But I Don't Even Like Cheese!

Well, adventure is what I wanted - and adventure is what I got.

Yesterday I left Bath and visited Cheddar, home of a massive gorge and some very impressive caves. Oh, and cheese.

Getting there wasn't quite as straightforward as I'd hoped. Rather than just catching a train there, or even a single bus, I had to catch one bus all the way to Wells (an hour away), then catch a connecting bus to Cheddar (20 minutes). This was a doddle; it was also a nice ride through some grandiose scenery. I made it there eventually and headed up to see the caves.

As tourist traps go, Cheddar's not bad. The caves are quite interesting (and they were warmer than outside), and they've even gone to the effort of transforming one of the cave tunnels into a faux-Lord of the Rings adventure/scare path. I was the only one who went through so, being the mighty brave and manly man I am, nobody saw me jump at the scares (one of which involved the shop owner dressing up and standing very still... until walking past him).

I didn't have a lot of time in Cheddar - only a few hours - so I was initially a little hesitant about going on the Gorge walk, but I figured I'd have enough time to see part of it and headed up the 268 steps to its entrance.

Now, I'm unfit at the best of times so this was quite a hike for me - but I eventually made it. But that was only the beginning! The full walk goes up one side of the Gorge and down the other - did I mention it's huge? Well, the Gorge is HUGE. I don't know how far I walked, but it took me a good hour or so to do the first half the walk - maybe a little longer seeing how I kept stopping to take pictures.

By now, time was now running low to get back to the bus so I opted to walk back via the road rather than the second half of the gorge. It didn't take long until I figured out this was a mistake. This road was obviously not made for walking as there was bugger all space on either side of the road and there were plenty of cars around, but I persevered.

What I haven't mentioned yet is the weather. Most of the day had been quite overcast, but as I started to make my way along the path the rain decided to come down. Not too heavy, but just enough to make the area damp. And muddy. And slippery. As luck would have it, I made it all the way up and down without falling once, and this included some very precarious slopes and paths.

I'm sure you can guess where this is going - and you'd be right.

Walking along the flat road, I had to make a detour through the grass on the side of the road in order to avoid being mashed by one of the many cars. It didn't look slippery, so I didn't take as much care as usual - and fell slap bang right on my bum. My jeans, my jacket, my jumper - none of it escaped the mud.

Feeling like an arse, I rushed back to the bus stop and waited. And waited. And waited. It turned out I had plenty of time and could've made it up and down the other side of the gorge after all - and probably would have avoided looking like a messy homeless guy sitting at a bus shelter.

The next stop on my tour was Cardiff and the only way I could get there from Cheddar was via Bristol, which meant catching the bus back to Wells, catching another one to Bristol and finally another bus to Cardiff! Making it to Wells was easy enough, but there was a good 40 minute wait in the cold for the bus to Bristol, which itself was another good hour ride.

I didn't end up making it there until just after 7pm, just in time to see the bus station cafe closing. Thankfully, I only had to wait...

Ugh, just remembering it drudges up the pain again. I had to wait another hour and twenty minutes for the bus to Cardiff. I think most of the day was spent waiting for buses. Of course, it gets better - the time came... and went... and still no sign of the bus!

40 minutes later (!!!) it finally arrived, but the bus driver didn't want to sell me a ticket and suggested I wait for the next one - this was the last one. Thankfully, he must've realised this and gave me a sly grin and told me to hop on anyway.

At last, I was on the way to my next destination - Cardiff!