We were up early to head to the Bath and West Royal Show. I would summarise it by saying it is what Royal Melbourne Show would be if it were mixed with the Whittlesea Show’s agriculture community aspect. While Melbourne Show still has agricultural stuff it has very much become more a focus on the entertainment (rides, sideshow alley) over the agricultural stuff for most people.
Sarah and her sister Emily ended up spending most of the day watching the events on the main arena as that was were the bulk of the equine activity was taking place at the show. Scott and I, meanwhile, wandered the event and checked out the offerings of gin, rum, vodka, and cheese. We also checked out the market stalls but that wasn’t as important as the food!
We also tried our hand at air rifle target shooting. It took some adjusting to the scope as (rightfully so now I think about it) the instructor advised us not to put the eye all the way up to the scope due to the recoil. Anyway, I feel like I did pretty well, pulled the shots a little to the right but still had a good grouping in the 9-10 range.
We had a pint at the Thatchers bar, this time I tried Thatchers Haze. They make some pretty good cider let me tell you. We thought about having some food but opted against it as they were still serving the early menu and there were plenty of food trucks around the event to purchase food from.
Walked around a bit more, then it was time for lunch. I ended up having Pad Thai. Scott had a pulled pork burger. A Blues Brothers tribute band was playing on the live stage as we were eating. Some good tunes. We walked around some more, then watched the doggos do their main arena event. Then to finish off the day there was this event with ponies. Juniour riders do these challenges on ponies as practice for ridership (including mounting and dismounting) where they have to pick things up from tables or on the ground then drop them off in another location. A lot of skill and precision involved, it was quite interesting to watch even though I understand very little of the art of horse riding.
After that it was basically time to call it a day. We picked up some fresh cinnamon donuts on the way out but then Sarah forebode us from eating them in the car. So Scott ate all of his before we got to the car, except the one Sarah eventually nabbed off him.
Woke up this morning and my ankle was sore again. Just when I thought it was all recovered the pain has returned. Not quite as bad as it was the day I could barely walk in Lucerne but still quite painful.
Not wanting to do much with it I hung around Scott and Sarah’s place for the morning. Sarah came home at lunch time to work from home for the remainder of the day so I endeavoured to get out for a bit of a walk to leave her in peace for a while and also test out my ankle.
It wasn’t the worst it’s been, but it also wasn’t the best. I did a small loop around West Wick, doing just enough to get me close to 10k steps so that whatever was planned for dinner that night would get me over the line.
Scott and I ended up having dinner at the St Nicks Night Market in Bristol, Sarah dropped us off and went to do her own thing for a couple of hours while we had a wander around the market and a bite to eat. It was a slow wander and enough to get me over 10k. Our only regret was not having more of a wander around before picking on food as we found more food joints past the markets after we had already eaten. The burger I had was nice but there was an interesting looking Taco joint I probably would have opted for instead had I known it was there.
We stopped at a bar by the waterfront, watched a couple of party boats expertly handle the narrow channel, had a pint, and made our way back.
Today was a fairly low key day, it was all train travel via National Rail from London to Weston Super-Mare to spend some time with Scott and Sarah.
I was on the tube by 9:30 as I was aiming to be on the early train to Bristol so I could get near to Weston where Sarah works. So much for not using this station on the way back though, the best suggested route over the Circle Line. Look it’s not ideal having to lug the case up three flights of stairs but it is what it is.
Paddington was the destination, and there were plenty of lifts here to use. I made my way from the tube to the main concourse. The 10am Bristol Temple Meads train was on time, I just had to upgrade my ticket from an off-peak ticket that wasn’t valid to one that was. Easy done, just had to wait to find out what platform we’d be departing from.
Luckily I had opted for this route over heading straight to Worle station (which is near where Sarah works) as the train that would have taken me directly got cancelled.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) service was running on one of the new Hitachi trains from the High Speed program. Built in conjunction with upgrades to the Eurotunnel corridor the High Speed 1 and High Speed 2 projects improve connections with regional centres.
We got held up due to a signal fault near Swansea, and that delay was enough to put the timing for the ongoing connection out. I should have organised the ticket for the Bristol to Worle train in the morning but neglected to do it and had to head to the ticket office when I got to Bristol. So I missed the connecting service and had to wait for the next one.
That service arrived on time, and I got to Worle as expected. Met up with Sarah who had arranged to drop me at their place during her lunch break so I could drop my stuff off. Sarah headed back to work and I made my way out the rest of the way to Weston Super-Mare for the afternoon to see what was happening out there.
Short answer was there was a lot of kids as it’s currently school holidays, but that is ending this weekend so it should be quieter around there later this week when I head back.
Headed back to Scott and Sarah’s, got in just before 5pm. Sarah cooked a delicious pasta bake and garlic bread.
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