Bradford on Avon via Newbury

Thursday, June 20

Our landlord, David, showed up about 9:30 very apologetic about being early but it was no problem as we were just 15 minutes from being out the door anyway.  I talked with him while Marnie finished dressing and discovered that he is a very interesting guy.  We had noticed that there were dozens of travel guides in the flat; many were on London for the benefit of guests but some obviously were not including a couple on Cuba.  I told him about how we spent a week there and he had actually been there riding his bike for two months after he retired in 1990.  This was during the "Special Period" when Cuba was no longer receiving aid from the Soviets and Cubans struggled just to stay fed.  David said that as a tourist he also found it difficult to get enough to eat.  We let David know what a wonderful flat he had and how we hoped to come back to enjoy it again someday.

We got to Waterloo Station about 10:00 and added enough funds to our Oyster cards to be sure they would cover the Tube trip to Heathrow where we would pick-up our rental car.  Once again we saw people all dressed up to go to Royal Ascot for the horse races -- men in top hats and tails and women in fine dresses and distinctive hats.  Most of the hats that the women wore were very small as they seemed to be young and not yet wealthy.  I suppose the women who can afford the more elaborate hats can also afford to travel by car to Ascot Racecourse.

The train took just over an hour to reach Terminal 4 where we caught a shuttle at 11:30 to the Budget rental lot.  It wasn't very busy at the desk but it took an hour before we actually drove off partly because Budget was washing the only available automatic.  I made the adjustment to left hand drive quickly in the Hyundai i30 which is called the Elantra GT in the States and which I had been recently admiring back home.

We took the M4 to Reading and then the A33 to Basingstoke so that we could visit my old flat inChineham. 

I would have liked to have also gotten into Basingstoke but time really didn't permit that.  We drove to RAF Greenham Common, which took a bit longer than I remembered, but there was very little at the former base that is still recognizable from the 80’s.  It was converted into a business park 20 years ago and so much has been torn down since I was last there in '94.  If there is a way to get to the landing strip area then it must be from some other entrance, perhaps on the north side.  I did recognize what little was left of Building 303, the hanger under my squadron's control, but they had nearly finished demolishing it.  We would have liked to have visited nearby Highclere Castle but it isn’t open to the public the entire month presumably for filming episodes of “Downton Abbey”.

We drove into Newbury and parked in a car park in front of the building which once had been the B&B where I spent my first seven weeks before I moved into my Chineham flat.  We strolled through the shopping district including the high street that is now mostly pedestrianized and bought some items in the open air market.  We had tapas and cider at a Spanish restaurant called La Tosca at about 3:00.

Afterwards we were back on the road reaching Bradford on Avon (BoA) at 5:15 when our misadventure began with the keys to Lockview Cottage.  I had no trouble getting them out of the key safe but it was quite awhile before we gave up trying to get the keys to unlock the front door.  I called the landlord on a pay phone at the train station and she said that it should work but that it had to be put in the lock very straight before turning.  We trudged back to the flat and tried again without luck and then Marnie went to the nearby Lock Inn Café and tried to reach her again without success.  

Shortly afterwards the barman from the cafe came by and said that our landlord had rang back to say that someone would be sent.  What the barman should have said it that someone COULD be sent because an hour later we called the landlord back to ask when someone would be there.  She apologized for the misunderstanding and said she would call a locksmith right away.  During all of our waiting I noticed that one of the teeth of the skeleton key appeared bent which was probably causing the problem.  When the locksmith arrived he agreed with that diagnosis and cut us a new key.  So we finally got into our flat after three hours.  The cottage was really nicely furnished and, aside from the key fiasco, our week there was a very positive experience.  We got a bit settled and snacked just enough to make a real dinner unnecessary and went to bed.