London to Bath

I really hate packing! My suitcase doesn't like me. No matter how much I take out it still seems to be completely full.

I was up early this morning to make sure everything was packed so that I could check out and head to my bus.

My bus was due to leave Victoria Station at 11am, so I decided that I would aim to leave the hostel at 9am, which would give me heaps of time to get through the tube to the Victoria Coach Station. It turned out to not be quite as easy as I had imagined.

I checked out of the hostel and headed for Russel Square tube station. Russel Square is one of the only tubes that has a lift, most have escalators. A lift is a marvelous invention, but only when properly utilised. At Russel Square, to get to and from the lift, there are stairs! Stairs! How stupid is that. So, there's Casey with her 20kg suitcase, her laptop and her backpack attempting to go up and down stairs. I finally managed to get down to the platform and shoved my way onto the train. The carriages were just about full and I ended up having to stand in the entry way in a very uncomfortable position. However, I consoled myself with the knowledge that I didn't have very far to go. My plan was to catch the Piccadilly line from Russel Square to Green Park (or something similar) and change to the Victoria line, which would then be just one stop to Victoria Station. However, my plans were dashed when I got to Green Park and discovered that the Victoria line was closed for maintenance. There had been no information prior to getting off at Green Park, so I was really frustrated. Anyway, I found that at Green Park I could change to the District/Circle lines and catch the tube to Westminster and then from Westminster I could change to the Northern line and catch that to Victoria Station!

So, instead of the 2 train rides I was anticipating it turned out to be 3!

Anyway, I finally arrived at Victoria Station and headed off to find the Victoria Coach Station. Logically I assumed that the Victoria Coach Station would be attached to Victoria Station, even if merely by an underpass or something similar. So, I followed the signs and all they did was lead me out of Victoria Station and up the street. I was really worried that I had missed where I was supposed to go, but kept heading in the direction that the signs had pointed. After a good 10mins I finally spotted the Victoria Coach Station. It wasn't at all close to Victoria Station, other than being in the same suburb.

In the end it took me an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes just to get from my hostel to the Victoria Coach Station.

I was absolutely exhausted by the time that I got there and rather stressed.

But I did make it and it turned out that the bus was half empty, so I managed to snag the 2 seats at the very front of the bus for myself. I had a great view.

The first stop for the bus was at Swindon. Honestly I would have to say that it's a rather depressing looking town. Not somewhere I would particularly like to visit, but half the people on our bus got off at Swindon.

After Swindon we seemed to take more country roads. It was lovely driving along small country roads surrounded by green and yellow fields. The canola was in flower and it was just beautiful.

It took 3 hours to drive from London to Bath, but the time seemed to just fly by.

Once I arrived in Bath I had a bit of a dilemma. I'd booked 2 nights in a local hostel and on their website they had provided information on how to get from the train station to the hostel. Probably silly of me, but I assumed that the bus station and the train station would be next to each other, and therefore I would be able to find my way to the hostel without any problems. Once again it turned out that this wasn't the case. I had no idea exactly where I was once I got off the bus, but I just followed the signs pointing into the city centre and eventually came across the Roman Baths and the tourist bureau. I grabbed a map from the tourist bureau and found where my hostel was located. I turns out that it's only 200m north of the Baths, so it's right in the centre of town.

The hostel is also a pub, so it was rather crowded when I arrived. It turns out that there is a rugby match on at the moment between the Wasps and Bath, so the pub is full of locals. I managed to get my room key and headed up yet more stairs! I'm in a 10 bed room, but at this point I'm the only one in there. That could very likely change this afternoon, but I certainly wouldn't mind a room to myself. Fingers crossed.

I'd best go. I'm running out of credit and I have plenty of exploring to do while the sun holds out.