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We began the day again with our B&B breakfast, a hearty full English breakfast along with tea, toast, fruit, yogurt, cereal and oats (which is something these Brits seem to take for granted that everyone will eat this much in a morning meal). They sure know how to make a pot of tea though. Our waiter was totally a young Manuel from Faulty Towers – except competent, basically he was Spanish and working in a hotel who was a bit flustered that we sat at the wrong table, it wasn't set for breakfast he said, this means it didn’t have any tea cups. :P
Then off we went again, via some of Great Britain’s best beaches BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Beach? Try, mud infused sand about two metres wide, some slight ripples in the water and all grey and rainy.
We saw some more wild Welsh ponies. This time an even bigger herd.
The guy at Costa coffee (England’s Starbucks) had an amazing Welsh accent (one of the nicest I have heard) We asked him where it was from exactly. And he replied. “iz froom jbdjibvuoedooooo n jbivbi vayeleeeis ohhh abbberrr deeeeooon. Gargle gargle.” Love it!
Heading through Sawansea (Wales) the tyre warehouse fire was still burning so we got diverted yet again, the traffic can be pretty horrific. So we now have now spent more time in Swansea (sitting in a car) then we spent in Bath (looking at magnificent ancient Roman ruins). lol
Back across the bridge and back into England, bye for now Wales, see you again next week. And now off to Gloucester, pretty much for the soul purpose of chasing some cheese down a hill. This is the town where annually a competition is held where hundreds of ballsy men chase a giant wheel of cheese down a ridiculously steep hill. The prize? The cheese of course.
So we stopped off and bought a wheel of cheese and then headed up the hill, my god it was steep. We didn’t run down the whole way. For one it was fenced off (seems the council might be concerned about liability or something. Can’t imagine why.) And secondly, there was no freaking way I was going to walk all the way up this hill just to die falling back down. It was so steep. Like, crazy steep. Cooper’s Hill, look it up. So we chased our cheese roll down the last bit of the hill and took some stupid touristy snaps of it. It may sound a bit stupid, but this was exceptionally fun. We do love to do idiotic things like that.
Then we headed off to Warwick Castle, alas we only made it to the ticketing booth. This was due to the fact that I was dry retching at the sight I saw. The noises being made by kids I could hear over the wall, didn’t exactly scream legitimate historical sightseeing, but they certainly did scream. The next turn off was the posters everywhere of half arsed recreations of dungeon scenes (there is a dungeon room, something like a haunted house in side show alley) the posters associating the place with the TV show Merlin, the gift shop that sold YoHo Diablos(association with castles???? Anyone????). And the 25quid entry fee, each. Now I’m not a scab that won’t pay to see amazing things, I would have paid double that to see Stonehenge, what I am against is paying that much for Disneyland. So we saw a bit of the town instead, its pretty remarkable. These buildings that don’t have straight walls, the brickwork warps along the sides and it is truly beautiful.
Then we drove on a bit more, there is a long way between toilets here and we are working hard on this whole bladder transcendence thing (when you eventually reach a state where you are able to overcome the discomfort of needing to pee)
We did eventually find a rest stop which had a feature that all rest stops need. Pokies. Naturally, when that need to gamble strikes you’ve just got to go I guess.
After that we went to Nottingham. Yes the very same Nottingham that Robin Hood is told to come from. Here is yet another incredible city where the modern meets medieval. The mix is yet again stunning. We saw a mansion that was built upon the burnt ruins of a castle. It is built on top of a cliff which has a network of caves and carved archways, tunnels and stairs. An incredible structure that looms above the city.
The real reason we came to Nottingham though was to eat at Jamie’s Italian, this is one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants. Jamie is the only celebrity chef that I even remotely care about. And I love him so. Not only do I want to marry him and greatly respect some of the issues he pushes such as healthy eating in schools and free range produce but I also love his cooking. I have a few books of his and it is amazing what the man can make me capable of cooking. I love the practical simplicity yet refined flavors. So it meant a lot to me to eat at this restaurant. The food was amazing. The best crispy squid I have EVER had. And this is my favorite dish anywhere so that is saying a lot. Great mushrooms then wild boar and venison salami. Divine pasta dishes and the best dessert I have ever had. A pavlova dish with berries. So light but just bursting with flavors and textures. Yuuuuuuummmmmmm! I want Jamie to open a restaurant in Canberra. The price was also fantastic, 47quid for three entrées, two mains, two desserts, a mocktail and a cocktail. Wow!
Spending the night near Sherwood forest in a B&B called Marion’s manor, and yet it is run by a Marion. J Time to sleep.
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