The Last of Bath, our Sketchy Hostel, and my adventure to Bishop's Wartham

The river from Les Misérables.
CGI was used so it looks different in the movie

Anavi and I spent our last few hours in Bath walking the streets and through the Abbey. Though cold, it was nice to see more of the town. We walked past the river in which a scene from Les Misérables was filmed. The river was beautiful along with all the trees. All the trees here have their leaves changing colors and I am loving it. The changing colors of leaves is my favorite part of fall and I was afraid I would miss that being in Spain but England's got that covered.

The Abbey

The Abbey was spectacular. The stain glass work is memorizing. If we didn't have to go back to our hostel to check out, I would have stayed there for hours. We checked out at 10:00 am so we could get food for our long bus rides to Brighton. After buying sandwiches and snacks at a local grocery store we walked to the bus station to wait for out bus. Within 10 minutes of arriving at the station our bus began bordering and we were off to Brighton!
Early evening we arrive in Brighton. Tired and hungry we headed to our hostel to check in. From the bus station we walked at least 35 blocks to our hostel. We finally arrived at our hostel and checked in. Walking to our room, we both started to feel uneasy about the place. It looked nothing like the photos online. The people there we not just young adults but people of all ages. Most who looked as though they were living their long term. Quickly, after locking our bags to our beds, we left to find food.
We found a Mexican restaurant called Los Amigos around the corner. After being seated and ordering, we got the wifi password. Immediately we looked up our hostel. After digging through a few sites we found out that it was a terrible hostel! We found a large amount of reviews of people who had thought it was a good hostel because of the websites they had booked from said so and had reviews to prove it. We used the same websites as those other people. The actual reviews said it was not clean, people were very creepy, and the list goes on for miles! Before our food was even served we booked another hostel. We gobbled down our food and went straight to check in at our new hostel.
We walked in to check in and were greeted by what a hostel should really look like. We were so relieved. After paying, getting our room keys, and a tour of the hostel, we went back to the sketchy hostel to grab our luggage and check out. The guy at the reception desk was shocked on why we were checking out so soon. I did not tell him that it was because he was running a shady, creepy business but that I had a family emergency and needed to fly back to the United States tonight. A little bit from the truth but oh well. Anavi and I are safe and that's all that matters.

It was raining on the way there
but cleared up to be a nice
sunny day

This morning Anavi and I parted ways for the day. Anavi spent her day at Stonehenge and loved it! I got on a bus at 6:25 am this morning to head to London. At the bus station there, I got on a bus heading to Winchester. From Winchester I got on a local bus to Bishop's Waltham. In Bishop's Waltham I was picked up Deb Laybourne. When her car pulled up to the curb she looked just as I remembered. It took about 10 minutes to drive to Highfield Cottage. There we were greeted by James, her husband.
I met the Laybournes when I was 10 years old. My grandparents took me to England for my tenth birthday. It was a wonderful trip that I will treasure my whole life. One of our stops on that trip was to the Laybourne's home. My grandparents met them while they were both living in Canada and they have been friends ever since. We stayed in their home for a few nights. Their house is absolutely wonderful. It is so homey and full of love. It is just as I remember it from over 8 years ago. Deb and James were surprised with how much I remembered from my first visit years ago. I even remembered where their guest bathroom is! Deb made me a lovely lunch. We chatted and caught up on all that has been going on these past few years. James is no longer beekeeping as he was when I visited last but they now have hens. And Naughty Will.
During my stay at Highfield Cottage, I was warned to not leave my bedroom door open or Naughty Will, the dog, would get in and take my stuff. Will, I believe, was just over a year old at the time. When I went to take a shower one morning, I accidentally did not close my door all the way. Big mistake. I came back to my room, wrapped in my towel, and opened the door to find Will sitting calmly in the middle of the room with my clean underwear in his mouth. I slowly walked up to him and as I went to grab the underwear from his mouth, he darted out the door, down the stairs, and outside into the yard. I raced after him into the yard and chased him for a good 5 minutes before I finally caught him. Keep in mind, I chased him all whilst still in just my towel. I was a sight to see and now I understood why his name was Naughty Will.
The reason for sharing this embarrassing story with all of you was to say that the Laybournes still have Naughty Will! They say he is a lot less naughty these days but sometimes he can't help himself. He is a sweet black lab, who you can start to see his age in his speckled fur. It was nice to see him as well and no underwear was stolen this time. Both of the Laybournes did mention that story though.
Kindly, the Laybournes drove me back to Winchester to catch my bus back to London. Two hours was not enough time to see these kind, wonderful people. I am so happy I was able to get in contact with them. I had a little trouble calling them but got it figured out in the nick of time. At the bus station, we tearfully parted ways. I will be back to visit them again.