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Sunday 20th September 2015

After a surprisingly good night’s sleep we start breakfast at 8.30 and what a breakfast it is. It certainly lives up to the hype of so many of the reviews with a superb array of food including a smoothie, fruit juices, cereals, dried fruits and then followed by a number of cooked breakfast options. The attention to detail in the presentation and the quality of the food is remarkable.

Charles then takes time out to give us some tips on how to make the most of our time in Bath and provides information on cafes, sights and the best car parks. He suggests that the Podium car park would be the best but warns us that at 25 pounds for the day it is pricey. More on this shortly.

After an easy drive into the city we duly park at the Podium and find out that there is a 4 hour limit which costs 6 pounds but if you overstay in any way it does indeed cost 25 pounds!

Charles has probably been giving this same advice to guests for years so goodness only knows how much business he has cost the car park owners. We come to learn that this is very typical of this charismatic, highly intelligent but absent-minded gentleman.

Before we leave for the city centre Charles gives us another reminder of his delightful quirky nature when he explains the use of two small metal ducks which are on the table in the hall. Each of the two rooms used for the B&B has been allocated a duck and when guests go out they should stand their duck up and only lie the duck down when they retire for the night( that’s the guests, not the ducks). Gail almost puts a spanner in the works by suggesting that the ducks are in fact swans but we all agree that we should not let facts stand in the way of a good story!

Charles’s ‘duck’

As we have been blessed with very fine weather and given the huge crowds out and about we decide not to visit any of the main sights and instead do our own walking tour. This gives us a chance to plan our itinerary for the next day when hopefully the madding crowds will have dispersed somewhat.

This statue of rugby player in Bath’s beautiful gardens has been created entirely out of small plants. David in contrast is all human parts

Walking near to the Pulteney Bridge( a sort of poor man’s Ponte Vecchio) we are lucky enough to meet up with Stephen Moore and Kane Douglas from the Wallabies. I resist the temptation to ask for a photo with them but wish them all the best for the first game. The Wallabies are apparently based in Bath for the next few days.

We check out of the car park in time to avoid the 25 pound charge, returning a short time afterwards to the same car park and Saracen’s Head pub across the road to watch the All Blacks eventually wear down the Pumas but not before a far tougher game than most expected. Nevertheless the strength in depth of the AB’s is on full show. Richie McCaw finally gets 10 minutes in the Sin Bin for the sort of infringement he has been committing with impunity for about 15 years.

Return to the B & B at a reasonable time and with the jet-lag baring its fangs, albeit belatedly , we turn in for an early night.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.