Bristol, Bath and beyond

Not strictly part of the journey home... we have just spent a couple of days in Bristol, Cheddar and Bath. The pretext was to do a kid hand-off to Rachel's parents in Bristol. Bristol being where Rachel's Aunty lives.

After a nice lunch with Thea (Rachel's aunty) and her kids and grand children, Rachel and I headed off for Cheddar and Bath. Cheddar is a town (pretty, nice cream teas and cider), a gorge (twisty turns and impressive rock faces) and of course the cheese.

Then into Wells (between Cheddar and Bath), beautiful Cathedral and to Bath by Saturday evening. Not a B&B free in Bath, but we managed to find an inn with a room free and a pub to pass the evening away (did better than M&J).

Quick potted history of Bath (learnt on the Sunday). First there were the pre-historic chaps, living in caves dropping flint tools into natural springs of heated water. Next came the Romans who decided Bath was a sacred place, built beautiful temples, and, of course baths - this was around AD45. For 400 hundred it was a great spot to visit on the edge of the Roman Empire, open to all (servants, soldiers and the rich). Mid-400s the collapse of the Romans and so the place degrades in the dark ages until around 1700 when a couple of innovative chaps (an architect and a gambler) turn this down and out town into the place to be for the well-to-do in the 18th century. Not a lot happens, the water comes and goes (at a rate of 1.7 million litres per day) until the 19th Century when it gets rejuveniated and they build a bunch more beautiful buildings on top of the old ones, by now the Roman Empire is about 12 feet below the road level. WWII happens, a blitz over a week, then the 1960s and 70s with some shocking architecture further threatens Bath until UNESCO come to the rescue and make Bath a World Heritage site.

Some well done archealogical excavations and good audio tour make Bath a must see in the UK.

Last day of school

Yesterday was the last day of school. A very tearful event for many.

Bex's year have now finished their primary school and move onto secondary school in September so they were all emotional - lots of tears and hugs - to be moving on. They will wind away slowly though with various plans this week. Last night we had a parent bbq at Steve and Lynns, a really enjoyable evening, lots of 'why are you leaving?'. Today a bunch of them are off the Princess Di memorial and lunch in China Town.

It does make the moving away much more real when you realise you are doing things for the last time; the last walk to and from school (a pleasant walk down tree-lined streets - cool in summer, beautiful hues in Autumn and crisp cold in Winter), the last washing of school uniforms (although they have captured the autographs of their friends all over their school shirts so that saves that job).

Cool trippings... the beginning

This blog will trace the voyage from Teddington in the UK to Riverhead in New Zealand, by Tasha, Bex, Rachel and Ivan.

We begin on July 23, 2006.

It is the morning after the sleep over and the swimming party, a combined birthday and farewell party for Bex and Tasha... still in Teddington, but nowhere to go, yet. Bex and Tash' have managed to wrustle-up a lovely circle of friends. Spending the day, evening and morning with them reminds us all of some of what we will miss.