Day 1 – Bristol
It’s the time of the year where we just had to get away. It’s been a difficult few months but a holiday always refreshes the mind and body!!!
Our journey started by our usual ritual of getting some home cooked food from mum, yep, thepla again!!! They’re just there when you need some food!!!
Because of my shoulder surgery, Nisha is driving!!! Yep, I’ve let her loose with my car…well, I have no choice and she keeps telling me that she’s driven a merc Vito on a past holiday…yawn!!! We set off with Nisha attentively behind the wheel, early signs are good, we’re safe, the car is safe on onwards we go…destination is Clifton in Bristol…M25, M4 here we come…(exact words from Nisha…Jes, I love your car, it’s amazing…so smooth, it’s like I’m floating)…I can’t snooze just yet 😜
A couple of hours later and we enter Bristol…looks a bit dodgy, but hey, we’re just driving through to get to the posh part (the hotel said they’re in the poshest area in Bristol!!! As the continue driving, the houses are getting bigger, people are wearing clothes that fit…always a good sign…after rounding a few corners, Waze, our sat nav tells us to take a left into a very narrow road…Nisha’s worried…I’m thinking I could drive a tank down this road…we take a right, still a narrow road, then a right and another right…Waze tells us our destination is on the right…ummmm, yeah…I don’t think so….we reprogram the sat nav with name of the road rather than the name of the hotel…so it’s a left and left…there it is…on the right…Waze took us to the rear of the hotel…damn technology!!! Next challenge, where to park…not under a tree…not too far….oh no, we’ve gone too far, Nisha does a 180 and we slowly drive back and see a space on the other side of the road…the traffic is already built up but Nisha sees a gap and decides to play a game of chicken with a van…hey, I’m in the firing line here 🤣🤣🤣 she didn’t mind!!!! After holding up the traffic while Nisha parks the car, she looks at me and says is that ok??? 🤣🤣🤣. We take our overnight bags, as well as Nisha’s swimming bag…yep, she’s booked swim and dinner at a lido restaurant. We check in, get an upgrade as someone has cancelled but the room, I mean suite is on the top floor and I can only carry a light case while Nisha has to carry everything else…we’re hardened trekkers so a few flights of stairs are chicken feed to us…up we go and after bypassing base camp, we reach room 2, should be peak 2…we enter and are very impressed, the views are exquisite, and the room has a hidden toilet and shower cubicle, with an iron bath in the room…weird but nice.
Time for lunch…the ever resourceful Nisha had already made lunch corn cakes with smoked salmon, and set the table, quickly made a coffee and whipped out cheese and thepla…this will keep us going, especially as Nisha will be swimming later. While eating, Nisha has googled where we are and how far the suspension bridge is…it’s not far, it’s a 25 minute walk, and then another 25 minutes to the lido. I haven’t been feeling well so we’re both concerned whether I’ll be able to make it…nothing ventured is nothing gained…so we get ready to go…bridge…here we come!!!
We walk down a hill, through a park, up a hill, up a single trek and all of a sudden, we look over the edge of the railings and see muddy banks and very muddy water…we climb some more, see more railings, and beyond that is the suspension bridge….Nisha is in awe…’Jes, it’s a bridge with nothing holding it up, it’s just suspended’
We admire the view and slowly walk along the path, as we round the corner, the path has a fork, we turn right and make our way slowly down the decline and see one of natures weird yet beautiful surprises…
A whole host of plants full of snails, and we’re talking about hundreds!!!
We continued down the path and reached the bridge itself…
The view over the edge is lovely, yep, we’re high up and Nisha doesn’t do heights…so she looks over the edge from a few meters away from the edge 🤣🤣🤣. Cars have to pay £1 for each crossing…they’re making money…there’s about 10 cars per minute from one end…so the math!!! Viewing done, we set off for the lido…it’s a pleasant walk, Nisha is loving the architecture, and adds that the money came from slavery…yep, more research she had done!!!
25 minutes later and we reach the lido restaurant. I go right, Nisha goes left…while she’s signing in and getting ready for her swim, I’m ordering a bottle of white wine, and the required jug of water…I make myself at home, headphones in, noise cancelling on and I start reading my John Grisham book. Before long, Nisha appears, gets into the water and snaps her goggles…I’ve been telling her to invest in new ones…I’m not saying anymore!!! They can’t be fixed and they don’t have any to purchase so she has to swim without…she’s a hardened swimmer so this is not a setback at all…off she sets…by now, I’m two glasses down, both water and wine 😜
Nisha had asked me to take a video of her swimming so I could advise on her swim stroke…I did this very covertly, but I knew she wouldn’t believe what she saw…her stroke is good, just needs fine tuning…
After about…oh, let’s say plenty of laps, Nisha got out and showered while I tried glass number 3. Before long, Nisha arrived, sat down and straight away complained…no, not about me drinking wine but her eyes…I said nothing…I can’t keep saying …I told you so!!! 😜🤣😜🤣😜🤣. Our table was booked for 6pm so we talked and finished the wine. At 6pm we made our way upstairs to their restaurant. It’s such a lovely setting and the food didn’t disappoint!!!
Sadly no photos, but just to tease your tastebuds, for starters we ordered scallops, and salmon with potatoes, for main course we ordered, hake and sea bass, all with lovely trimmings and so so tasty…dessert was also eaten!!! Yes, we were stuffed, and we even managed to walk back to our hotel…the whole journey being up hill.
On return to our room, we filled in our breakfast requests…
Off to bed!!!
Our trip to Cornwall 