bristoltravel

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #23 – Bristol A & London 04/11/25

Bristol – 04/11/25

Another great morning brekky by Sue & she has a big day planned for me. Dave has other commitments, so it’s just us 2 for the day. Sue said to trust her driving & I was glad she was doing the driving to navigate the narrow road system. The landscape certainly was breathtaking.

First of all, we head near Nailsee, but really Wraxall, for the huge grounds of a Parks Heritage Trust of an old mansion & grounds called Tyntesfield. This mansion & grounds are amazing (540 acres of grounds) & now well protected under the heritage act. Sue absolutely loves this special place and visits often, with friends & shares a coffee catchup using her heritage Tyntesfield Member Card. Unfortunately, there are things happening in the mansion, so no public access today. Sue was so disappointed hearing that & now no chance at all of seeing the wonders internally but we had a great coffee & sweets catchup in their cafe. Of the insane grounds & mansion, one could only imagine what lies inside the mansion to see.

William Gibbs was the original owner (1790–1875) after purchasing adjacent houses & grounds & converting to building the mansion, a merchant who made his fortune in trade with Spain and South America. In 1842 the Peruvian government granted A. Gibbs & Sons licence (Father Antony {died 1815 with massive debts} & eldest brother to William, George) to export guano (nitrate-rich seabird droppings for fertiliser) to Britain & the fortunes grew astronomically. In 1842 William was the sole heir when his brother, George died. In 1860s William & his wife, Blanche transformed Tyntesfield to a Gothic Revival Style & then undertook the interior design. William passed away & he had a chapel almost completed by then, attached to the mansion. Inside the mansion William had over 72,000 artifacts on display from his world journeys & businesses. Antony Jnr later inherited Tyntesfield in 1887. Over the years & with a complex family beneficiary setup Tyntesfield was ultimately sold & The National Trust bought it in 2002 & opened it to the public for viewing after only 10days.

We spent quite some hours exploring some of the grounds including the Man’s Shed (ex-stables) I called it for the old wood turning shed with feet push lathes. Being a carpenter by trade I found this quite interesting & had a good look at this area in detail while Sue gave me further commentary. Sue took a photo of me in the vegetable & florist nursery & everything is done at Tyntesfield in the highest of quality & detail. This historical facility is well worth the visit & so thankful Sue enabled me to see this local wonder.

The next stop Sue had planned is back in Bristol to view the SS Great Britain, a steam ship which was the largest passenger ship in the world (3,300tons) at the time at 98 metres (321 ft) in length, SS Great Britain sailed on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York in May 1845. SS Great Britain was designed by a young engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (from my last blog who also designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge).

Brunel designed a very innovative giant propellor system (measuring 4.7 metres (15 ft 6 in) across) rather than the traditional paddle wheels, although it also had six masts for sails when conditions were favourable. It had a full iron sheeted double skinned hull with far too many rivets to count. The ship made several crossings of the Atlantic, averaging 13-15 days per voyage which was a massive result. Unfortunately, on its 5th Atlantic crossing (September 1846), the huge ship ran aground in Dundrum Bay on the northeast coast of Ireland after the captain used a faulty chart and perhaps suffered from a faulty compass. All passengers & crew embarked safely. Ultimately, SS Great Britain was placed into auction. There were no interested buyers at the reserve price of £40,000. In the end, the ship was sold to Gibbs, Bright & Company in December 1851 for around £18,000, one-seventh of the cost to build the ship. Completely refitted, the ship took one more trip to New York and then was used as a passenger liner sailing regularly from Liverpool to Melbourne, Australia.

