We got out of the city over the Easter weekend on a walking trip in Wessex. Originally we planned to walk the Ridgeway trail from Avebury to Goring, but quit after the first stretch because it was 1) very windy and 2) a very rotten trail. For some reason the British have allowed 4x4s and motorbikes on this section of the Ridgeway which means that it is rutted and wrecked and miserable.

Nothing quite ruins a pleasant walk in the countryside quicker than having a dirtbike whiz past at 50 mph leaving you in a cloud of dust and exhaust fumes, or seeing a caravan of yobbos and their fat children bumping along the trail in an SUV.

Another sad thing about this trip was the pub where we ate lunch before setting off from Avebury. It seems that many old pubs have been bought up by corporations and as a result have become as soulless and wretched as fast food joints, and this was just such a place. It was staffed by surly minimum-wage types who had no stake in making our visit a joy.

The food they served was of the horrible institutional variety one expects to find in prisons and mental institutions. And of course it was wildly overpriced. It was very unpleasant all the way around.

We spent the night in Ogbourne St. George and the next morning went from there to Bradford-on-Avon, which is kind of a charming place. We had a very nice lunch there in a family-owned restaurant called the Scribbling Horse (recommended!). Then we went over to Bath to visit the Roman Baths which were kind of neat. Bath is quite touristy so we decided not to spend the night there.

Happily, the train broke down on the way home and there was such chaos afterwards that we didn't end up buying a ticket. This saved us around £60 ($96) which made us very happy. That was probably the highlight of the trip. ;-)

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