Cardiff, Bath, Glastonbury to Torquay: Thursday 28 July

We left Cardiff at 8am this morning, and soon skirted around Bristol and drove over the Severn Bridge.



Before long we were driving through the beautiful Somerset landscape, often quite high up, driving through small villages and looking out over the farmland below.

We arrived in Bath around an hour and a half later. Somehow I'd always envisaged the town being on flat ground, but much of it was built on quite steep hillsides. We had an orientation tour around the famed Georgian building areas of the Circus and the Royal Crescent, locations for filming many TV series or movies from that era.

We soon pulled up near the Bath Abbey and walked the short distance to the Roman Baths.

  

We spent a fascinating hour and a half walking through the different levels of the baths, looking at the amazing exhibits on display, and learning about life at the baths during Roman times. It was a bit like Pompeii, on steroids!

We needed to find an early lunch, so had a short wander around some of the narrow streets until we found a cafe that had been recommended by Michelle - also the oldest remaining home in Bath - Sally Lunn's Eating House, home of the Sally Lunn Bun, which had been recommended as something different to try. David had half a bun (they're huge) of what was described as a club sandwich. I had two warm GF scones with jam and clotted cream - I was in GF heaven! Then we wandered along the river - actually the River Avon - and had a look at a rather unique bridge, built with shops on it just like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. At this point, it started raining and we were caught without jackets or umbrellas. We spent an uncomfortable 20 minutes sheltering in a book shop and then under a tree, before Kevin arrived to pick everyone up at the allotted time of 12:30pm. The rain soon cleared.

  

  

Our next stop was in Glastonbury, but for only 45 minutes. The place was packed with people, many of them dressed in long purple skirts (there was some kind of gathering on). There were shops for everything related to King Arthur and his Knights, as well as spiritual crystals etc. We ducked in to the entrance to the Glastonbury Abbey ruins, but decided not to actually go in (a regret I now have) because it cost £7 each and we'd only have 20 minutes in which to have a look.

  

On the two hour drive to Torquay (home of Faulty Towers), I fell asleep for at least 20 minutes, but still wasn't feeling great when I woke up - not getting enough sleep at night and also a lack of protein today, I suspect. We reached Torquay around 4:30pm and were taken to a bar right on the waterfront and Michelle shouted each of us a drink while Kevin delivered the bags to our hotel. It was lovely sitting in the warm sunshine (23C) and talking to others on the tour. Then, Kevin was back to pick us up.

  

We were staying two nights at the Imperial Hotel Torquay and found our room was a huge one with a balcony and spectacular view overlooking the bay - wow! Our room also has a separate foyer, with access from there to the small bathroom. I sat on the balcony for a while and, like several on the tour, we decided to eat dinner in the hotel. It seemed I wasn't the only one with sore, swollen feet!

We went downstairs to the bar and sat at a lovely table in the sun by the window, having a drink. We were soon joined by Murray and Lorraine who stayed and had dinner with us. After that, I returned to our room to write this blog post, while David headed out with Murray for a brisk walk down the hill to the town and back.

Waterford to Cardiff: Wednesday 27 July

This tour is called 'Romantic Britain and Ireland' but, as everyone on the bus would tell you, there was nothing romantic about this morning's 5am alarm, with bags to be in the hall for the porters by 6am, and breakfast at 6am, with a 7am departure for the port at Rosslare (in County Wexford) to catch our Sena ferry across the Irish Sea to the port of Fishguard in Wales.

On the journey to Rosslare, we heard about JF Kennedy's family links with Ireland, and passed through New Ross on the Barrow River - home to the Dunbrody replica famine ship (one of the better ships that didn't lose close to 50% of its passengers who were headed to America to escape the potato famine in the mid-1800s).

  

It was a fine day, even sunny with only high cloud, and we had a smooth three and a half hour crossing, sitting in the Barista Cafe with Murray and Lorraine. Later we went up to the cafe on Deck 8 for lunch, where David had fish and chips, and I had a GF beef casserole with brown rice. There's a bit of a saga with that - 15 minutes after we ordered, our food had still not arrived, so I went over to ask about it. I got the impression that mine had been forgotten, and the woman rushed away to find out. She still came back without the meal, and said it had been dropped on the floor as it was being taken out the oven, and they had to put another meal on for me. I asked if David could have his fish and chips as other customers had been served theirs up immediately upon ordering, and here we were now, 20 minutes later with both of us still waiting. So, he got that, and she kindly delivered my meal a few minutes later. Nothing seems to be simple when you're GF!

After docking at Fishguard, we drove through the beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside. Michelle gave us a potted version of early Welsh history. After an hour and a half we had a service break, then Michelle played us a selection of songs sung by well-known Welsh singers - I was disappointed that Harry Secombe wasn't amongst them.

An hour and a quarter later we were in Cardiff and had passed the Millennium Stadium, and then 12 of us were dropped off for our optional tour at Cardiff Castle. This was an excellent tour of the medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion, entering rooms that people can't always see. The rooms were spectacular, with huge attention to detail. In the mid-18th century, the castle had passed into the hands of the Marquesses of Bute, who had begun many years of renovations and the results were amazing. After the tour, David climbed up the original old motte and bailey castle that was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roman fort. 

  

  

  

  

  

Michelle and Kevin picked us up an hour and a half later, at 5:15pm, and we were driven the very short distance to our hotel, Jury's Inn.

  

  

At 7:30pm we headed out again, this time to the Millennium Centre for a night celebrating Welsh food and culture and being entertained by Welsh stories, music and Welsh singers.

  

We had a lovely meal, including (for me) the best GF bread rolls I've ever had, a goat cheese terrine, hake on caponata and veges, and a really nice orange and almond cake. The entertainment took place between courses and involved humour, audience participation, and beautiful singing by two sopranos and two tenors (operatic as well as popular music). There was also flute, harp and piano accompaniment.

  

We were all very raucous on the way back to the hotel on the bus!