A Little Bit of Sun Makes All the Difference....

Czechs don't expect Britain to be even a little bit sunny, never

Dining alfresco on a Cornish clifftop

mind persistently near tropical for an entire fortnight. So it's fair to say that for the  visit by Eva Kordova and her Ceske Budejovice tourists the fact that July was busting out all over  was a bit of a surprise to say the least.

To say the most, it was a bloody scorcher. 

Every minute of every day was glorious sunshine. Even the nights. And so England, we can safely say, actually looks nothing short of resplendent in it's summer shirt, pants , open toed sandals and sunblock.

Sunny

Everywhere we went was a treat. The group stayed at Lizzie Myers Huntstile Farm on the Quantock ridge, even Bridgwater glinted splendidly on the plains below like a wannabe Oxford with it's gleaming spires of West Street Flats, St Mary's church and the mile long Morrisons depot.

Eva Kordova,eagerly expecting rain, points to the Atlantic

Bath is inspiring in any weather and with the sun sparkling off the river Avon and sweat dripping off the chin folds of passing Americans you couldn't move for baked pedestrians. 

Cheddar Gorge cast long afternoon shadows so you could take the shady route down as eagles hovered, goats prepared for satanic rock climbing rituals and potholers discarded their flippers .

Glastonbury Tor shone out like a beacon of poignancy, weighing down the historical graves of Arthur and Guinevere stopping them coming back to rescue us from 11 years of Thatcherism; Wells with it's majestic Gothic Cathedral proving that Jesus would probably not be given a council house should he return to the planet today, happy clever swans pulling strings on moated bells to announce dinner time and the 13th century street scene that is Vicars Close all bathed in sunlight and looked better than the betterest postcards.

Sunny

Even the evening quiz, sponsored by Bridgwater's answer to Robert Robinson, Mayor Dave

Czechs and Brits pit their wits against themselves

Loveridge, was a happy cheerful affair with Anglo-Czech teams (and an odd German) mixed up and answering questions about the world around them. Man of the tournament was that International jet setter Mr Coram , who was presented by the rest of his team with the bottle of Becherovka prize.

A morning in Bude - they went swimming, an afternoon in Marazion - they misjudged the causeway and went swimming, and an evening in St Just staying at the Lands End Hostel saw the group transfer county bases to Cornwall for a couple of days. 

St Ives sweltered in the heat, the Eden project invited travellers to even hotter climates and a spectacular sunset at Tintagel rounded off the Kernow sojourn.

The Bude-iful Cornish coastline

Still hot and sunny as they crossed the Tamar and wandered the Dartmoors, paraded the Plymouth Hoes and wound up at the much hilled Salcombe hostel. Sadly facing closure. 

Sunny

A Sherman tank bedecked with barnacles marks the point on Slapton sands where the US army training for D-Day fell victim to a German torpedo boat attack in 1944 with some 700 fatalities. Today it looked like any other bejewelled English seaside resort with sparkling blue water, clear blue skies and well, sand and pebbles of various hues.

Exeter is always a welcome stopover with it's Cathedral green and adjacent tables for diners and snackers and then a pleasant drive up the Dorset Downs to Durdle Door , a cliff walk to Lulworth Cove and an evening in a thatched pub, and the sun was still shining.

North Cornish sunset

Sunny

So off to Wiltshire, to complete the Wessex motif . Avebury, a stone circled village with a wifi friendly pub in the middle of it was yet again another  English idyll resplendent in it's sunny coat of many lovelinesses. And then Bristol. Still hot. Still sunny. Still there. A bit maritimey. and then,with the aid of avionics, they were off home to the Czech Republic 100% convinced that England was always like this. And perhaps it is.