Jun 16 - Bath to Formby to Liverpool

We had a wonderful dinner in Bath after wandering around a bit trying to find the tourist information booth.  Of course it was late Sunday afternoon and closed.  Of course.   That didn't really matter though, for the life of me I'm even trying to remember why we wanted to find it !

Bath itself is hilly, which is an understatement.  Narrow streets, fascinating architecture, sharp hills, bridges over the river Avon, lots of traffic ... why would anyone want to go there ?  Well, they do, otherwise there wouldn't be traffic, would there ?

I wanted to find a laundromat.   I found one but it wasn't the kind of place to leave your clothes.  I'm still in need of a laundromat.  Perhaps I'll find something today in Liverpool ?

We checked out of our hotel at 8am and headed back into Bath with the postal code / address of a full service laundromat in hand.  We found it easy enough but he said "Wednesday ?", well, no, it was Monday and we're leaving that day.  No luck again.  He pointed me at another place and we decided that we'd forget it for now, wait for Liverpool.  Heading back into town we found some parking spots but they were "permit only" but a kind passerby directed us to a proper parking lot.

Once there we found breakfast, which became 3 x eggs benedict (one with smoked salmon, me) and 1 x english breakfast (Sheryl).  We ate very well indeed.  From there we caught the hop-on, hop-off tour bus and did the circuit, getting off at the Royal Crescent for a closer look.  We then toured the Roman Baths ... 1,100,000 liters of water per day at 46C is quite the flow !  The display has changed since we first visited about 10 years ago ?  Something like that.  There's been move excavation since.

We picked up a sandwich on the way and headed out of town.  Jim and Sheryl went straight to Liverpool; we went to Formby.  There was lots of traffic and the same construction that we saw / drove through on the way down, naturally, but we were there by our planned 5pm.

We beat Eric to Harry's but he arrived a couple of minutes later with Mary.  We sat and chatted for a bit and then went to a local restaurant pub for dinner.  We made it easy for the waiter -- 5 x fish & chips with mushy peas.

After dinner we went for a walk and then back to Harry's for coffee.

Harry has deteriorated since last summer, less steady on his feet.  His mind is sharp but his hearing isn't great, even with the hearing aids.  With his macular degeneration, he's limited to a little peripheral vision in one eye; that in turn limits his physical activity.  He does live on his own; gets into town to do his shopping etc. so he does the best that he can.  He remains upbeat but his frustration level is higher now than last year.

We left Harry's and headed into Liverpool.  Being so close already we drove right through the city, north to south.  It looks like a pretty tough city with everything closed up for the night.

Jim and Sheryl were still out to dinner when we returned but arrived back shortly afterward.  We have a tiny room, just a little bigger than our double bed.

Today ... Beatles ?

Tomorrow ... Dublin ?

Onward !