During the Crimean War (1853-6), SS Great Britain saw service as a troop carrier but survived the experience to resume its successful passenger route to Australia. Still in service in 1870, the ship’s glamorous past was but a memory, and it was used to transport coal from Wales to San Francisco. This now old ship was converted to cheaper sail by Antony Gibbs & Son in 1882 (from my last post on the Tyntesfield mansion) and made its last fateful voyage in 1886 when it was wrecked off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic carrying exported guano (nitrate-rich seabird droppings for fertiliser). Remaining above the waterline, SS Great Britain had a long and ignominious end as a coal bunker and wool store for the next 50 years. However, in 1936, the ship was eventually scuttled due to being an obstacle for other vessels. Ultimately, it was devised in 1970 to bring her back to her home in Bristol where a German company used a flotation ‘mattress’ to get her out of the mud & transported by barge & restored as a tourist attraction in its original home & dry dock of Bristol. Today the ship is managed by the SS Great Britain Trust.

You can view this magnificent vessel on its deck, the 3 levels of tight stairwells including the steam plant. There are mannequins in full costume & action poses to give you the feel of those times. The unique propellor & steam engine is beyond amazing & you can see most of the rooms, kitchen & dining, etc without too much hassle. When you’re finished with the internal viewing you exit the ship & wander back to the pavement to a small outhouse where you can do the stairs again & venture down to the dry dock to see the entire hull, propeller, rudder & anchor where you can actually touch most of it. Sue & I spent about 90mins touring this vessel & it was well worth the visit & love the selfie photo you took Sue.

It was time to head back home, ready for dinner & Dave’s return from his soccer & for me to pack my bags for the train departure from Bristol Temple Meads Station to London tomorrow at 11am. Today, we walked 7,724 steps = 5.89kms.

London UK  05/11/25 

I was up early at 7am & did a quiet celebration for my daughter, Kate back home for her birthday. I was all packed & ready to fit in with Dave & Sue for their day. Dave has football commitments & Sue will drop me off at the Bristol Temple Meads Station in time for my 11am departure to London Paddington Station. Sue had the timing down to a fine art, but some traffic changes had happened, so we had to make up some time. Sue hurriedly walked me to the platform right up to the 2nd carriage (J) & by the time we said good-bye I had climbed on & the doors started to shut. Shame it was a hurried good-bye however, seeing Sue wave & smile was a blessing that all was good. I hadn’t even stored my bags then. Sue was such a delight to fit everything in for me & words of praise don’t do the true justice. So blessed to have great friends.

The train trip was such a breeze (1hr 40mins) to Paddington Station (a very busy station) & it was just a simple 15mins walk to my Thistle Hyde Park Kensington Hotel on Bayswater Rd aligned with Hyde Park. The walk had a mixture of shops, apartments, pubs & basically everything else of a busy suburb.

The entrance to Thistle Hyde Park Kensington Hotel was a little difficult to find as there was a redevelopment of a petrol station out the front, making the entrance on the side street. The sign said Reception 1st Floor & thankfully there were 2 passenger lifts in the lobby. I checked in OK, & after about 15mins checking in & settling into my room I was out walking around 1.30pm.

Across the road is the HUGE Hyde Park so I transversed through the Lancaster Gate entrance leading to a number of walking paths, seeing lots of people walking with their dogs, ducks in the lake & the gorgeous & playful squirrels bounding around in the thick fallen Autumn leaves of numerous trees & reached the other side to see the Gothic Prince Albert Memorial & the famous Royal Albert Hall. Unfortunately, there was a school’s event on & no admission was allowed, but I could walk around it. The next few days will be taken up by War Veterans Remembrance Day commemorations so there will be no concerts, etc, nor a chance to see inside while I’m in London.

From there I just kept walking & looking at the excessively rich neighbourhood. I had a sense of a nosebleed happening with the money air around. This area also has some embassies as well & numerous British Flags flying. Eventually I had walked the half-length of Hyde Park to the Hyde Park Corner & then up to The Marble Arch (basically where Bayswater Rd ends & the start of Oxford Street). After a quick look around, I proceeded West along Bayswater Rd to my hotel to finish off the day. Quite the walk lap to do. All in all, I walked 12,149 steps = 9.53kms in that quick afternoon.

I’ll end my Blog #23 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blog will be more of London UK & I’m sure multiple blogs will follow on the number of days here. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #22 – Bristol UK 01/11/25

Lots of photos & info of Bristol & Bath on this blog everyone.

