After the last evening of extreme walking I was very glad to simply settle down on the buses and trains for several hours. For many weeks the trains running east from Bath have been replaced by buses while the train lines are being converted from diesel to electric. This means that either bridges need to be raised, or tracks lowered to accommodate the electric lines. So the last short leg of my journey from Bath to Stanford-On-Avon was spent on a very hot bus with people packed in like sardines.
After a very welcome shower,and dinner I spent the evening with my hosts: a mother, and 15 year-old daughter. Before bed we watched an episode of something I'd heard of before, but hadn't gotten around to watching: the Great British Bake Off. A collection of British chefs are given 4 hours to bake something like a three layer cheese cake with each layer being unique. Then they're judged on the results. It's incredible what they come up with, and what they can accomplish!
The next day I gladly spent the morning relaxing and attending to things like learning my first words in German, and then paying for my bike trip. In the afternoon I went for a walk into town to the Tithe Barn. Even though it's around 700 years old it still appears to be in good condition, and has a magnificent interior. It was used by the monks I believe to store grain (or hay?) from their fields over the winter with a small possibly that it was actually used to hold tiths collected from the surrounding area.
From the barn I walked along the gentle path by the river Avon up to a charming village called Avoncliff. I picked up a very dedicated friend there while I ate my sandwich outside a cafe. The never tiring black dog kept returning to me once she figured out that I would through the ball for her. I did manage to leaver her behind on the second attempt as I took the path by the canal back to where I was staying. How inviting the long barges looked with numerous people out eating, moving up the canal, or just going about something or another inside their boat.
I'd planned my outing well though, and got back in time for the concert that the girl was preforming in that evening. The whole family was very musical, and the girl was part of a week long summer class that was giving 2 performances over the weekend. I couldn't believe they'd only been practicing the 80 minutes of symphonies for a week! They ended their performance with a piece by the American Charles Ives with a dramatic finally of incredibly quick bow work. I wouldn't have known that none of them were older than 18 by listening to the performance they gave. It was a wonderful thing to happen upon by staying with a local family.
