand stamp) stare at anyone that doesn’t have their hand up because they have joined our tour without paying until they leave the group. The first time this happened he singled out Gary from my bus tour. Lol Gary and Tsubasa showed up late and just joined the tour and didn’t know the “signal” so of course our Host singles out Gary and starts poking fun at him. The funniest was when Gary was wearing this hugeass bum bag around his waist and it was resting just below his stomach. So our host couldn’t help but make a comment something along the lines of “look at his giant cod piece!”
It was also hilarious when he got the group to start singing when a group of people walked by. He had us all assembled like we were a choir and everything. It was hilarious. Or the one street where he said we had to hop across because it was bad luck to just walk and then to see the reaction on the faces of the family with three little kids seeing a huge group of +75 people hopping across the street.
If you’re ever in Bath and have nothing to do in the evening I highly recommend taking the Bizarre Bath Walking Tour. The best £5 entertainment investment ever!
I was back at the hostel around 10PM. Since this was our last day on tour everyone made an effort to come out for one last drink together. So after quickly nipping upstairs to brush my teeth and change my shirt I was down at the bar to socialize a bit with everyone. As luck would have it, it was Wednesday…Karaoke night at St. Christopher’s! Tsubasa got up there and sang, “We Will Rock You.” And then the three Japanese girls got up there and sang as well. I think it was a Back Street Boys song but can’t quite remember right now. It was all good fun. I’m sure they would have sung more but Karaoke night was only until 11PM.
A girl came around earlier and passed out leaflets for a local night club. So the majority of us walked over there to check it out. Once we got there it turned out that there was a cover charge of £3. Half of us didn’t want to pay the cover charge and ended up walking back to the hostel to hang out in the “Chill Out” room while the other half went into the club. I’m glad I opted out of entering the club because they only stayed there for about an hour because the club was full of lots of old guys and super young girls…
Meanwhile, Sarah, Pete, Laura, Dauphine, myself and this Mexican guy ended up chatting in the “Chill Out” room. It was some pretty weird conversation that is not worth repeating. Yet we stayed up until about 4 or so in the morning. LOL
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