By Catherine James
The last holiday I took was a big success with a capital B. Forget Heathrow and the M25, think Somerset, cream tea and fresh air. My Beautiful coach holiday started on Sunday morning at the beginning of the Easter break. It started well, the pickup was right on time and local to where I live with my partner in Lewis. The coach driver opened the coach door and smiled a welcoming smile. He introduced himself ‘Nigel', and then unhurriedly took out luggage and stowed it in the boot. As it happens we were the last pickup and so it was off onto the motorway.
The Coach was smart and airy, the seats comfortable and adaptable, which was a great relief for my partner ‘Jon' with his back. He was also glad of the extra leg room we'd requested on booking the seats. So that was the start of a very enjoyable day. Usually when it comes to traveling we are both stressed and bickering by mid morning. As we had nothing to do but relax and look at the view, that is exactly what we did. It made a refreshing change for both of us ‘let the coach take the strain', to miss quote a well worn expression. The coach was filled to capacity and felt roomy and spacious. Our seats had places to put our drinks and snacks. We were able to control our own air conditioning controls. Very useful when the sun was shining on Jon and I was in the shade (we were taking turns sitting in the window seat.
Nigel had done his homework and we had no hold ups on route, we had a coffee break at the Reading services and were quickly on our way. We got to the first hotel in Cheddar by tea time. The hotel we were staying had been two substantial cottages which had at sometime in their history, been combined into one. It was so beautiful, well kept and intelligently modified to make it comfortable without loosing that feeling of history. Full of energy and a gorgeous cream tea we coach travelers all took our own routes for the evening. Jon and I choose to walk to the Gorge which was only a moderate walk away. The shadows slowly lengthened and a feeling of peace and well being wrapped itself around us like a blanket. We strolled, arm in arm back to our small hotel feeling a gorgeous feeling of optimism.
Our holiday continued on in this vain for the whole idyllic week. We had had the choice on booking to coach holiday to do some day trips. We did do two, one to the moors and one to Minehead. The moors are like no where else in England, you could be in any century. There's no sound, apart from the wind and your breath when you're struggling up a gradient. The hotel had provided a local guide together with an enormous, tasty picnic. Both were much appreciated.
The Minehead day trip by coach was a great laugh. We had been able to time our trip to coincide with the Wassail, a ceremony that the locals perform every May Day. It's an ancient ceremony performed to ensure good crops and the reenactment was done with great aplomb by the participants.
The coach journey home was as expected, pleasant and with no drama. The restful feeling was kept until the last. We couldn't thank Nigel more. He was calm, professional and an excellent
For excellant driving and coaches use Galleon Travel
Source:www.isnare.com |
