Tales from the South West - Welcome to England, Dad

My dad and me had been talking about him coming to visit me in England for quite a while now, probably even for a year even, but somehow it never really worked out with two busy schedules and stuff getting in the way... until now.

He had literally announced about a month ago that he was coming over and had booked flights for one week in August. Yeah. I had some time to think of and look up some places to go and things to see and before I knew it he was here.

So as we're exploring place I myself haven't been to either, I thought I might actually blog about it and maybe some of you guys feel inspired to check them out as well.

Friday, August 10

Picked my dad up from Bristol Airport Friday late afternoon and we went with Rich to Spoke and Stringer, a nice tapas bar right by the river. 

Spoke and Stringer in Bristol

It wasn't too busy but still quite a vibrant atmosphere. The small open kitchen was right by the entrance and the two chefs greeted us friendly before one of the waitresses showed us to our table. I sat right underneath a shiny fancy fixie bike hanging off the wall. Interior was modern and had quite a few bits and bobs to look at on the walls. 

The guys had some local beer (Left Handed Giant brewery) and I tried a Rioja which was fantastic. We had pretty much all the tapas from the menu sharing them between us as you do. We agreed that the manchego and ham croquetas were the best of the lot. Whilst my dad and Rich both don't speak each other's language I think we still got a good conversation going with me translating back and forth.

Nice place, Spoke and Stringer. Unique interior, friendly staff, probably a bit nicer on a sunny day when you can sit outside with view over the docks.

Quite stuffed we walked along the riverside back into town centre and took a bus home. Day 1 done. Yay. Much more to come yet.

Saturday, August 11 - Symonds Yat, Goodrich Castle, Tintern Abbey

Wales, England, Wales, England, Wales, England... That's what we could've repeated as we drove along the river Wye Saturday morning, crossing the border between the two so many times on our way to Symonds Yat.

Symonds Yat is something Rich had suggested to have a look at. It's a village/town in the Northern part of the Forest of Dean. What's more important is, that it has a very popular viewpoint over the wooded hills and the river valley.

We parked up at the spacious car park, paid our fee and had a look at the various colour coded trails. The obvious one was the one up to the view point which had an estimate walking time of 45 mins. We chose to do that first before the crowds arrived and then go for a longer woodland walk. 

45 mins turned out to be like 10 mins to the view point which was already populated by a handful of bird watchers with their impressive binoculars and camera lenses. Size does seem to matter in that area.

Although a bit overcast the views were stunning. It's hard to explain, you really have to go there. It's not very high, but higher than anything else around so you can see far and wide. There is obviously the meandering Wye, fields of green and yellow, the wooded hills, people canoeing, cows grazing and if you're lucky buzzards or falcons circling. We weren't lucky, but still spend a good deal of time up there letting our eyes wander over the scenery.

Back at the car park we went straight for the signposted woodland walk. 6 miles and 2 1/2 hours was the estimated duration. Perfect for a lunch time walk.

The trail was super easy to walk and led through fairly wild and mixed woodland. It was great fun to spot the many different types of trees and once you do so, you're amazed how many different ones there are actually. We were all alone so far and not long into the circular route, we passed loads of blackberry bushes. Perfect time to stuff our faces. My dad was all over it. The bushes were full of big black ripe fruit and before we knew it we had each a big handful ready for the next one.

The trail was expertly signposted and we could blindly follow the big pink signs for it. It crossed the cycle and another walking trail a few times and we met a few people on the way, but generally it was a solitary walk, much to our enjoyment.

Rich was keen on coming back here to run it. At 6km it had just the right length and wasn't very technical at all. The cycle trail also looked generally easy and enjoyable and even the 17km circular walk we had seen on the map at the car park was something we would love to do another time.

Back at the car park after a rather lovely walk we decided to head over to Goodrich and its castle. Something that Google had suggested to me when I had looked up Symonds Yat. Winner.

It's only like a 20 min drive and we parked at the side of the road right outside the site car park, which is free by the way. We didn't know and thought us clever. Next time we just go in, haha.

The sky had gone a shade darker and was threatening with rain, still we opted for coffees and a wee snack at the cafe/shop. Soup of the day for Rich and me along with a coffee. Dad tried his first scone ever with butter and found it very delicious. Same goes for our soups with a cheese scone on the side.

Staff at the cafe and aligned shop were super friendly and in such a good mood despite the place being unusual busy. We bought our tickets for the castle which apparently had a "Fighting Knights" event on today. Awesome! 

Goodrich castle really is a ruin, but a quite impressive one. Built from red sandstone (?) it had all the best defence structures of the time. Four towers at the corners, a barbican, gatehouse, draw bridge, moat etc. Built in the 13th century by a french lord who was a friend of Edward I.

We took our time wandering around, reading all the information displayed around the castle ground. The only surviving mortar from the Civil War is currently displayed here as well. It had been used to bomb the castle when they tried to drive the Royalists out and apparently it had worked pretty well, once they had destroyed one of the towers.

We had a good hour to spend before the knights tournament was on at 15:30. It wasn't very busy and the reenactment group only really had a handful of tents. To be honest, it actually took us an hour to see everything anyway. However, a cold and steady wind was blowing and it was threatening with rain. Rich and me were freezing a bit, too lazy to go back to the car to get our jackets, haha.

Rain started right when the knights tournament kicked off. I'm sure everyone was really looking forward to polishing and cleaning their armour afterwards. The small crowd (at least half was children anyway) and the knights with their entourage didn't seem to mind and gave it all.

It was properly raining when we walked back to the car after a surprisingly enjoyable visit. Drove the half an hour or so to Tintern Abey which we had passed on our way to Symonds Yat. I'd been here a few times so far, but never actually entered it. And today we also didn't fancy going in with the rain pouring down relentlessly and the abbey ruin not really providing any shelter.

Instead we fled into the pub and had a later afternoon Earl Grey. Again we had never actually sat inside this one, always just outside with a cold drink. And once more we were quite surprised how nice it was.

Back home around 6pm we just chilled and cooked up some food with wine and beers to follow. Good start to exploring the South West despite some.. well... I guess actually normal weather (after a quite not so normal heat wave lately).