Bristol

Another beautiful day. We woke to a clear blue sky!! Michael rang to say that we would all meet for brunch at a place Spicer and Cole at 11 am…we knew the area - Queen Square - and went out walking in the lovely morning, found the cafe which was very popular on a Sunday morning, and after a bit of walking round we queued up, figuring that by the time we got to the front of the queue and they could find a table for 6 it would be about 11, and it was perfect - the others arrived and we were seated almost straight away. So that was Margaret, her 3 children (all now in their fifties) and us.

Lovely brunch, and afterwards we all went back to Margaret’s except for Anna who peeled off and left to drive back to Birmingham. Then Kate collected her bits and pieces (Margaret said she always leaves something) and set off too to drive to London via a friend in Somerset.

Finally we took our leave of Margaret and Michael, Amr and I set off walking towards Southville where he lives, and where we had arranged to meet Matt Vale who now lives and works in Bristol (he is Cathy and Pete’s nephew). Walking through Bristol with Michael is an amazingly entertaining experience as he knows so much of the history of the city and the buildings and bridges (of which there are many)…a wonderful walk. Nothing is straight and I get totally disorientated - things turn up that we have passed before where I least expect it! But it is not too large a city, and Amr has a good sense of direction, and we always find our way back to Temple Meads which is the station near our hotel. The Avon river snakes through, but it has been cut off, and a new cut built (in the early 1800s) to make shipping easier, so there is an area of the real river that is blocked off, called the floating harbour. It is all really muddling walking round to know if the water is the river, the new cut or the floating harbour! A reason for all this is the huge tidal fluctuation here - the second greatest in the world I believe. When we went on our walk this afternoon the water level was almost zero - in fact Michael said he couldn’t remember seeing it so low, but you could see from all the wet edges how high it would be rising at high tide.

So we ended up arriving at Michael and Kathryn’s place, and we had another distant contact with Kathryn (she had come with Michael to the brunch place and waved to us all and was jealous …) it must be SO frustrating not to be allowed to socialise…finally made our farewells with Michael, and then walked back to where we were meeting Matt, at a coffee shop. He and Millie arrived and that was also lovely. Millie, who has not yet met any of Matt’s family, was lovely and we had a good catch up. Matt, like all the Vale’s, is so warm and fun…we enjoyed that and then walked back to Temple Meads. They had all said it was about a 45 minute walk, and to keep walking straight ahead till we got to the river…then turn left…anyway, we made it happily…it is cold now, but good walking, and Amr amazingly recognised landmarks (the curry restaurant of Friday night) and we found our way very well! And it took 43 minutes!

Not really hungry after brunch, but there is a little Italian restaurant near us (the rest is pretty dead on a Sunday, it is a Monday to Friday area) and we had a delicious light meal- just right, and are now having our complimentary glass of wine at the hotel (we are such faithful Ibis members) before we retire for the night!En savoir plus