Bristol, Bath and the Old Wardour Castle

Our time in Bristol was a bit of a blur, and not just because of the cider and beer. Bristol is England’s second largest city and it really does feel like it. Our first task was to find the “address” The Old Rectory. Our GPS doesn’t seem to like names, as it prefers # and street names when finding an address. So it’s no wonder that we went down the wrong street. We asked a couple walking along the street if they knew where the Old Rectory could be, based on the Postal code; she had suggested driving back the way we came but to continue on up the hill. We tried her advice and yet again couldn’t find Megan’s place. We both had spotted what may have been the street to head on, so since we were already lost, we took the chance. We drove for a few minutes before Julie managed to spot the Old Rectory as we passed it. I turned around (about a 50 point turn as the streets are very narrow) and we buzzed in. At last we found Megan and parked our Van. It was great seeing her again, and it was especially funny to hear her new accent. We bounced back and forth between our two friends Phil and Megan as best we could. Our attempt at this was to give them a break from entertaining us and spend as much time as we could with them both. At Megan’s we hung and chatted and pretty much took it easy which was nice after the relentless pace we tend to set when we are traveling. It's also see easy to do at Megan's place too. She lives in a giant old house with a huge lot. Julie's favorite past time is playing with the two resident dogs. If we weren't hanging out at Megan's, we were at Luke's house playing games and hanging out. At Phil’s it was a more lively atmosphere. No doubt that is contributed to the fact that 12 people are living in the house and it's in the middle of the city. We played games, drank, went to many bars that were closed at 10pm, only to head off to the next one a few steps away. That is not to say we didn’t manage to find open bars past 10pm though. It seems the bars in Phil's neighborhood close early, but the once in the heart of Bristol stay open into the wee hours of the morning. They even managed to take us to our first cider house which Julie and I both enjoyed. Our first weekend in Bristol, Phil, Julie and I headed off to London to meet up with Dave and Trevor. However when we arrived, we found out that the guys scored free tickets to a Foo Fighters concert and would not be able to meet up with us. Since we have all been to expensive London before, we spun the van around and headed back to Bristol. In order to make the trip not a complete waste we decided to visit Old Wardour castle. This castle was used as Robin Hood's home in the movie Robin Hood Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner. There was a wedding taking place so the access was limited, but all in all, it was a nice castle.On a Sunday we went with Phil to the absolutely gorgeous city of Bath. It was a gorgeous day and there’s not much more I can say about Bath, other than it is one beautiful city. I’m sure the weather helped with that too.

After our visit to Bath, Emma made up a picnic and picked up a disposable BBQ and we all headed off to the nearby park. This was a unique experience for us. We aren’t allowed to drink in public in Canada, but it was perfectly fine in England. I’m pretty sure we aren’t allowed to bring a BBQ to the park, but once again, it was allowed in England. It was a great day with an old friend and many new ones. The two weeks we spent in Bristol with our friends showed us more of the English culture than the entire time we had previously spent in England. The hospitality shown to us was amazing and we hope we can return it in kind. We are truly going to miss the people and the life style in Bristol, England. Thanks again guys.