Day 30: Tewkesberry to Bath

October 6, 2022

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I was quite proud of myself for carrying the bikes down the steep and curved staircase, without going flying. This stunt can really only be done with a Bike Friday, whose total length is a lot less than a normal bike. We are also appreciating this when taking the bikes into the lifts at train stations. They always fit when rolled straight in.

Not needing to be diagonal means that both bikes can often both fit in the lift. This one simple fact can have amazing implications. One is the case where at a larger station the lift has more than one stop. If you send your partner off alone, you may not see them again for a while! The other case is where you are trying to catch a train that leaves soon. Extra time spent in the lift can (and on this trip -has) screw up your whole schedule with a missed connection.

There is one other thing about the length of a Bike Friday, but I'll describe that towards the end of today's story.

The Fridays came down to the reception area of the Hop Pole, where Dodie loaded them with all their bags. They then joined us for breakfast before we wheeled them through the mildly surprised breakfast patrons in the bar, and out onto the street.

Lots of us treat our bikes like family, but they seldom join us for elegant hotel dining.

Just down the street was the impressive Tewksbury Abbey. Like the others in this region, it has been a Benedictine one, and the Benedictines were famously enterprising. The first thing we came upon was a little housing/commercial development the monks had done

The Abbey itself was not yet open, but was still very impressive from the outside. It quite naturally gives the impression of great age.

Some other buildings about also seem very old - like the one shown below. There was no date on it.

Toward the end of town there was a sculpture commemorating the Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471. This was part of the War of the Roses. York defeated Lancaster here. We liked the Ukranian flag.

The only way into or out of Tewkesbury is by dangerous road. Not only did the town not have any bike lanes, but provisions for pedestrians crossing the streets were very minimal. Some towns just seem blind to the needs of anyone not in a car. It's not for us to complain though - in North America we see this even more often.

The photo shows some cyclists undeterred by the conditions. Perhaps they also feel some strength in numbers. That speed limit of 50, by the way, is not the 50 kph we might expect at home, rather that is 80 kph, a highway speed on Vancouver Island.

Eventually, mercifully, we did reach some slower and quieter roads, and some beautiful scenery.

This type of landscape has been seen often in our past several days.

As we approached Gloucester we came upon a bridge that according to the nearby signboard was a big deal, in 1832. Thomas Telford (yes, the guy who helped trash the Shrewsbury Abbey with a road) was commissioned for the job, and he proposed a new fangled iron one. But Council wanted something more elegant, so this stone one was built. The bridge was in fact built in 1829, but when the support timbers used in construction were removed, it slumped, and was not declared safe for three years. Good one, Telford! (Probably he said told you so, on the iron proposal).

Bike path took us into Gloucester, before dumping us without comment, in the middle of a traffic circle. However the Cathedral was not too hard to find, since it is so tall.

It' a glorious gothic building. There are 269 steps to climb this tower!

I got sent in first, and was immediately intercepted by some sort of "welcome" lady. Aside from informing me that they were closing in 45 minutes (later found out the reason was a funeral for John Bayliss, a local former rugby star), she pointed out that admission was free but that donations were welcome and did I want to use cash or card? I could truthfully say that I had neither. (Like the Pope or President of this tour, I seldom deal with actual money.)

Once inside I made a quick survey of the more stunning visual features, this time ignoring who all was buried where. (Ok, fine, they did have Edward II. On 20 December 1327, King Edward II (1284-1327 AD) who had died at Berkeley Castle (in suspicious circumstances) was buried at Gloucester Cathedral.)

Like at Worcester, there was a giant stained glass installation.

The individual stained glass panels are pretty standard stuff.

The main beautiful feature was long corridors with elaborate ceilings.

The cathedral was a filming location for Harry Potter I, II, and VI.

The cathedral anchors one arm of a cross of roads that meet at the heart of the commercial town. The roads lead to the East, South, etc. gates, and it is all car free.

One of the streets off the cross is called Oxebode. This used to be a very narrow lane, as you read below. We thought the nursery rhyme was fun. Makes us think of those "squeeze" barriers out on the cycle paths.

