England #22 - Swindon Sidetrip in The England Chronicles - September 2024

(Wednesday September 18, 2024)

And so onwards we fly to Wednesday, as shockingly enough I actually am getting a bunch of these posts done. We had planned to go to Wiltshire at some point during our second week so we could visit Avebury and the Barge pub/UFO/crop circle hotspot near Pewsey, as well as the white horses and whatever else we could cram in. Since Avebury is only an hour from Chedworth we figured we’d probably go more than once because we both love that area so much. Then Kim had the excellent idea of just getting an Airbnb for one night somewhere near Avebury. That would save having to do so much driving back and forth, and for some reason hadn’t even occurred to me. It gave us plenty of time in Wiltshire and it was well worth the very reasonable Airbnb price. We found one in All Cannings, which is 15 minutes from Avebury and 7 minutes from The Barge. 

But first, we made a stop in Swindon and met up with PB’s very own Ermentrude! That was quite exciting - we’ve been friends on PB and Facebook and before that OD for many many years, and had tried to meet up at Avebury in 2017 but it didn’t work out. Happily this time it did and we met her at Coate Water Park, a very pretty lake and nature preserve on the edge of Swindon. We walked the loop around the lake and got to chat and chat and chat. It was SO nice, like meeting someone I’d already known forever, which I kind of have! 

The lake and nature preserve is beautiful, so that was very enjoyable as well. Lots and lots of birds and a great day for a walk.  

Kim, who is the most kind-hearted person on the planet, spotted an injured bird in this big bird gathering spot, and was quite distressed about it. To the point that she felt we should call the wildlife rescue to come help. Ermentrude very gently let her know it was highly unlikely they would be able to come rescue one poor pigeon, sad as the reality is. Kim actually really needs to start her own rescue service. She recently realized she now officially has five cats. She had two cats until a mother cat with three kittens showed up at her door last summer.  She never could find homes for them and the cat rescue was overloaded and not taking any new kittens in, so she ended up getting the three kittens fixed (the mom left after making sure the kittens had a good home) and now they are living in her sunroom, separated from her cat Pixie who is extremely territorial and very angry about this situation. Happily Pixie has gotten less angry lately and Kim has accepted the fact that she has five cats now. They are sweet and gorgeous long haired cats and we would definitely take one or two, but Phillip is also very territorial and would never accept a (now) grown cat. When the mother cat shows up with more kittens maybe we’ll take one of them!

That was a very long and off topic  tale, just to illustrate that Kim is the kind of person who worries over injured birds and all the other creatures as well!

After our walk around the lake Ermentrude drove us into Swindon, which was also really nice as I’ve never been, despite being very close by on every trip we’ve taken to England. In fact, on our first trip in 2010 Kim and I spent one night at a not-very-pleasant Days Inn in the Membury Services Area right outside Swindon, and ate extremely mediocre Services Area food for dinner because it was my first time driving in England and I was terrified at the thought of going into Swindon at night. Especially because of the dreaded Magic Roundabout, which is not just an ordinary roundabout but is five mini roundabouts circling a central island. And Ermentrude drove us right through it! It actually looked much more sane and manageable than I’d imagined, but I was VERY glad not to have to navigate it myself. It’s a little hard to see the complexity of it here, but the link gives a really impressive aerial view. 

Swindon has scads of amazing murals. I didn’t get very many pictures, sadly, but this one is stunning.

 And then we went to a pub in town that I THINK was right around the corner here, where we’d parked. Sadly I completely forgot to make a note of the pub’s name, although I’m sure Ermentrude can jog my memory! I had a spring roll sandwich which sounds very strange but was absolutely delicious, and a stout. 

And then we said a sad goodbye to Ermentrude, and headed on to All Cannings. I was actually going to cram All Cannings into this entry as well, but I think this is MORE than enough, so I’ll save it for the next one.