When things go wrong.

To quote Robbie Burns “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” This is a story of when things go wrong. And that’s certainly what happened on the weekend of the 15^th and 16^th of February 2020. We were taking a few days out, one night to visit friends in North Somerset and then a couple of nights in the Forest of Dean at the Saracens Head in Symmonds Yat.

For various reasons, we haven’t done much travelling abroad recently. Those reasons being house purchase and work on said house among others. So we thought we treat ourselves to a weekend away in the Forest of Dean via visiting some chums in North Somerset. It seems I visited there half a lifetime ago when in the military on a leadership course but I have very few memories of it apart from how to deliver an ‘O Group’ and being bitten by lots of wood ants! So, a trip to the Forest of Dean to expand my knowledge and also, through copious amounts of food and wine, to expand my waistline too!

The Good, The bad and The Wet

The visiting the chums worked well and it was a pleasure to see Alison and Mike. Yes, there may have been good wine and good food! Setting off from there Sunday morning, we headed up the M5 and across the Severn Bridge towards the Forest of Dean. But, and it’s a but the size of Venezuala, this was the weekend of storm Dennis.

Flooding

Yes, this was actually a screengrab from the BBC weather, no photoshop involved! You might say the weather in Wales was a bit of a cock-up! As we were crossing the Severn Bridge we received a phone call from a rather harassed staff member from the Saracens head. To paraphrase what he said;

‘Don’t come, the floodwaters are already across the car park, and we are cancelling all bookings. The manager has already had to be rescued from his house by the emergency services.’

We said okay and we hope there everybody was safe. After all, what else could you say? Pausing at the first services in Wales, we turned around and headed back to our rescuers from the situation, our chums in North Somerset.

We hoped they’d be okay Saracens head. We kept checking on their Facebook account just to see. And after a few days, the pictures below appeared. We were so glad they gave us a call to cancel.

 

Those poor people! Okay, it was a bit damp for us and the inconvenience but to have to deal with all the flooding and the lost revenue from visitors I hope the business keeps going.

When things go wrong – Conclusions

So, a short story of when things go wrong. But really, our problems with a cancelled holiday are nothing compared to The Saracens Head. I feel really sorry for these guys and, of course, we can reschedule our booking and go back. So we will eventually be able to do a review of the Saracens head in all its glory soon. Watch this space

Here is the link to their Facebook page, pop over there and give them some love!

https://www.facebook.com/saracensheadinn/