A weekend in Bristol - the Open-Top Bus Tour and Bocabar

So, yesterday I talked about our afternoon Bristol Harbour

Wallace and Gromit street art 

walk and today's blog will focus on a different method of city exploration - the Bristol Insight open-top bus tour. We were surprised when Gemma and Simon suggested this entertainment as they have lived in Bristol at least a decade and we wondered if they wouldn't already know everything! This turned out not to be the case though as our guide, Jackie, was very knowledgeable and kept up the nuggets of information for ninety minutes as Ian drove us around. Tickets for the tour are £15 for adults, £13 concessions and £8 for children. We thought this good value as it's a long route. We caught the bus by Millennium Square At-Bristol. It drives around some of the harbour before heading out under the suspension bridge, up over the Downs, past Bristol Zoo and into Clifton, down Park Street, out to Cabot Circus and Temple Meads before returning to Millennium Square. I won't spoil the on-bus commentary by telling you what we learned, but there's lots of history and we were given a page of discount vouchers for other attractions too. I think if you went round them all, you might even get your bus fare back!

Prior to the bus, we had popped into the Bristol Old Vic

Bristol Old Vic theatre 

theatre which was hosting a street party to celebrate its 250th anniversary - the oldest continuously running theatre in the country. I'd never been there before. The event turned out to be mostly food stalls, but I was interested to see inside the foyers and public space. Sadly the auditorium was being set up for a later performance so we couldn't be nosey there. However, if you head towards the upstairs toilets, just through the double glass doors there is an uncovered section of wall that's preserved behind glass. It doesn't look anything special, but we learned that it is part of the original front wall of the building from 1776. I loved seeing the large production photographs lining the theatre walls too. There had been a Crucible production on not so long ago!

From the theatre, we strolled a short distance to Bristol

Keith New window at
Bristol Cathedral 

Cathedral, another place we hadn't previously visited. The Cathedral is free to enter with donations towards its upkeep welcomed. We later learned (yes, on the bus!) that Bristol's Cathedral escaped destruction by Henry VIII's men because it swiftly became Protestant. It was damaged during WWII though and the stained glass in the large windows is modern. I particularly liked this window created by Keith New in 1965. I saw it as an abstract dragonfly although it is a representation of the Holy Spirit. Older stained glass windows are preserved in the cloister. The arts seem to be strongly encouraged at the Cathedral and I noticed quite a varied What's On programme on their website. Television programmes Wolf Hall and Sherlock were partly filmed here and events include music recitals and book talks.

By early evening we were all pretty shattered so walked up to the Paintworks which bills itself as Bristol's creative quarter. The renovated industrial zone now has artists workspaces and studios, and offices for creative businesses. It also has Bocabar! This large bar-restaurant serves Brazilian style pizzas and has an extensive cocktail list. Indoors the seating is mostly huge sofas with fairy lights and modern art for sale on the walls. Outside there is a little sun-trap terrace. We were lucky to arrive at a quiet time - apparently Bocabar can get very busy, especially for their Sunday lunches. We had a couple of drinks and staayed to eat. I think Dave enjoyed his pizza and I can recommend the Halloumi Salad!

Bocabar 

We see the new Macbeth film in Perpignan

Three great discoveries today - a bus, a cinema and a film! First up, the

340 bus route which we grabbed a flyer for at Le Boulou Tourist Information Centre. It advertised a 1€ per person each way fare and, although I admit to being somewhat sceptical, that's exactly what we got. Newish and clean coach-style buses, hardly late, and each 1€ fare allows two hours' travel along the route from Arles-sur-Tech to Perpignan. Perpignan is only half an hour from St Jean Pla De Corts so we are already planning to use this bus again for further visits and also, possibly, to get to some Amelie-Les-Bains walks. It's cheaper than paying for car parking and certainly easier.