Here is a random image on a wall downtown. There is naturally not as much Ukraine recognition here as we had seen in Europe.

Our plan was to use the train to skip Bristol, to hurry us along on our date with the ferry to France, and also to miss bigger cities as much a possible. Today we are able to use the train, but there will be a strike again on the weekend.

In the station we were dismayed to see that the ticket sales booths (staffed by actual humans) were closed. This was just a little demo of the full strike that would happen Saturday. We of course have no hope of finding out which trains go where without help. Fortunately Dodie found a stray worker, a convinced him to advise on the trains and take our money.

Dodie and the rail worker. Without exception rail workers have been pleasant and helpful.

Getting on many of the English trains is a challenge, because as with their roads, they are not thinking about bicycles. There is often a fair lift (but not a crazy three stair lift) onto the carriage, and no real place for the bikes inside. This is the third area where Bike Friday helps, since as you see in the photo, they can just barely allow passengers by while the bikes are jammed in the entrance.

At Bristol we had to change trains to get to Bath, and the platform was fairly crowded. Naturally, in the situation, we let everyone on before attempting to load the bikes. So that would be about a dozen people that we ushered on before us. When all had boarded, I lifted first my bike aboard. I turned around, and here a johnny-come-lately man had appeared, wanting to board.

In an angry and rude tone he said "It would be nice if you waited until people had boarded before putting your bikes on". He then moved to push past Dodie and her bike. But, she blocked him, saying "We've already let more than a dozen people board, it's our turn now". With that, I moved Dodie's bike on. As the man boarded and pushed past, he snarled "What makes you think you can put the bicycles here".

That was Dodie's trigger, and she snapped "You really need to get a grip, stupid old man!".

This is a train equivalent of the conflict between cyclists and pedestrians that happens on the sidewalks. The fault is actually with those in charge of the poor infrastructure, but it leaves the users quarrelling.

p.s. As an old woman, Dodie felt license to challenge the man on the basis of age. But looking at the photo, the real insult was probably in her calling him old.

We dragged the bikes off the train onto the very crowded platform at Bath. This was more of a crowd than we had seen since London.

Bath was a big change not only for the numbers of people, but for the architecture. The buildings are quite tall and made not of brick or small red stones, but of large pale blocks of "Bath stone". There are also long rows of houses that are a Bath signature.

As we searched for our hotel, a motorcyclist who was standing near an intersection put a UQ to Dodie. Somehow a quite long conversation ensued, during which she got some sympathy about the stupid old man on the train.

Bath of course is a spa town, where the Romans had been exploiting the mineral rich hot springs even in 43 a.d. The buildings, that earned the whole town UNESCO status, are from the 17th century.

Downtown seems fairly simple, as seen from the map on a signpost, pictured below. The spa is south of the Abbey. Our hotel is beyond the top of the map, a bit.

Well, that's it, the Broad Street Townhouse.

We chose our hotel a bit hurriedly, from the train station in Bristol, and I'm not sure what they actually gave as the room size. But what we got has to be among the smallest possible, just fitting the bed and a six foot space beside it, plus the washroom. There is at least a window, but that opens to a bank of noisy exhaust fans from a kitchen. If you like fish and chips, this is the air and aroma to breathe.

Our bikes are down there as well, for once not enjoying a better situation than we have.

The view from our room at Broad Street Townhouse. See the bikes? See that exhaust aimed at us?

Finding a place to type the blog can be a challenge in some rooms, and can be great, in rooms with a desk and electrical outlets near it. In this case there was not only no room, but also not even a chair. I went down to the bar/reception and found the staff fully engaged with crowds of drinkers. So on the principle of better to apologize later, I went to a table and pilfered a chair. There it is in the photo, in case anyone needs proof of the theft for a subsequent court case.

With the chair, I have the chance to type on the end of the bed - Dodie's side. Good thing she is a not thrashy sleeper. By the way, that's a Cornish pasty to keep me going. It came from one of those Cornish bakeries we have been seeing. Very good quality!

Today's ride: 39 km (24 miles)
Total: 1,115 km (692 miles)

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