Day 13- Monday Last Day in London

We started the day in this aptly named second hand book shop called Slightly Foxed Books. We didn't find anything we were looking for so unfortunately couldn't curl up on that couch! Pity.

As it was raining in London today (our first real rain in 2 weeks) the oldest umbrella shop in London, James Smith & Sons on New Oxford Street seemed an appropriate next stop. 

In operation since 1830 and in the same location since 1857, they have all sorts of umbrellas and also walking sticks costing from 30 pounds to thousands for antique or bespoke items. We browsed!

We then went down Charing Cross Road to peruse more book shops. Henry Pordes Books was a wonderful used book shop where we each picked up a hardcover "Popular Rhymes & Nursery Tales of England" book. 

Next door in the Any Amount of Books shop I found an old Enid Blyton book for one pound. And the new and shiny Foyles book store also on Charing Cross kept us busy for a while. It was the next best thing to visiting 84 Charing Cross Rd, which is now a McDonald's restaurant!

After a while I was feeling a bit poorly with the London cold virus (which we both picked up but which I haven't quite gotten over) so we headed back to The Blackbird Pub on Earl's Court Rd. Dorset Lamb pie for both of us with a pint of ale for Gillian and a Shandy for me really hit the spot. 

Packing up now to head home tomorrow. Back to our families and routine. 

Steps today were a pathetic 9,106. Winding down slowly now.

Cheers for the last time!

Day 12- Sunday linger in Bath and back to London

Sunday was a little foggy in Bath to start. This photo was taken of the Parade Gardens by the river Avon as the church bells from both Bath Abbey and St John the Evangelist Catholic Church were ringing. Lovely!

This photo is for our Canadian readers (or anyone who has been to Niagara Falls). It is "The Maid of the Mist" Bath style, just a bit less risky looking going into those rapids under Pulteney Bridge!

We next did a bit of shopping in the shops which line Pulteney Bridge. It just looks like another street here but those shops are on the bridge of the photo above. We headed straight for The Antique Map Shop. Fascinating!

The sun then came out in time for us to see the Holburne Museum, which is situated dramatically at the end of Great Pulteney Street and in front of Sydney Gardens. The museum had some wonderful Georgian and Regency art as well as displays of silver and china, miniatures, and even furniture and jewelry. A small museum just perfect for a quick visit. 

Sydney Gardens behind the Holburne Museum is gorgeous and there is a new modern cafe in the back of the Holburne but we couldn't linger as we were off to London again.

We had dinner in an Italian Restaurant near our London hotel and then watched the latest Downton Abbey episode in our jammies. 

Fewer steps again today...only 11,136

Cheers!

Day 11- Saturday Rambles in Bath

The day started with a bake sale in Bath Abbey. We were so lucky to be able to wander around this gorgeous cathedral with cake and coffee in a very informal way. We not only bought cakes from this stall, we got some jams to take home with us.

This was the view from where I was sitting in the choir stalls munching and sipping away and marveling at the architecture around me. Somehow the bake sale made the Abbey seem more alive and fun. 

There were children learning how to make bread, which you don't normally see in a cathedral!

Apparently the fan vaulting on the ceiling is quintessentially British according to Gillian who is now an expert after having devoured a book called How to Read Churches.

We also climbed the multiple spiral staircases to the Bath Abbey tower and this was the view of the inside of the clock. 

This is one of the 10 bells in the tower. This one is inscribed "All you of Bathe that heare me sound, Thank Lady Hopton's hundred pound." Apparently although she pledged £100, she only paid £5 and her descendants paid the rest. She still gets credit on the bell however!

We got some wonderful photos from up in the tower including this one of the Roman Baths from above.

I like this shot as it shows the lookout at the top of Beechen Cliff as well as the church beside our hotel Paradise House, which is the tiny tower at the bottom of the trees.

After the Abbey, we went to see the Fashion Museum which is in the basement of the Assembly Rooms. We had lots of fun drooling over the dresses. I won't bore you with too many photos but this close up is fun...

and this one of some shoes which Gillian said her daughter might like to wear today...

