Absolutely shattered (was going to leave this post til tomorrow but I'll feel even less like it then...) but we had a terrific day...
Decided to go somewhere we'd never been before. Kai suggested Frome, which seemed like an excellent idea. But you can't get there from here, you need to catch the 184 (for the scenic route, anyway) from Bath, so accordingly this morning we leapt on the X39 and headed Bathward...
[rolls eyes] The bus slowed to a crawl just past Keynsham - we could have walked faster. We found out what the problem was - a small hole in the road a couple of miles outside Bath on the main Bath Rd. It was being worked on, but in the meantime traffic was reduced to one lane of a two lane road and controlled by temporary traffic lights, which seemed to be letting about five cars though before changing (and also seemed to be favouring traffic coming from Bath).
Eh well, we finally got there, and just missed the 184. Next one wasn't for nearly an hour, so Kai suggested having a look at the river. Crossing the bridge outside the bus station we walked along the tow-path for a little way - and then realised we'd found the Kennet and Avon Canal (well, the Bath bit of it anyway!)
We followed it for about half an hour - there are photos here, you can see what a gorgeous day it was - before heading back to the bus station to get the 184.
It's a wonderful, wonderful ride, climbing up out of Bath and up and up and up, meandering through villages in the clouds sprawling along the spine of the Mendips, like riding along the roof of the world. Peasedown St John, Radstock, Chilcompton, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Midsomer Norton, Vobster, Great Elm and Mells - little places nestling in folds of green along 45° hills with hairpin bends and roads barely big enough for a car, let alone a bus. (Ours met another bus on the way back, and had to reverse uphill to a passing place where two facing fields had their entrance gates: a tight squeeze but they made it. Fantastic drivers!) And after Mells we had the bus to ourselves, along with a drive who loves the route...
We only had 40 minutes at Frome before we had to get the last bus back, but it's a gorgeous little place, bustling and full of the most intriguing shops. Nice food too!
Of course, by the time we got back to Bath the roadworks had thrown the X39 schedule out the window, and getting back to Bristol was a little chaotic. Not too bad once we got on a bus - it was the buses arriving at the station that was the problem!
We arrived back around 6.30 pm, almost full dark. Great day, hugely enjoyable.
Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, and Kai has homework, so it'll be a relatively quiet day. But we're planning lies-in first.
Labels: days out, Riding on Buses
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 9:36 pm
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