Second discovery, for which Dave can take full credit, is the Cinema Castillet in Perpignan. A bit like Hailsham Pavilion in the foyer as the ticket queue was stretching out the door and there was only one man at the till, but good facilities inside including large comfortable seats that were surprisingly upright compared with UK versions. I think six different screens had 'seances' today, all starting at 2pm and all with different films. Cinema Castillet shows lots of films in their original language with subtitles and our choice was the new Macbeth. Several other films were tempting too, but their original language wasn't English so we would have been reliant on French subtitles to prop up our (non-existent) Dutch, Icelandic, ... !

So what did we think of Macbeth? I loved its look and we were both gripped by its realism. The first battle scene is superb with inspired use of slow motion and still shots. Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender are both perfectly cast, each bringing a new freshness and interpretation to even the most familiar lines of dialogue. The new interpretation of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane is brilliant and provides amazing visuals and Lady Macbeth's damned spot speech was very moving. I liked how the witches were presented too. Many scenes are filtered through colours - red, blue and yellow - which gives the whole work an art house feel, but the outdoor scenes are unlikely to encourage much tourism. That is one bleak landscape! Perhaps the accents could have been more consistently Scottish across all the characters and Dave complained that too much of the dialogue was unclear, however overall we were both very impressed.

Driving over an 1820s suspension bridge and visiting Chain Bridge Honey Farm

There were two items of great news awaiting me when I returned from

Bus cafe at Chain Bridge Honey Farm 

our bridge and honey outing yesterday! An email from PETA celebrated the government's decision not to go ahead with its proposed vote on repealing the fox hunting ban today - I am very happy that the weight of public opinion actually broached their ivory towers! I also got a 'heads up' from my Half The Sky Kiva team that 'free loans' were on offer from The Chegg Foundation so I rushed to their website to get mine. Thanks to the Foundation I have lent $25 of their money to Rosa Enid who is a coffee farmer in Costa Rica.

Union Bridge from above 

Coffee farming leads, in a tenuous way, back to the main events of

Union Bridge cables - stronger
than they look! 

yesterday because we had more of the delicious Northern Edge coffee in an adapted cafe-bus at Chain Bridge Honey Farm! Our drive there was along tiny, mostly single-track roads which are very pretty, but somewhat nerveracking for the driver, in this case Dave. Then just before the farm, we knew that the a bridge ahead had a two ton weight limit, but had missed the two metre width sign. Our car just crept between solid concrete bollards and we were driving across Union Bridge! Opened in 1820 and, at the time, the longest carriage-carrying suspension bridge in the world, I am glad we drove over it before parking up to take a closer look. I would have had a major Michael-Palin-in-GBH moment otherwise! As we walked on the bridge it was very obvious that it moves significantly with passing traffic. Three children jumping in unison could also make it sway and ripple - thanks to them for that! I know it was safe, but the real sensation of its hanging-ness was bizarre.

Union Bridge 

We chose to walk for a couple of hours to Horncliffe and along the River

Herriot's Walk at Horncliffe 

Tweed's banks. At one point we joined the Herriot's Walk for a very pretty loop. We learned from an amazingly woodworked and gravelled bench installation in their memory that the Herriot in question was not the famous author but Paddy and Alan who were 'Good Village Folk'. A chatty dogwalking woman advised us against continuing too far along the riverpath as the grass would become waist-height and 'saturated'. We turned uphill and paused on another impressively located bench. We were happy to see a swift flying alongside swallows. It's easy to tell them apart when they are together! I photographed some more beautiful unknown flowers. Perhaps there is a floral version of the RSPB's bird identifier somewhere online? no-longer-unidentified flowers! Thanks for sharing the info, Gemma!

A now-identified flower! Himalayan Balsam which I
learn is invasive and we are trying to eradicate it 

Chain Bridge Honey Farm is a working bee farm that has some 2000 colonies, a vintage bus that has been converted into a cafe, and lots of bee information in an information centre by the shop. We can highly recommend the lentil and vegetable soup, the honey sponge cake, the gingerbread which is served with butter, and the aforementioned coffee. We thoroughly enjoyed starting our thirteenth year together with this lunch out! It was a Bristol bus too!

