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Published: June 21st 2017
Stonehenge
Finally made it! Had dinner with Stephen's aunt, all was well until after repeatedly saying she wouldn't let out the yappy crazy dogs that hadn't stopped barking since we got there.....she let out the crazy dogs which immediately went totally crazy, barking, snarling and jumping all over us. I was a panicky mess while Stephen did his best to try and contain them with no success at all, his aunt eventually managed to herd them back into the laundry where they started barking incessantly again. Had a great visit otherwise than and went home stuffed full of food!
Back at the hotel to settle in properly after just throwing our bags in earlier and a restless night in a very hot non airconditioned room!
After yesterday's marathon drive we decided today to try and do secondary roads not the main motorways and stop at a few places of interest. Our first stop being Bath, set the GPS and away we went, all was well until we reached Bath itself when the b*tch in the box decided things were going too well and she took us off the main road up a narrow lane, round the corner into a narrower lane with cars
Stonehenge
Just awesome parked on both sides, down another narrow lane again only room for one car going one way...other person had to back up, in a perfect square back to the busy main road which took an act of God and a very kind motorist to allow us to get back on our way.....stupid GPS!
Eventually found a long term car park, paid the exorbitant 5 pound 40p for up to four hour fee, using my phone GPS we located the Roman Baths. Was a reasonably long queue but seemed to move at a reasonable pace and probably took us about twenty minutes to get in. We would have spent about two hours wandering about, was very interesting, they provided headsets for self tours and was very relaxed, occasionally you would get caught up in a crowd but mostly able to find a quiet spot to yourself. The water looked disgusting but I overheard one of the guides say it was emptied and changed last week so obviously fighting a losing battle to keep it clean.
A quick walk round the nearby cathedral, before a bun and 'cream tea' at a cute little Georgian tea rooms.
Back on the
Bath
Stephen and his friend road and we debated if we would go to Salisbury to visit their cathedral, had decided yes when that cow in the box decided otherwise and took us in the wrong direction. However, not all bad, driving along and we started to actually recognise where we were, and so we should we spent well over two hours on this bit of road two years ago inching along at the rate of 1/2 a mile an hour trying to get to see Stonehenge. I said to Stephen if it looks clear round the corner lets go for it, we drive straight up the road into the carpark and before we knew it we were on the shuttle bus on our way to visit Stonehenge! Unbelievable when you consider the nightmare traffic two years earlier where we just gave up in frustration and took a couple of photos from the road as we inched past.
Spent a lovely hour walking round taking photos chatting to people and generally enjoying the beautiful sunshine, the stones and the day. It's one of those places that if you listen past the noise of the people there is a weird stillness to the place, we
have had similar feelings in places such as the memorial site of the battle of Little Bighorn, it's very eerie.
A quick flit through the museum and back on our way. Stopping briefly for a meal at a pub called the Hinton Arms for a yummy dinner before finally arriving at to a warm welcome at Ray and Janes. Spent the evening catching up with them and Alan before a late night to bed.
Other than a quick walk up a hill, lunch at a little air field where Stephen was happy to see a Spitfire and picking up the makings of Hugo spritzers we spent the next couple of days enjoying their company and relaxing in the sunshine. A welcome respite from our hectic travel pace thus far.
We had booked into a B & B down the road on the next afternoon where Andrea and Garry met us before the six of us, Andrea and Garry, Jane and Ray and ourselves, went to a local pub for a meal and few drinks before we headed back to the B & B with some takeaway drinks where we had a good night catching up on each
Bath
The Baths other's travel adventures. The B & B owner came over and kindly added a bottle of wine to our stash, so we must of been reasonably well behaved!
Another hot and bothered night....this heatwave is really taking its toll on my patience...we had a lovely big cooked breakfast before a short drive to Portsmouth where the boys went and did the ship visits, explored the harbour and generally did the tourist stuff while Andrea and myself hit the shops.
Finally exhausted, over the heat and shopped out we returned to the nearby casino to wait out the boys. I won my stake back as the boys showed up, Andrea had doubled her 20 pound and was just waiting for Stepgen and Garry to have a quick play when a guy asked her to pick an option on the bonus on his machine, he won 800 pound on that one spin and had 3000 pound showing as his credit on the machine, obviously having a great day, he made her day by giving her 200 pound for picking the right option! She was stoked, a big win without gambling, doesn't happen very often!
A quick dinner at a
Bath
Underground Spring local bar before home and a few drinks....very sad as its our last night, we head to Dubai tomorrow for two nights and Andrea and Garry to Hong Kong for a two hour stop over then home to Auckland.
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