Departing Dublin … With just a tiny sleep I’m up at 3.20am (no brekky at my beloved Mosso buffet located on the ground floor of The Travelodge PLUS Hotel) to walk over the River Liffey in the dark to the Custom House bus stop (800m) for the Dublin Express to Dublin T2 (€10, booked online for 4.05am) for 06.35am – 07.55 BA (British Airways) on Aer Lingus flight to Bristol Airport, UK (1.5hrs). There are quite a few travellers here so I’m hoping I can be able to board on time. Many thanks to Kevin, my pub guide yesterday for sorting out the best bus stop to get. Luckily, there were just 2seats available on this 1st bus & just enough room for me, albeit I was crammed in. Of course, the usual stuff happened at the airport, but I bought Dave & Sue (my wonderful friends who my eldest son, Scott & I met doing the Machu Picchu Trek back in 2019, see 1st photo) some alcohol gifts they love in Duty Free for I’ll be staying at their lovely home for the next few days. The British Pound does no favours with our weak AUD. The usual of late transpired, where we walked down the air bridge into a bus again which took us all over the place. Finally, we were let out & everyone was scrambling for the rear door only entrance up the stairs. These prop plane flights have minimal overhead space so looking at the large carry on of some travellers confirms the mad scramble. I had a go at a couple of people ‘cos waiting on the tarmac in blustering freezing wind from a prop plane for some 10mins wasn’t good for the young lady with a 3month old baby placed over her chest. People had no empathy at all until I came along. Didn’t give a shit for those pretentious arseholes & the lady was inside the plane much quicker. She was so thankful & I’d say the baby was too.

It was a pleasant flight (1hr 20mins) & all went extremely well getting through Immigration, etc at Bristol Airport. I already registered & paid the British ETA Tax of £16 arranged in April this year which is now mandatory to enter England. I textd Dave to confirm I was at the pickup point, but he got me on his 2nd attempt due to the ongoing changes at Bristol Airport. It was fantastic to see Dave (& Sue waiting at their home). It felt like yesterday in reuniting & of course, so much to talk about. D & S had done some real magic in their recent house renovations .. really impressive & a credit to them.

One of the things I was recommended back at home to see at Bristol was the last operational Concorde aircraft at the local Bristol Air Museum & the super-engineered Clifton Suspension Bridge & that was all I noted for this stay. D&S had scheduled the time in for the Concorde & we did that in the afternoon, so it was timely & filled in the day. D & S haven’t been to the museum either. Back in 1986 I missed seeing inside the Concorde by just 5mins as I was working out on the new taxiways & the proposed 3rd runway upgrade project on Sydney Mascot Airport. By the time I was escorted off the runway area by our airport safety officer assigned to us I was ultimately only allowed to walk around it, due to the removal of the access stairway & added security now in place. Some 39yrs later, my 2nd chance has now come alive & it was awesome to see. The volunteer guide was brilliant & it was such a great engineered plane to see. We also saw their other aircraft under restoration & it was certainly a good few hours of experience. When we arrived back at their home I settled in instantly, had a great home-cooked dinner, hot shower & the best sleep for a while.

02/11/25

I had a little bit of a sleep in & Sue provided my best brekky I’ve had in ages. Certainly spoilt. They had organised a visit into a very historic city nearby called Bath, in Somerset. Beautifully placed alongside of the River Avon. James was our Bath Walking Tour guide & boy can he talk fast! For a young person he stored a lot of history into his tour. We all struggled on putting the info together due to the pace of his speech, accent & the city noise around us. So much information.

England was invaded by the Romans in 43AD & around 70AD they had built a lot of the infrastructure of the mineral rich thermal baths in Bath which are world famous. The water still flows today through all sorts of bath types and rooms in very ancient Roman buildings. Apparently, it was asked, some centuries ago, “what is that” (pointing to the river)? The answer came back “Avon” & there the name stuck. In referring to the ancient British language Avon means river, so it should be called River River. LOL!!! Below is the River Avon with its very unusual weir terraces.

