Trains. I like trains. I don't get to ride in them very often - they're more expensive than buses, generally speaking. Though given that the bus for us both to Clifton Triangle (about 2.5 miles?) yesterday cost £4.20, and the
train to Severn Beach (about 12 miles, I think) was £4.80, that might no longer be true...
It was such
fun! And fascinating seeing Bristol from a different perspective. Montpelier Station is so much prettier than when I lived in the area - and on the side of a pink-painted house up at Clifton Down there's a whackin' great matching pink
nose! The train goes through the mile-long tunnel underneath Clifton - didn't enjoy that at all - and comes out half way down the Avon Gorge, stops at Sea Mills and then picks up speed, which Kai loved. Under the bridge at Avonmouth (I've driven over that
bridge several times on my way down to Devon - I like heights but it nearly gave me vertigo...) then along the river to Severn Beach.
It's a tiny place, and so
quiet! We meandered along the beach (there is one, though it's perhaps not exactly what most people would call a beach, it's mostly mud and gravel with lots of rocks that help form the sea wall. Kai had a fantastic time, leaping from rock to rock avoiding the mud - only about ankle deep, but it's best to be careful anyway, there are patches of quicksand along that coast) all the way to the Severn Bridges Visitor Centre (where we stopped for tubs of
Marshfield ice cream, Succulent Strawberry for Kai, Toffee Fudge Fiasco for me).
The new bridge is beautiful, a graceful, shallow reverse-S curve in dove grey and turquoise skimming the river between England and Wales. (This pic is a scan of the nicest of the four postcards available: I took some photos but I'm right at the beginning of the reel of film so it'll be a while before I can post them.) The view of the old bridge
through the arches of the new is quite something...
It's breezy along the top of the sea wall, but a sun-trap on the beach itself, where I sat on the 'steps' while Kai played 'explorer' for an hour on the rocks. We've both caught the sun - it was
hot today - but look good for it!
Kai's knackered now (heh, fairly tired myself!) but loved it, and wants to do it again. So do I, actually; there's something about the place, a sense of
space, of tranquility, that's quite enchanting.
"Blow things up. Blow them up again. Blow the hell out stuff. Blow the hell out of it some more..." We like the advert for
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. It's one of those incredibly rare, completely
honest ads that doesn't claim to do or be anything other than exactly what it is.
If we played computer games we'd probably buy it on the strength of that alone!
This had me laughing aloud in places.
"OK... Just for the sake of argument, why is there a vampire under my bed?"
[grin] I really hope the writer continues the story...
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 10:45 pm
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