And below is one of "yours truly" looking like one of the Cranford ladies out for a stroll. Looks like I need a corset. My dresser Gillian forgot to cinch me in!

Speaking of Cranford, below is a crinoline, one of which is referred to in Cranford as a cage I believe, and was used comically to contain a parrot!

Actually, here are a few more photos. Sorry about the reflections off the glass but I just wanted to add a few more snaps of these gorgeous dresses!

Late Regency/Early Victorian dress from 1838

Late Victorian dress from 1898

Gorgeous mid Victorian with stomacher from 1842

We ended up by seeing the Royal Crescent (below) and back to the Abbey for an organ concert. We then called it an early night by picking up provisions at a M&S food store and enjoying the garden view from the B&B. Finishing off the Colin Firth version of P&P seemed appropriate to Bath.

Fewer steps today at 12,406 (but do we get credit for all the steps up the Abbey tower?)

Cheers!

Day 10- Friday travel to Bath

Our day started out by being dropped off by our now quite familiar cab driver Andy in quaint little Tisbury. After sauntering back to Beatons Tearoom for elevenses (awesome term for a drink and snack around 11am), we left our bags there and went shopping. The ladies in the store pictured above (called amorio) not only sold me a beautiful nightie, they got chatting to us about how the river scenes in the film Chocolat were filmed in nearby Fonthill Gifford, which you can see signed above. Apparently they had to burn about 4 boats to get that river scene right! They also said Juliette Binoche threw a hissy fit (well, they used a more colourful British expression we can't remember) and told us that the lake at Fonthill was too pretty to miss.

We didn't have time to see the lake at Fonthill so after taking in a few more shops including an antique/decor shop IN THE TRAIN STATION called The Decoration Station, we finally made it to Bath. This is the view from our B&B room's floor to ceiling windows. Ahhhhh! We can highly recommend Paradise House in Bath. It is Paradise!

After yet more tea, we decided that as we were already halfway up the hill as you can see, and the weather was still clement, we would climb to Beechen Cliff which is just behind our B&B.

The park, now called Alexandra Park, is one of the best spots to overlook Bath and it was so pretty in the late day sun.

This is the view away from the city.

"They determined on walking round Beechen Cliff, that noble hill whose beautiful verdure and hanging coppice render it so striking an object from almost every opening in Bath." Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

And this is the view looking towards Bath, with Bath Abbey visible in the centre of the photo. The new buildings in the foreground are a new shopping area by the train station all made of yellow Bath stone to blend with the old buildings.

We then went down into town and enjoyed the late day sun on the Abbey.

The angels climbing Jacob's ladder were amazing! Here is a close up of one:

The angels climbing to heaven (and a few of them fallen angels) are quite striking, especially late on a sunny day!

Also some of the kitschy shops selling things like teapots in novelty shapes like typewriters, telephones  and Bobby helmets.

Ending up at Pulteney Bridge as it was getting dark, we ended up eating at a Turkish restaurant with a view of the bridge.

The food was pretty good and the Turkish coffee was amazing. More Bath tomorrow!

Only 13,351 steps today.

Cheers!

Day 9- Thursday trail, Thomas Hardy Tales

We started the day in Tollard Royal with a lovely breakfast kept company by the owner of Perry Cottage's lovely little dog Welly (short for Wellington). A very well behaved little old man.

We wisely decided to do a smaller walk today and so were able to start the day in a leisurely manor. The church was all done up for what we thought was a wedding but which turned out to be a funeral. The wonderful clear weather continues!

We gorged ourselves on blackberries/bramble berries again today. Such a shame that no one was picking them. We were dreaming of the jams, pies and tarts that could be made from such a harvest. And growing everywhere!

