Bus Challenge No 68!!

This morning I met up with my bus challenge friend on the bus to Bristol, where we took a second bus out through the northern suburbs of the city to the market town of Thornbury in South Gloucester, 12 miles north of Bristol.

After a visit to the Farmers' Market, (where I couldn't resist the local honey, marmalade, black pudding and lardy cake!!) we picked up a copy of the town's heritage trail and wandered through the town, tracing its history which dates back to medieval times when the town was a walled borough.

Half way through the trail, we found ourselves at the gates of Thornbury Castle, where we settled ourselves down in the sumptuous lounge to enjoy a very grand morning coffee!

"Building work began on this grand castle in 1511 – it was intended as a home for Edward Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham. The castle was almost finished by 1521, when the Duke’s distant cousin, Henry VIII, accused him of treason, then had him beheaded and confiscated his castle. Fourteen years later, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn enjoyed a ten-day retreat at Thornbury Castle as part of a honeymoon tour." www.thornburycastle.co.uk

We arrived at the castle on foot, but if you look at my extra photo for today, you'll see that some guests arrived in a rather more grand style!

Reluctantly we dragged ourselves away from those oh so cosy settees and completed our tour of the town before retracing our steps home...

Bus journey time = 3 hours
Waiting time in between buses = 33 mins
Total journey time = 3 hours 33 mins


Feeling very weary after a long day and a very early wake up call (thanks to the new central heating system which sounded like a shotgun going off every ten seconds!!), so I'll catch up with replies and your journals tomorrow morning...