Day 35 - Bristol On fumes and a prayer !

Drove 1& 1/2 hours towards Bristol to meet our good UK friends Angela & Simon from Reading at the restored National Trust property of Tynetesfield a magnificently restored manor estate near Bristol.

A missed motorway turn off, a non functioning gps and a flashing low fuel light provided some early drama before we finally found the estate.

Manor estates are amazing properties, historically most being fiefdoms as the large land and buildings would be serviced by loyal families who often worked for small return.

The traditional owners of this property the Gibbs, made their fortune on the back of the sea trade including the passage of people immigrating to Australia in the mid 1800`s.

After walking the property and being amazed by the sense of grandeur (e.g. elaborate heating pipes under the billiard table to keep the slate from reacting to the cold) and by the knowledge of the volunteers who provided behind the scenes info, we headed 6 miles towards central Bristol and our Hotel for the night with Angela & Simon.

Monika and i remember cycling through Bristol on our end to end journey in 2011 enduring a complex navigational exercise this time made no easier by the fact that on fumes we were in a desperate search for fuel !

Following Simon`s best efforts it was like comedy capers as we`d approach turnoffs in the middle of two lanes not sure whether we were going to turn left or right. At one stage we were forced to overtake a non suspecting Simon and then had to watch desparately our rear view mirror to see what turn we were taking !

Thankfully we finally found fuel, checked in and headed down to the restored Bristol quayside area once a major transiting area for imported slaves.

The area now similar to Southbank in Melbourne, is a magnet for evening revelry and the growing UK tradition of costumed ` hens` party nights !

Sighted in chilly conditions were scantily clad girls dressed as sailors, pirates, bumble bees (yes ..! ) and in one case a group of what i thought were attractive things in mini skirts with a 1960`s look until a couple of them turned revealing wigs, cigarettes hanging from their mouths and an age that indicated that most would likely have been adults during the 60`s ...uuuggghhhh !

The night was a great catch up and reminisce of journeys taken and families with our friendship in Angela`s case stretching back some 35 years to when she and Monika both worked together in Honiton as young teenagers !!