The 4th of July holiday gave many Americans a long weekend, and we decided to take a mini road trip "down south." It ended up being even shorter than we anticipated- more on that in a moment- but it was fun. The overall route looked as shown below:
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| The Ground Covered |
Day 1
We left Yorkshire in the afternoon and drove to Cheltenham, to meet friends for dinner. Cheltenham is a nice town, for those who haven't been, but our itinerary allowed only a quick stop here, so after the meal we went on to our B&B outside of Bath, where we retired for the evening.
Day 2
The main tourism objective of the day was Bath. An old Roman town, Bath is home to the Roman baths, an abbey, and pretty downtown riverfront area. It also boasts a circus and royal crescent (homes laid out in a circular pattern). I may just be jaded from constant travel, but you can see everything worthwhile in Bath in a half day. A pretty town, to be sure.
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| Bath: The Royal Crescent |
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| Bath: Abbey |
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| Bath: The Circus |
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| Bath: River View |
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| Bath: Roman Baths |
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| Bath: Town Center |
Having done Bath in a half day, we didn't know quite what to do with our afternoon. Thankfully, my wife remembered someone recommending Lacock- a quaint village and abbey just 13 miles east of Bath. We headed there, and were glad we did. Lacock Abbey is an anomaly- a former abbey turned into a manor home. Part of the building felt like a standard abbey tour- and then suddenly you were in a residence. It was quite nice, and as an aside,
Harry Potter film fans will recognize a room or two. Outside of the Abbey, Lacock is a very small village- four streets- but quaint and often used for period films in the Jane Austen vein. If you're in the Bath area, Lacock is a recommended stop.
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| Lacock Abbey from a Distance |
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| Lacock Abbey |
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| Lacock Abbey |
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| Lacock Abbey |
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| Lacock Abbey |
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| Lacock Abbey |
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| Lacock |
Our day two ended unexpectedly. We had a minor emergency that left us stuck with little local currency, so we decided to cut our trip short and head home the next day, after seeing a few things. It would cut two nights off our trip, but such is life.
Day 3
We checked out of our Bath B&B and headed south, knowing that a long day was ahead of us. First up: Stonehenge, one of the most touristy, and underwhelming, sites you'll see in the UK. It wasn't bad, by any stretch . . . it just wasn't amazing. Crowded beyond all get-out, it's something you look at for 15-20 minutes, say "huh," and go. A succinct summary of Stonehenge: it's old, and nobody knows exactly what it was used for, but it lines up with the sun on the solstices. There. Okay, now on to Salisbury.
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| Stonehenge |
Just a 20 minute drive south of Stonehenge is Salisbury, with its stunning Cathedral. Ken Follett, author of the masterful
Pillars of the Earth, modeled the fictional cathedral in his bestseller after the one in Salisbury. Built amazingly quickly for a cathedral (it was completed in just 38 years- 1220-1258), its uniform gothic architecture is beautiful to behold. It also houses one of the few surviving original copies of the Magna Carta. The town of Salisbury is nice, but being used to European "nice towns," we saw the cathedral, enjoyed lunch, and left.
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| Salisbury Cathedral |
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| Salisbury "Front Doors" |
Our original trip itinerary had us spending the evening in Salisbury. Had we done so, we may have swung by nearby Wardour Castle ruins (17 miles west of the town). As it stood, though, we started the long drive home (250 miles to our home in Yorkshire). I was a little bummed about cutting two nights off of our trip, but the only thing left on our itinerary was Oxford, so we were "missing out" on only one thing . . . or were we?
Right on the way home, about 70 miles north of Salisbury, is Oxford, and we decided to stop in. We arrived about 3:30pm, so we didn't have long, but frankly, it was enough. Here's what I wanted to accomplish in Oxford:
1) Stop by the
Eagle and Child, the pub where Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and others meet to discuss their works-in-progress. A very confined place, it was fun to swing in for a pic. I couldn't have a pint . . . there was still 180 miles to drive.
2) Stop in the Oxford University Press bookstore (website
here). I enjoy the Oxford editions of many classics I read, and I wanted to stop in the "mother store" and see if I could soak in some wisdom. It turns out I couldn't, but I
could take advantage of the 3 for 2 deals on all Oxford World Classics . . aww yeah.
3) Walk around the various colleges. Like Cambridge, Oxford features numerous colleges, many with beautiful architecture and charm. We huffed it around a few of them, marveling at how "urban" Oxford seemed compared to Cambridge. It wasn't bad . . . but, frankly, it wasn't as nice as Cambridge.
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| Oxford |
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| Oxford |
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| Oxford |
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| Oxford: The "Famous" Eagle and Child |
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| Oxford |
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| Oxford |
After our whirlwind tour of Oxford (we were there about 3 hours, including dinner), we made the long drive home, stopping at just about every rest stop because of my daughter (who's potty training) and my son (who decided to have a bowel movement every 30 miles). We eventually made it home, though, and in one of life's enjoyable twists, we decided that we were happy the trip got cut short. We saw what we wanted and spent only two nights (vs four) in hotels.
Final Thoughts
This trip ended up being a "blitz" tour experience for us, and frankly, we didn't mind. Everything we saw was nice, but nothing wowed us . . . which is becoming increasingly true the more we travel. As a friend said to me recently (who's also lived in Europe for 5+ years), "the awe is gone." Not because things aren't beautiful- but because we get so used to beauty that it loses its impact on us. Shame on us.
Area Rating: A
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