Scott Battye

Today was a fairly cruisy day checking out some local areas while Scott had a bit of time off. It was lucky he was able to swing some time off in lieu of extra work he had done during a bank holiday (public holiday for those of you reading back home). We headed out to Cheddar Gorge, the home of Cheddar cheese, though given how much cheese we had already sampled during the Bath and West show the other day I'm not sure either of us were particularly keen for another round of taste testing. I...

Thought we were done with train trips? You thought wrong! The West Somerset Railway used to form the bulk of a branch line from Taunton to Minehead. A journey that is just over 24 miles (around 40-45 kilometres) originally, though now only the 20 mile stretch from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead remains operational. The now scenic railway operates regular steam and diesel services throughout the year, along with special event and theme trains. In the Christmas period there is a night train similar...

It ended up being quite a busy day in the end. 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 ankle strikes back! 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...

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...

Often the best laid plans get thrown into chaos. This morning I knew I wanted to get back to Tower Hill to resume the Yellow line tour before using the hop-on-hop-off bus tour to get around to all the places I wanted to see. I figured if I used the buses for the morning to get around, I could have lunch at Borough Market then make my way out to see Lord's and Abbey Road. The circle line of the tube would get me to Tower Hill easily enough, I figured I could walk around the base of Tower Bridge...

This morning started with an impromptu video call with Mum and Dad, and eventually also Lauren to give them a bit of an update on how things were going and to get a file sent through that I needed for an important reason. That took a little longer than anticipated but no harm today was bus tour day anyway. This morning I caught the tube to Edgeware Road, the closest stop to Shephard's Bush on the tour company's Blue Line. This line at the moment (for this summer at least) is running as a...

The time has come to leave mainland Europe. A relatively short one today as it was mostly preparing for, and then catching, the Eurostar through the channel tunnel to London. I started the day by rearranging my luggage layout, things were just getting out of hand in that case and the weight distribution was way off. I'm genuinely starting to think I will be buying another small case to carry some of this stuff home in because while it all fits in the big case right now I'm not sure I want it...

Last day on the European continent. England-bound tomorrow morning. Since it was looking like a self-guided tour kind of day I decided to make my way to the visitor centre to acquire a map and use the pencils I purchased the other day to chart my course so I new where I was and how to get back to where I wanted to be (since I have no internet access outside the hotel). To my surprise when I reached the visitor centre I asked if the tour buses were running today as I'd seen they were closed and...

It's the half way mark of the trip, I guess it's fitting to have a pretty quiet one today. It was all about getting from Düsseldorf to Brussels today. The only eventful part of the trip was my own doing. Breakfast is becoming a standard fare of Corn Flakes, berry yoghurt, and a croissant. Every hotel I've stayed at has had at least those on offer as part of the included breakfast. Something, something, routine? A quick trip back to the room to grab my stuff and it was off to the platform to...