Bank Holiday Travels

Bank holiday weekend and we were on our travels - starting on the Friday with a trip to Portishead, where Martin was working, and I had time for a bit of a wander . . .

Made my way out to the boating lake, with its novelty paddle boats, and model boat enthusiasts.



Took in the 'coastal' views, walking along the shoreline, then headed up round by the Lido . . .



. . . complete with its Banksy-esque mural.  Finishing my morning with a cider, sitting outside the Royal Inn in the sunshine with a good book.

Once Martin had finished work we had a bit of lunch, then headed on to Stratford-upon-Avon for a night of cider and curry.  The next day we moved on again to visit family in East Anglia, but taking the opportunity for a return trip to Kenilworth Castle along the way.

It's a fair old ruin, but still fascinating - particularly the apartment 'block' built for Elizabeth I's visit, where English Heritage have put in staircases throughout to allow you to climb up to the accommodation levels, and even look out of her bedroom window!

Built of local standstone, there is a lot of erosion - but even more graffiti - from the 1700s to the modern day:

We had a good wander round the ruins and the Elizabethan Gardens - luckily this time it was in glorious sunshine not pouring rain!

The remainder of the weekend was spent catching up with family.

Didn't do anything major (avoiding the bank holiday traffic) - our only 'outing' was to the local garden centre (complete with some rather scary inflatable Star Wars figures!) - but it was good to see everyone.



Then it was home again, home again, on the Monday - travels over (for the time being).