Sailsbury to Wales

Arrived in Salisbury after a wet and windy night in the tent.  So pleased with our tent though as we were warm and dry in it!!
The Cathedral is pretty imposing and dominates the skyline. The rest of the city was very interesting and we had a good look around.

After much discussion and procrastination we made the decision to take a train across country towards Bath.  We took the train as far as Bradford upon Avon which was a really pretty little town on the Avon river.

We left the town on the road to Bath.......up .....and up......and up.......... the roads were very steep so it was pushing only, and not much fun.
We later found out that there was a cyclepath right alongside the river.  I think the cycle gods were punishing us for taking the train!!!!!  but Dave was just cranky that we didn't see the cycle path!
We were able to join up with the canal path a little later on and it was really lovely. We saw hundreds of these boats, some up to 60 feet long and only 7 foot wide.  Some were rentals but most appeared that  people live on permanently.

The canal, although being a lovely flat ride, was not without its suprises - at one stage it actually passed OVER a river. (like the Roman aqueducts)  Totally bizarre.....we were actually up quite high and the views were pretty good as well.

The canal took us all the way to Bath.  This place is truly awesome from the moment you arrive.
We could have spent a lot of time exploring all the places here, but of course everything has its price and the prices were pretty decent, so again we satisfied ourselves with all the non admittance fee places.

  This (above ) is just one of the beautiful old buildings, and below is a portion of the Roman Baths from the exterior.

From Bath we continued on, this time making sure we checked first about a cycle path!!  Yes we found one - hooray - Joey enjoyed it as well - looking back to where we had come. Can you see him trying to hide my fat ----  and not succeeding!!

On this path we came across an unusual sculpture. On closer examination it revealed it was a water fountain for cyclists to replenish their supplies, supplied by Sustrans who promote all the cycle paths.  The water once started pours onto the sculptures mouth and you can catch it in your hands or in a bottle.....plus it was very cold and clear!!!!!!!!   It's huge by the way which I'm not sure shows on the photo! 

The path we were travelling on was an old railway line which is not the first one we have travelled on. They are so good for cycling and seem to be maintained exceptionally well. The following photo shows it in fun.

Another surprise along these old railway tracks is the tunnells.  Some of them are quite long and really cold.   Did I happen to mention that it seems to have stopped raining since we hit Bradford on Avon!!!

Bristol was a suprise,  a lovely harbour and as usual great old buildings.

  

 We checked out the Tourist Information bureau as per usual for maps and information on where we were headed and then had our lunch by the water - another regular feature.....

We discovered that Bristol harbour only exists due to the Lock system, which I think was created/ invented (maybe) by Brunell - he seems to have a strong influence in the area for things like this.On the other side as we rode out towards the bridge to Wales..... The river that feeds Bristol harbour was really quite pathetic.  It was probably on a low tide but very hard to imagine that it feeds such a harbour. I guess that Brunell's lock has made this town.

We happily continued along this tributary until we reached the bridges to Wales across the Severn.  The first one is for real vehicles only I guess, so we had to travel a little further North to the Second bridge that has a cycle path.......so across that to our Third country on this trip..........Onwards to Wales!!!!!!