Escape to the South - Part 3 Bristol and Bath

Our -French- guide for the Bristol city tour was "indisponible" as he had to prepare for next day's Half Marathon in Cardiff :-). P.S. First time he run in public and he arrived after 1h 49m. Well done, I find!

We started at Isambard Kingdom Brunel's suspension bridge and were surprised how cold it was up there.



As a pedestrian one can cross for free whilst cars have to pay for each crossing.



It was a good start as one gets immediately a good overview from above what Bristol might be.






Walking down town and when the sun got higher, it became warmer
and warmer.





Once arrived close to the center, we admired the ancient buildings but also enjoyed the various street artists.








University towns are always buzzing and if I was still a young student, I would certainly love to be one of them.





After a while we went into the cathedral. A sudden silence touched us in there.







Relatively tired in the evening we were no more keen on visiting Brunel's SS Great Britain but could see her masts from the distance.



This picture was taken because I wonder what the flag on the very right might be? Any clues will be welcome!



It was pleasant to walk around the harbour in the evening light.
The last picture is of Bristol's Millenium Place, we stayed at the (excellent) IBIS hotel just in front of the place.



On our way back to Bath, we had to go into this wee shop called "Gardenalia". I can't remember having seen any place like it. Piles and piles of garden items, vintage tools, rosted bits and pieces - all convenient for garden freaks like us :-).











We stayed a while exploring and finally decided about our precious export goods. My best buy was an ancient spate, in perfectly working order. I love things with "knowledge" and this spate told me that he had dug in his life more than I had been digging so far. I had this vision of "he is going to dig alone" ---- and you know what? It is almost like that! The spate does the work effortless (as it is light) and is the right purchase for a me for the gardening years to come :-)))




Bath welcomed us in its usual grace and -again- the bluest sky ensured magic pictures.



I was pleased that I found the old theatre again, which we had admired on our last trip to Bath with EG in 2005. I love the story of Beau Nash, the King of Bath and his mistress Juliana Popjoy - the names promise already a great life and existence, don't they?



Bath hosts the exhibition "Britain from the Air" and we took long moments to absorb it all.




After all those city tours, we were looking forward to a quiet countryside and went to Bradford-on-Avon and to Iford Manor to visit the famous Peto garden. I learnt that there are several river Avon in Great Britain. The one which runs through Bristol and Bath and Bradford got its name from the Welsh where the word "afon" means river. And I also learnt (later from EG) that close to Bradford is that famous shop for Armstrong Siddeley's spare parts ;-). We HAVE to go again!