Monday, August 31, 2009

St Briavels (a bit inland!)

Dad is in the Youth Hostel in St Briavels. It's a bit inland and about 10 miles in the wrong direction ... but he has a bed! I couldn't find any campsites and Dad tried a couple of B&B's which were full so he headed to the Youth Hostel http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/heart-of-england/hostels/St-Briavels/index.aspx . The Hostel is a moated Norman Castle and the Portcullis closes at 11.30 pm ... so Dad had better be back in from the pub before then or he'll be trying to pole vault himself back in! Dad is staying in the Royal Apartments tonight. Sounds a bit posh! It's £17.00 a night but that includes breakfast.

Weather has been dry but a bit chilly. I've had a look at the four day forecast and it looks very much like it's going to be a wet few days!

Today's route took him from the campsite back into Weston-super-Mare on cycle paths. He then cycled along the prom and sea front to Kewstoke. He then headed inland to Congresbury and then he picked up B roads to Clevedon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevedon and Portishead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portishead,_Somerset where he managed to pick up a bacon buttie in a relatively posh cafe in the new harbour. From there he mainly followed cycle paths along the Mouth of the Severn to Avonmouth village. He then followed the A403 along the docks, but it being a Bank Holiday the road was really quiet, and on into Severn Beach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Beach. He tried to cross the Severn on the M4 but it had no cycle route or foot crossing so continued on to the M48 and crossed via the Severn Bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Bridge cycle path. He then headed into Chepstow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chepstow hoping he'd be able to pick up a B&B. He then picked up the B4228 to St Briavels. It was mainly uphill (8 miles) to the St Briavels. That means he'll have a good start tomorrow morning!

He is sharing a room with a Canadian who is roughly Dad's age and this is the first time he's been hostelling since he was a "youth"! They reminisced about when you were assigned chores in the hostels (even I remember that!!). No cooking for Dad tonight as he has booked in for an evening meal in the hostel. Looking at the photos of the hostel the dining room looks medieval!

Tomorrow Dad is heading for Cardiff where hopefully he'll get a bed for the night.

There will be no update from me tomorrow as I'm down in London but will update on Wednesday.

2 comments:

  1. The hostel in St Briavels looks interesting, Kendie. I imagine being joined at dinner by the ghosts of Boris Karloff and Vincent Price.

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