Tintagel Castle. By this time we had been to a lot of places and seen a lot of castles, ruins, and stunning views. Nothing compared to this. For a ruin, there were a great many walls still standing and there were helpful placards describing what the building was in its pre-ruin days. There was also an amazing view across the rugged sea coast. And a statute of King Arthur. It was a large site and we spent a lot of time there. Everything about it just spoke of how people had lived there hundreds of years ago. Of all the places we visited, this one simply had a special aura. Some people went down into the town to get lunch before we left but we just couldn’t drag ourselves away.
Once we got to the bus, our driver drove us to the Exeter train station. This was the beginning of some fast-paced train maneuvering. Up and over platforms with Roy herding us along and telling us to get into any coach when the train stopped. Just don't be left at the station. We jumped on a train and off an hour later at Bristol to go up and over platforms again with three minutes to spare to catch the Bath train. Dragging suitcases and backpacks. It made all that gym time worthwhile.
And then we arrived in Bath, our last city. Everyone was exhausted, which affected our enthusiasm for the one hour walking tour of Bath. It is a beautiful Georgian city, though, and we had a superb final meal. Then it was home to pack. The trip was essentially over with the meal.
Day 13: We had an early breakfast and got picked up by Blackberry car to go back to London and catch the Eurostar to Paris. In summary, this was a wonderful trip with a lot of locations that aren’t heavily traveled by tourists so it made for a pleasant, memory-making wonder of a trip. Thanks, Roy.