Day 48 - Bath to Bridgwater - ride total 3, 611 k, 22,592m

Our bikes had to be locked in the cellar of the pub overnight as there was nowhere sfae to leave them outside. This meant we could not get away until the pub opened at 8:00 which was a lot better than the 10:00 we originally were lead to believe was the retrieval time. So, at 6:30 ish we went walking through Bath trying to find somewhere open for breakfast. Back home that would not be a problem but here in the UK it seems many of the cafe's and bakeries even do not open until 8, 9 or 10:00 in the morning. We weren't having much luck (other than the flash hotel which we didn't feel we were dressed for or had the wish to pay 25 pound for breakfast). I saw a chap walking along with a takeaway coffee so asked him and he pointed us to Costa's the only place open at that hour of the morning. The Boys were pleased coz it did proper coffee they tell me (must have been coz they had two Capuccinos each).

On the way back to our accommodation we took a wee detour to take in the Putney Bridge over the River Avon and got our gear from the room before retrieving the bikes from the cellar. We have gotten on well with the staff at St Christopher's and as we were leaving the on duty person gave us each a banana and a croissant for the journey - very nice little touch.

The ride out of Bath was along an old railway line and before to long we came to a tunnel
which turns out to be the UK's longest walking and cycling tunnel at 1.672 km's in length. It has a lovely smooth paved surface and lights that operate from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and we past quite a few walkers and runners in the tunnel.

It is certainly cooler now and I started out with my light wind jacket on and about 11:00 I could see some ominous clouds not to far in front of us so stopped at a farm gate to get my raincoat out of the bag in the dry. As it turned out we dodged that shower of rain and a bit after our lunch stop I needed to stop once again this time to put my raincoat away.

We trundled in to Wells another beautiful city with a lovely church as its centrepiece and just before going through the perimeter city gate I noticed a lovely street off to the side so stopped to check it out. The street and.housing was built by the church 650 years ago to provide housing for its choral singers and looks very much like it did back then as it does today. There is a multi-year restoration programme in currently place.

After the Church we rode around the corner to the main street and i hunted down a traditional cafe offering Devnshire Teas. Now I don't think my memory is failing me yet in all areas however my memory of Devonshire Tea in 2017 was mostly of lovely freshly baked scones, slightly runny clotted cream and strawberry jam. Well, I'd have to say the two times I have had Devonshire Tea here this time I have been disappointed - the scones  have been very tight and crumbly (not sure if they were baked on the same day or had come out of the freezer a few hours before) and the clotted cream was more like creamed butter! In fact I never finished today's second scone and asked Stephen to remind me next time that I've done the Devonshire Tea thing already!

At one point as we were cycling beside a river I noticed some kids about to jump off the bridge so thought I'd stop and watch them have their fun. As I was doing this a couple of women out for a walk apporached on the path and as they looked local I said "did you do that as girls?" They said yes, back in the 50's but not now look what colour the water is today, it's polluted" - I agreed with them and said it's the same back home in NZ (think Coe's Ford). Well it turned out one of the two had spent 6 years in the Hawkes Bay (Havelock North) back in the 70's and the other woman's son is a mechanic in Auckland! One thing lead to another and the one and only person I know living in Havelock North was unknown to Kay however then she said her friends at the time who now live in Auckland were Hornby and Fran Eeverswindel! I'm pretty sure (yet to be confirmed) that Hornby is the brother I of Phillip who I know from my Financial Planning days! Not only that but I have met random people who know Phillip right up in the headwaters of river in SOuth Westland while jet-boating and a couple of years back another one of Phillips freinds' on Palmer Road at the bach where on a good day there might be 15 - 20 cars along the road!

We're now in Briidgwater for the night which at this point appears to be lacking any of the history of our recent stops - I'm sure it's there coz history is everywhere over here and it might be because our chap accommodation is simply not in the right part of town (history and 19th/20th industrial areas kind of generally are not found side by side.

I'm still not sure why they are removing cats eyes over here 🤔








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