Saturday, 26 June 1943
Log of a Cycle Tour to North Wales, by Roy Spurgeon, with Leslie Lee. 27 June
The tour opened successfully. The party met without incident at Paddington Station in plenty of time for the train. The only item not on our programme was the unexpected appearance of Les, who had for some time previous to the holiday been proclaiming his intention of riding the 106 miles to Bath, "if the weather is O.K.". Well, the weather was O.K. but Les decided that the most sensible way of starting a cycling holiday was to go by train and, since this was our intention, everyone was satisfied.
We had a very pleasant non-stop run to Bath on the 11.15 train, occupying a whole compartment ourselves, and Bath was reached dead on time at 1320 hours. After an uncomfortable few minutes on Bath station while we wondered if the train would take our cycles with it to Weston-Super-Mare as the platform not long enough to take the whole of it, we unloaded them successfully amid the none too complimentary comments of the West Country porters, who apparently resented our holding up the train.
Leaving the station, we looked for lunch and, as we were rather late by present day standards, we had a rather mediocre meal in a restaurant, patched up after being bombed, known as Furzes'.
Next, our hunger satisfied for the time being, we set out to see something of the city. Bath has suffered considerably from bombing but, in common with all our "blitzed" towns, there is still a lot left! We spent some time in the shopping centre, laying in a certain amount of food for our supper at Chepstow on the following day and then set course for the hostel at Batheaston, about three miles out of the city to the North East.
The road followed the valley of the Avon and was very pretty with plenty of extremely good views. Having all the afternoon in which to get to the hostel, we turned off the road to the right to Bathampton, crossing the Avon by a quaint little toll bridge (price 1d). On the other side was a large and obviously much frequented tea establishment at which, quite naturally, we stopped. We had a fairly good tea on a terrace overlooking the river, watching the comparatively large numbers of bathers and the boating. The whole place was very pleasantly situated but was spoiled by the number of quite unnecessary (we thought) notices which seem to be plastered all over the surroundings.
Re-crossing the river, we began to look for the hostel. This proved more difficult than we expected because it was marked on the wrong side of the road on all our maps. However, we found it eventually at 1735 and were very favourably impressed.
Batheaston Villa, as the hostel is called, is a stately old mansion built on the side of the hills overlooking the valley of the Avon and a magnificent view can be obtained from the roof. It is one of the biggest and best hostels I have visited. It contained an interesting and unusual bed in one of its rooms. This was a double tiered bunk similar to those normally found in Youth Hostels, but it was equipped with a proper staircase leading up to the top berth, complete with banisters at the sides and a little door at the top. Unfortunately, the male members of the party were unable to carry out a full examination of this quaint specimen owing to its being situated in the girls dormitory.
After a splendid supper, we strolled down to the river, hoping to hire a boat for an hour or two, but although there had been dozens there during the afternoon, there were none to be seen now, so we spent the rest of the evening amusing ourselves on the river bank. In the meantime, Ernst rode into Chipping Sodbury with Les, to renew some old acquaintances, while Grif and I had made a short trip previously into the neighbouring village of Bathford but, there being nothing there of great interest, had not stayed long. And so to bed, although it was such a beautiful, light evening that it seemed a pity to do so.
Total cycling distance for the day 20.0 miles.
Next day: 27 June