There is a legend that dates back to 860BC where a person was cured of leprosy due to hot springs. Aquae Sulis was the original name for Bath, dedicated to Aquae Minerva in 60AD. In the Georgian era of the 18th century the city was thriving through other industries & the wealthy came to reside there. In 1987 UNESCO granted it a World Heritage Status.

Getting tickets into the roman baths is a wonderful experience & you can imagine the people from those days where your footprints are meeting theirs. The Romans, in my language were excellent plumbers & drainers when you see how they controlled the flow & the distribution of the thermal water. When you actually stand back & look at the buildings you can see the ancient times & the Gothic appearance and so much to take in. There are some amazing places to live here, for example, The Royal Crescent – High-end semi-circular apartments (middle right photo above) for the elite with open grounds.

James took us into a park surrounded by a circular street & buildings built around it. He stood at a designated spot next to a large tree & clapped his hands loudly. An instant & clear sound with no echo. We all had a go & my clap was far the loudest & certainly gave a great clear sound to our amazement. A really strange occurrence in a city development. It was quite a few hours in walking around & eventually we went back to D&S home for unwinding & trying to remember all the points James raised on Bath. We needed a recorder obviously.  My steps today, 2/11/25  6,975 steps = 5.35kms.

Today, 3/11/25 is going to be a big day planned by Sue & later by Dave. After a hearty breakfast by Sue, we headed off to Bristol (D&S live just outside Bristol city). Both D&S have never done a Bristol Walking City Tour so we will all learn more together & we took the city bus into town, noting the very narrow streets.

We had a great guide (name forgotten) who was a history teacher for schools, etc for some 30+years, so his local knowledge was amazing. We were blessed in only being the 3 of us for this journey. Dave quickly became interested in meeting up with him again at some point, such was his local knowledge. He showed us parts of the old city walls that tried to prevent the Roman incursion. These walls were 24’ thick (7.3m) of solid brick & mortar & when it was not solid there was an operational church or shop inside (below right photo).

There was just too much info to take in … The 2 rivers that flowed through Bristol are the River Avon & the River Flume. I believe in the 1800s the city used manual labour to create a major River Flume diversion & over time the city was built over most of it. The river still runs underground & one of my photos shows the box culverts where the River Flume comes into daylight (Centre right photo below). We stood in some street arcades where our guide stated the River Flume is directly underneath. A strange experience. The 1st photo below is the oldest residential house in Bristol.

The city is full of history & well worth doing the Bristol Walking Tour. Again, far too much to remember for my blogs. Our guide was quite furious of the blatant vandalism of graffiti over the years, nothing credible or in his word’s intelligence at all. It was everywhere. The tour went for 2.5hrs & Dave, being very time conscious suggested we also do the Clifton Suspension Bridge seeing we are close & will fill in the remaining hours, leaving tomorrow a better day for more Bristol looking. Very good suggestion Dave.

Dave was quick onto an Uber who came within 1minute, as he was around the corner & that was a relief as the road climb was quite ‘severe’. We hopped out to very strong chilly winds, being this high on the hill & what a magnificent, engineered bridge, suspended some 72m or 236ft above ground & total length of 412m (1,352ft) with the longest span at 214.05m (702ft). Clifton Suspension Bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a young and innovative engineer, he was 24 when he was appointed for the project which came about through a competition. The bridge finally was built in 1864 through funding issues & today there is a £1 toll for vehicles for maintenance, etc & that does well for the 3million car users each year. The Clifton Suspension Bridge & its structural design engineer (Mr Isambard Brunel – Plaque photo above) will surprisingly come again in my next blog in a complete twist. Bristol has quite a few of world connections, triumphs & history.

We walked the entire bridge taking in all the views before walking back downhill to the nearest bus stop near the public CBD carpark, as no Uber would respond to Dave for the pickup. At least it wasn’t uphill.  It was a great day out & we did 12,809 steps = 9.95kms. Such a great few days with superb humans, Dave & Sue. I wished they lived closer to me though .. I wonder if that would also be their thought too? .. LOL!!!

I’ll end my Blog #22 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blog will be more of Bristol UK A & onwards to London. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.