A collection of vintage vehicles is mostly farming-types, but also had a

Gentleman's caravan at Chain Bridge Honey Farm 

couple of motorcycles, scooters, a steam engine, and this Gentleman's Caravan - actually owned by a woman and used to take her family on holidays. The caravan is about four metres long inside and has a lovely built in wooden dresser sink unit at one end. Too cute! This section of the farm also has a mezzanine with hundreds of vintage domestic and garage items including oil cans, food packaging, 1940s newspapers, matchboxes, .... The collection reminded us of the madness of the similar Amberley Museum, although Chain Bridge is on a much smaller scale.

A real bee hive behind glass is a feature of the visitors' centre and there

Some kind of vetch 

is also a viewing platform from which we watched a trio of operatives filling plastic pots with fresh honey and securing the lids. We purchased a jar of honey from the shop and also picked up a copy of Still Alice from bookshelves outside. Walking, cake, honey and a book - my perfect day!

I hope independent bee keepers such as Chain Bridge Honey Farm continue to exist. Its eccentric mix of attractions and cafe made for an excellent afternoon out. However, as we all know, mass-produced chemical products are threatening bees with global extinction, possibly as swiftly as within three human generations. They pollinate as much as a third of all our food plants. What will be the cost of replacing them - environmentally as well as in cash on our grocery bills? We may soon find out as "a contractor for Bayer -- one of the biggest producers of bee-killing pesticides -- is threatening to sue SumOfUs if [they] don’t back off" in their campaign to protect bees. Can you chip in to help SumOfUs fight these bullying tactics? Even if you can't spare money to help, please share the campaign on social media networks and by chatting with friends. The more people who stand up against the likes of Bayer, the more chance we have of keeping bees. Thank you.

Tree tunnel near Horncliffe 

Going for a vintage bus ride, discovering exotic foods and getting to see Bailey again

It has certainly been a weird few weeks. We are STILL waiting for our conveyancer to

Vintage bus Park and Ride to
Pevensey Food and Wine Fair 

exchange contracts - it was going to be last Tuesday, but nothing had happened by Friday so we're not moving out tomorrow after all. Maybe next Monday ... ? It is so frustrating! If you are planning to move house into or away from the Polegate area, do use Archer And Partners estate agents - they have been friendly and helpful. Unfortunately I cannot offer anything like such a strong recommendation for Hobson and Latham conveyancers.

We have done pretty well catching up with people before leaving though, some deliberately and some by lucky coincidence. A lovely evening was spent with Linda at Hailsham's Chapter 12 wine bar on Wednesday. We only meant to have a drink or two after work, but much nattering later, we'd missed dinner and were still in situ. Fortunately they serve delicious tiffin slices!

Friday night was spent in Eastbourne for a farewell dinner with the Procurement Team, my current temp contract. We went to Toreros on Terminus Road for an appropriately Spanish themed tapas meal. I was touched that they all went to such effort!

Yesterday, we treated ourselves to an afternoon out at the inaugural Pevensey Food and Wine Festival. Using the Park and Ride got us two journeys on the above pictured vintage bus. Now I know there are many buses considerably older, but this is just the sort that was trundling around Nevill Estate in Lewes where I grew up so it brought back memories to ride it again. The Festival was pretty busy and we spent an hour or so chatting with the Cajun Dawgs who were the opening band. I enjoyed going round the varied food stalls and bought a walnut sourdough loaf from Judges Bakery of Hastings, and an excellent Jamaican Goat pie from Brambletigh. Kush Cuisine had a stall there too and I've got a couple of jars of interesting looking spice blends to take away with us - Bajan Fish Spice and Cocoa Spice Rub. The only stall that was obviously missing was one selling decent coffees and teas. There were multiple wineries and breweries but, as is so often the case, no luxury non-alcoholic beverages. Maybe next year?

Today we've been packing more boxes. There are 21 already and we thought we had gotten rid of most our stuff. Not so minimalist after all then! We cleared some space by taking a few boxes of bits to Bailey and checked that everything seemed ok for us to move in. Fingers crossed for next weekend.