Trav's Travels: British National Cycle Network: To the Coast and onto Wales

9/19/15

Today was another beautiful day, so after doing some work on my project, I enjoyed my Saturday by using the national cycle network to head out to the “beach”. I biked from Bristol, along the Avon river to Pill and then onto Avonmouth via the Avon bike path. From there, I turned North along a different bike path and headed to Severn beach. Severn beach isn’t much of a beach as it’s mostly rocks and mud, but it had nice views across the sound and over to Wales. A bit further along the trail past Severn beach was a protected wetland area that is famous for the large number of shore and migratory birds that it attracts.

There is a bike path that runs along the coast, which I took for a while before taking a different path that would lead to the giant Severn Bridge. which goes across the sound and into Wales. The bridge actually contains separate cycle lanes on each side of it, so I biked across the bridge (over 1 mile long) and into Wales. There were many bike paths branching out once I entered Wales that I was tempted to take; however, daylight would be running short, so I had to turn around. I took a different route on the way back through Bristol then involved a steep climb to get up to the Clifton Downs. All in all, it was a great day of cycling, and I biked about 44 miles.

9/21/15

Today was the first day of classes for the University of Bristol, so the campus and city was all abuzz with the excitement of the students. It's also gotten much more busy, just like Gainesville. I visited the student union building today because I needed to fill out some registration paperwork at the international students office which is located there. The SUB is quite nice and similar to the ones I’ve visited in the States; however, it does have a full service bar and pub since underage drinking isn’t such a big deal in the UK since their drinking age is 18. I managed to get all my forms filled out and then my last step will be to get my student ID card, which will give me full access to the university. It’s kind of cool to be accepted as a student to the University of Bristol because they are listed as a top 30 Global University right up there with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cambridge, and Oxford.

In the evening I helped Elizabeth clean and cut up some of the fruits from her garden. She is making this really delicious applesauce as well as drying apples. She’s also making strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry jams and also making an alcoholic beverage out of them. She calls it wine, but it’s not quite the same and probably has double the alcohol content per glass. I tried some of her wine she made from last season, and it is indeed very tasty.

9/22/15

I did a lot of the new student registration today, which mean lots of queuing, but I ended up getting my student ID, getting access to all the places I need to, and becoming an official student of the University of Bristol. I was queuing mainly with what they call the "freshies" (although they don't use the freshman, sophomore, junior, senior ranking, they call them freshies I guess b/c they're fresh faces). There was a girl in line behind me that said she keeps getting lost in Bristol and she asked the guy next to me, who was getting his ID because he had lost his from last year, what is the best way to learn her way around Bristol. The young chap said, "I suppose the best way is to get really pissed (that's British for drunk) several nights and then you'll have it. Then you'll walk around town and be like, 'Oh this is where I fell, and this is where I puked' and then you'll have it". She didn't seem super satisfied by that answer and asked me. I pulled out my A to Zed (http://www.az.co.uk/?nid=60&iid=3517) pocket street atlas and told her that has served me well, and I hardly have to use it now. I guess I really dated myself with that contrasting answer. Speaking of dating, I got asked out on a date by one of the freshies in a different queue after I had been telling her all about Colorado. I had to tell her that I was honored, but sorry I already had a gf back home (not to mention I am probably over 10 years older than her). haha

After work I took a little mtn bike ride along a smooth and most flat trail along the River Avon.

Elizabeth made me a tasty Asian chicken dish and shared a bottle of Ginger beer (it's alocholic here, which is interesting). Then she asked to see photos of my home. So I showed her lots of photos of EP, Crested Butte, Telluride, and Heron. She couldn't believe how beautiful Colorado is. She squealed at all the elk pictures and the bear up on the deck. She said that she goes to a weekly slide show they give at the youth hostel b/c she enjoys seeing pictures of around the world. She told me the last one was a guy who did a trip to Yellowstone, but she said my photos are as good as anyone who gives the presentations at the youth hostel, which was very kind of her to say. She really liked looking at pictures of my family and kept saying "Your mom is so lovely" And she also kept saying "Elisha is so gorgeous". She couldn't believe bro would study a thing that would appear to be so dangerous and couldn't believe he'd ski all those peaks. She's into art and maybe her favorite thing I showed her were the ice sculptures in Crested Butte. She just got such a kick out of them and thought they were so fascinating.

She also liked the Kayser garden b/c she is really into gardening and has an allotment in Bristol. And she was very impressed by how self-sufficient the Kaysers are and said she figured they'd do well if the world ended as we know it now.

9/23/15
The lab had a end of the field season bbq party up on the roof of the science building today at lunch. Lots of good food. With all the South Americans in the group, there was plenty of steaks and meat to be had!