In this photo you can see that the whole left side of the hedge row is all brambles. It was hard not to pluck one once in a while. The thorns kept catching my trouser leg while walking past which reminded me of the quotation:

"Oh, how full of briars is this working-day world!" - Shakespeare, As You Like It

More lovely Dorset scenery which photos cannot begin to do justice to!

Off to Ashmore, a cute little village with no pub but it did have a lovely spot to rest by a pond in the centre of the village. 

It also had many wonderful spots to photograph including this late hollyhock in the glorious sun.

Mungo (Welly's friend) welcomed us back to the B&B.

And our shorter walking day meant we got to enjoy the late day sun in the garden with Mungo and Welly.

A pot of tea and some glossy English magazines just completed the day. We can highly recommend Perry Cottage in Tollard Royal. We could hear the distant sound of guns from the shooting at Ashcombe. I wonder if Guy Ritchie was taking part? He and Madonna bought the property in 2001 but  he got it after the split. 

Step count only 19,701 today. But there was more relaxation and even a nap!

Cheers!

Day 8- Wednesday trail, Out on the Chase ending in Tollard Royal

Big walk planned today. These delicious berries we have been munching along the way are called either blackberries or bramble berries depending on which part of England you are from. In Canada we call it a Blackberry and my photos for this blog were taken on a larger electronic version of the fruit!

Added later- when I got home, I started watching the ITV series Home Fires about women in England keeping the home fires burning during WWII. The first episode has them making blackberry jam "for the war effort". Wonderful!

Our route took us up the chalk hills in the north of Dorset today. It is hard to see, but the white path you see above is from the chalk. Think of the white cliffs of Dover and you have the idea. It is a bit slippery to walk on (sort of like talcum powder at times) and the Neolithic people even carved pictures out of the chalk hills for gigantic art. The Uffington White Horse of Oxfordshire is over 3000 years old.

Postman Pat kept roaring past in his little Royal Mail truck. The lanes are narrow here but there is time to dive to the side (preferably not into brambles or stinging nettles).

Gillian ran into this adorable bus stop in West End. Would that all bus stops could be this cute and comfortable. Village news inside on the cork board is handy too.

Actually that crossroads was called Sixpenny Handley but we were off to Berwick St. John next. Actually, before we got to Berwick St J, we arrived at an adorable village called Alvediston.

Wandering into The Church of St Mary Alvediston, the light was streaming into the windows and onto the pews. As we were admiring the embroidered cushions for kneeling, we spotted a certain gentleman under the window in the right of this photos.

A recubent medieval knight with two angels by his head and his dog by his feet, is thought to commemorate John Gawen, who built nearby Norrington in 1377. Apparently former Prime Minister Anthony Eden was also buried here but we thought Sir Gawen more interesting.

Another lovely view in Alvediston as we were leaving.

After talking sweetly to these sheep who were collected in front of a stile we had to cross...

and getting some fresh green cow manure on my boot (and laces which had come undone yet again!) we started to get hungry, tired and grumpy. OK, I started to get hungry tired and grumpy. Some expletives were released into the fresh country air.

So how lovely to finally come to this chocolate box village where The Talbot Inn gave us rest and refreshment. Lots of older locals inside having a good old time reminiscing too.

You can just see the tops of their heads in this photo. When we left they were starting to compare ages. Most were well over 80!

The photos of the hills near Win Green we were walking really don't do justice to the scenery but here is one.

And here were some cows grazing on a hill. Behind them in the clump of trees is a Neolithic burial site dating to 500 BC. The history is everywhere.

While walking through Ashcombe Park, where Madonna used to live and where her ex Guy Ritchie still does, we were amazed by the number of pheasants running around. They are hilarious the way they ran away from us (rather in the manner of roadrunners) and so elusive that this was our best photo even though they were everywhere!

When we got to our B&B, the lovely Perry Cottage in Tollard Royal, this tea tray awaited us. Then off to the local pub The King John Inn for a venison dinner. It seemed appropriate as King John used to go deer hunting in Cranborne Chase here.

Steps for the day 27,313.

Cheers! Hope we can still walk tomorrow.