Road Trip Day #16, Tewkesbury and Gloucester.

After spending one day exploring Wales we have decided to head back into the English countryside to resume out original itinerary. We really needed a run this morning but there is no place to run in this Italianate tourist town of Portmeirion so we take another quick walk about the town before having breakfast in the hotel and hitting the road to return to our original itinerary.

It is very picturesque but somehow seems out of place in Wales.

It is quite amusing to visit towns in England that have the same names as New England. Today we are headed for Tewkesbury and Gloucester. Tewkesbury England is a far cry from our Tewksbury Massachusetts which is minus an E and minus the charm. Tewkesbury England is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire which stands at the confluence of the Rivers Severn and Avon. We stopped here primarily to see Tewkesbury Abbey which is a parish church and a former Benedictine monastery. It is said to be one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Britain, and has probably the largest Romanesque crossing tower in Europe.

Downtown Tewkesbury, seemed quite dead and quiet on this afternoon.

There were heraldic flags everywhere which commemorate some old battle nearby.

The Severn Ham is a large common situated between the Severn and Avon rivers.

We took a brief walk through Victoria Gardens which sits aside the Avon.

After our brief tour of Tewkesbury we drove on to Gloucester where we had booked a loft apartment in an old converted warehouse along the docks. The space was really cool and in a great central location for exploring this little town. We settled in and had Thai food for dinner.