BATH 5th – 8th DECEMBER

Bath is beautiful! My only regret is that we had not booked a longer stay here. I surprised myself to realise that I had never visited this place, despite having lived in UK for 42 years.

Our hotel room is great, very large and well equipped. The hotel is set in 20 or so acres of parkland and all around there is work going on to various buildings. The whole complex is undergoing a massive renovation. This work in no way affected us during our stay except maybe was the reason we got such good rates.

On our first day we took a walk into town along the canal.

The weather was cold and frosty, a new experience for Julie. The canal was frozen over; not thick enough to walk on but frozen never-the-less.

During this walk we called into a local church and, much to our surprise found it to be the final resting place of Arthur Phillip, the founder of Australia! 

You learn something every day!

The streets of Bath are gorgeous and just full of charm. I could have stayed here for a month given the time and money! Everywhere is so near and easy to reach.

Unfortunately we were not able to get any really good vantage points to take photos but we got a few anyway.

Day 2 we took a side trip to Cardiff for a few hours. This was partly to get a look at the Severn Bridge. As most of you are aware we both love bridges so took this opportunity whilst in the area.

Cardiff City is pleasant enough with a massive shopping center. Not really worth a visit in my mind but probably would have been more interesting had we had more time. We could then have visited the castle and seen more of the outskirts. However, our time was brief as we wanted to go back to Bath to visit the Roman Baths and have a swim in the Thermapool complex.

We greatly miss-judged the value of visiting these places. The preserved and restored complex is awesome and we didn’t give ourselves enough time.

The session we had in the Thermapool was an experience not to be missed. The feeling of swimming is a naturally heated outdoor roof-top pool is weird to say the least. To do so when the temperature is at 0-1 degree centigrade is a real mind bender! We were not allowed to take a camera into the complex so the only photos are from the web. Besides which, our battery was flat and we had left the spare at the hotel. DORK!

The good thing for us is that when we are in Southampton in a couple of weeks we will be paying another visit. After all, we will only be an hour or so drive away.

Tomorrow its’ off to Looe in Cornwall for a week, then onto Southampton.

POOR RUDOLPH

Sorry kids but I was VERY hungry!

BATH CANAL WALK

The Haves ………………………

………….. and the Have Nots

BATH

Had a good trip on the ferry back to Holyhead.

The trip was marginally less choppy than our trip over and we remembered to take travel pills so much better all round.

Of course, it was a very stressful trip and naturally it took its’ toll on us. We should survive though, so don’t worry about us too much!

We arrived at 10-35hrs and once we disembarked were on our way to Bath. Once again, the scenery of North Wales was spectacular; I just can’t help myself!

We took the ‘pretty route’ to Bath but took a wrong turn and ended up going via the M5 – Yeuck! I hated that road 20 years ago and still do. Never mind, we’re in Beautiful Bath now and I’m over my little tantrum!

Our room is massive and the booking includes breakfast! Its’ so peaceful I may stay here forever.

DUBLIN 1ST -5TH DECEMBER

Arrived in Dublin on the ferry SWIFT after a choppy 2 hour trip. We forgot to get travel sickness pills and poor Julie paid the price. I just may have fixed her desire to always go on the water, Heh! Heh!

Its' good to see that Australia is providing the safety systems on these internation shipping routes!

Go, Aussie, go!

Problem number 2; the Navman didn’t have Ireland maps so we were reduced to using low tech to find our way to the hotel. Technology is great until it fails and it was a pathetic sight with us trying to navigate Dublin city center but we made it without too much difficulty.

Day one we took a trip to the Giants Causeway in the north of the country, again using ‘old technology’ to find our way.

We had hoped to spend a bit of time in Belfast on the way but because of the distance involved and the shortness of the day we had to forego that pleasure.

Once we got beyond Belfast the trip took on a very pretty aspect but unfortunately it was late in the day when we arrived and the light was failing. It was also bitterly cold and blustery so was probably not the best choice of road trip to take.

It would have been better had we been able to spend longer there but it wasn't to be.

The light was failing fast and the ability to take photos was becoming very limited. Also we were freezing our nuts off so it looks like a future summer trip may well be on the cards!

Day 2 was spent in the city center, again cold but it remained dry.

It was a great opportunity to do a bit of Christmas shopping and get our international cards sent out.

Spent some time in the Temple Bar where we had a Guinness and an Irish coffee – hey; a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do!

Julie stuck to the ‘White Guinness! She assures me it’s as good as the black stuff but I’m not so sure; If you ask me I reckon she’s missing out!

Its’ a great bar and has a really friendly atmosphere. I think I need to make sure that it’s as good as first impression though; perhaps I’ll go back for another go tomorrow. Maybe have another one (or three) of their Irish Coffees.

I guess the weather is not really up to tourist tripping and it is really cold here. Also, the time of year means it gets dark by 4 pm so we didn’t stay too long after dark but returned to the hotel and had a few drinks in the hotel bar. I’m getting to like this Guinness but it left me with a very thick head the following morning. Maybe I’ll stick to my whiskey in future!

Today being our last day in Dublin we took off to Wexford, a mere 140klm run. Again the weather was blustery and cold with several showers.

It was a great little trip and we just enjoyed the drive, stopping off for breakfast on the way. We arrived at Loch Garman in Wexford at lunch time and had a really nice lunch in a hotel.

The plan was to go for a walk round but to be honest it was too cold so after an hour or so we headed back to the city and our hotel. Here we simply chilled out and relaxed before going down to dinner.

Overall, it has been a pleasant relaxing trip with us both agreeing it would be a much more pleasant experience in the warmer months.

One interesting little point; Wexford General Hospital is named such in English but in Irish it appears to be named Loch Garman General Hospital! OK, just my little quirky observation!

Tomorrow we head back to the UK and Bath for three nights so I’ll feed back from there.