Get to Cheltenham

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Having decided to take the 10:15 train for Cheltenham, we picked up my parents at Ruskin Hotel. We went to Paddington Station. With his credit card, Mark suggested that he would buy the tickets for four people. He was offered the discounted prices for the group of four when buying return tickets to Cheltenham Spa.

After leaving London, we could see lush countryside with horses, sheep, canals, and woodland. We had our picnic lunch on the train before arriving at Cheltenham.

Having had a comfortable stay last year, we decided to come back to Strayleaves Bed & Breakfast Hotel, a couple of minutes walk from the station. After having a cup of tea and cakes, we walked to the town centre. We took the footpath of Honeybourne Railway from the station. As a typical English town, the railway station is located a bit out of the town centre. In the old days, Honeybourne Railway used to be running through t to the racecourse, north edge of town via the town centre. The route of the former railway has been converted to the footpath from Cheltenham Spa station to St George’s Place, on the back of the bus terminal, and to the Golfcourse of the Pittville Park. The tarmac has been laid on the former railway route, and it has allowed cyclists and wheelchair users to go through as well. Various types of evergreen shrubs and wildflowers, e.g. hebe, gooseberry, geraniums are thriving. It took 30 minutes from the station to the town centre by foot.

My mother wanted to buy a box of tissue and a strap to bundle the suitcase and bag for her husband. Luckily, we managed to find both items. My father was astonished with the varied English weather. Whilst strolling through the High Street, the mixture of rain drops, e.g. drizzling, showering and heavy downpour falling on the ground from time to time, although the blue sky was appearing in the east and west direction. Mark and I knew it kept sunshining and showering throughout the day on 18 June. We took my parents to the shopping arcade when it showered and stayed until the shower was over. We took them to Sandford Park when the sun started shining. While strolling through the park, thick clouds were gathering in the sky and the blue sky was covered by the clouds.

We stood up and headed to Beehive Shopping Arcade. As expected, it showered on the way back to High Street. We decided to have coffee and tea in the Costa in the Beehive Shopping Arcade. My father was recalling the flow of the Thames River and the Tower Bridge and other bridges which he saw during the cruise, and compared them with the ones on the Sumida River, downtown of Tokyo. He felt the Thames River flowed more slowly than Sumida River and other rivers in Japan and it was less likely to get flooded. He added, “It is no wonder that most of London’s bridges including the Tower Bridge, which is normally positioned as a flat bridge, whereas the majority of the bridges on the Sumida River are arched ones.”

We walked down to Imperial Square. The open art exhibition was open, and we looked at various oil and watercolour paintings submitted by local artists. Flowerbeds were not as colourful as I had expected. Geraniums were not fully opened yet. Many of the tall annual flowers planted in the centre of the beds didn’t even have buds. The Food & Drink festival was taking place in Montpellier Garden.
We strolled through the Montpellier Street and browsed around the shops. We went to Mayflower Chinese Restaurant for our evening meal. We ate fried rice, noodle, and meat and fish dishes and had white wine. We took the footpath on the way back to the hotel.

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