travel

More day tripping

Four Marks, United Kingdom
Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Today started with an argument. The argument was with Barclays Bank who had "stolen" 280pounds from the BOSS bank account (we had used a 'hole in the wall' the previous night and instead of giving us the requested 400pounds it had only given us 120). I spent 40 minutes on hold for the Barclays Help Desk but the useless young girl refused to give me the phone number of the branch. She suggested that we either drive 50 miles back to Pulborough or contact our bank in Australia to sort out the problem. I thought both these suggestions were ridiculous and told her so. Instead of driving 50miles to Pulborough we drove 4 miles to Alton and walked into the Barclays branch, explained the problem and left it in their hands.

It was market day in Alton so we entertained ourselves for the next hour looking at the stalls and finding a coffee shop with free wireless internet. The worlds worst hair cut had had three months to grow out and my fringe was once again hanging in my eyes, so we found a hair dresser who turned the worlds worst hair cut into a halfway decent style. (It is very difficult to have stylish hair when you are plonking a helmet on it every day).

By 1pm the bank had sorted out their mistake and promised to reimburse the money back into the BOSS's account. We headed off to Winchester and after collecting brochures from the information bureau we had a quick look through Winchester cathedral. (We had left the camera in the bike so there are no photos of Winchester). We wandered back up to the high street to find a phone shop and purchased a cheap mobile to replace the one 'lost' in Budapest.

Although it was fairly late in the afternoon we decided to try to squeeze in Salisbury and Stonehenge. Once again I underestimated the travel time on the back roads and through the hundreds of small villages so we arrived at Salisbury cathedral with only minutes to spare before it closed. The BOSS attempted to go in while I stood guard over the bike so as not to get yet another parking ticket. Unfortunately the church had a service in progress and the BOSS could not even get through the door. She managed a quick look at the courtyard and the Magna Carta. We decided to postpone Stonehenge till the next day as I couldn't risk driving home in the dark with no headlights. We had dinner at a charming pub in Four Marks and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

01 Stained glass window from the outside
Stained glass window from the outside
02Salisbury cathedral courtyard
Salisbury cathedral courtyard
03 Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
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