Out and About in Bath

Ian and I got up just after 7 this morning so that we could go with Marjorie and Archie on their morning walk – the girls were not keen to join us! It was a cold morning with still a lot of cloud around but we enjoyed our walk through the nearby fields. We stopped at Millennium Seat which has a wonderful view across the valley to the hills on the other side – on a clear day you can see the Whitehorse of Westbury but it was too cloudy for us to see it this morning.
Back home for breakfast and showers and then Marjorie dropped us into Bath about 11am. We had a look around the Crescent and the Circus at the beautiful Georgian houses and then went for a walk down Milsom Street – there are some lovely looking shops along here and interesting lane ways running off it. We stopped in at The Ivy for morning coffee – a very interesting and up-market establishment, we weren’t sure if we were well enough dressed for it but really enjoyed our coffee and pastries none the less! From here we walked on into town stopping for a look around the beautiful Bath Abbey with its amazing high vaulted ceilings and beautiful stain glass windows. Marjorie’s nephew used to be the head choir boy at Bath Abbey and won a singing competition when he was singing there. The prize consisted of money for him and also money for the church he sang with so the money he won for the Abbey was used to purchase some new lights – so we paid

particular attention to the lights in the Abbey and they are beautiful! Next stop was the Roman Baths. It is Europe’s best preserved Roman temple and bathing complex, and is still fed by the thermal springs of Bath. It is amazing to think that this is the same baths and rooms that were built by the Romans, with the water still steaming and bubbling away just as it did in Roman times. It is now open to the elements as the high, domed roof built by the Romans fell down long ago and so the water is green from all the algae that grows in the warm water due to the sun exposure but in the Roman times, the roof protected the water from the sun so it would have been lovely and clear. The audio commentary that we listened to as we went around the baths was very interesting and informative and we spent nearly 2 hours wandering around there.
After leaving the Baths we ate our ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch sitting on some outdoor benches and then took a walk to the Parade Gardens. From here you can see Bath Weir and Pultney Bridge - which is a bit like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence as it has shops along either side of

the bridge. We walked along Pultney Bridge and up to Laura Place – again more beautiful Georgian buildings to look at, Bath is a very pretty city and quite compact so easy to walk around. We went through the Guildhall Markets – not as big as Camden markets by any means but still full of lots of interesting shops and has the added bonus of containing the 18th Century pillar “The Nail” on which transactions took place – hence the saying “Pay on the Nail”. We then walked back up to the Circus to admire this area again a bit more closely. It was still very cold and grey, looked like it was going to rain and there had been some slight drizzle during the day but not enough to need umbrellas. By now it was nearly 4pm and time for a pub stop so we found our way to the Salamander – a traditional old style English pub containing church pews for seating and serving local Bath ales – perfect!!
Marjorie came and picked us up just before 5pm and we were all glad to head back to her home after a wonderful day out in Bath. Enjoyed a delicious chicken and pasta casserole for tea washed down with some red wine and sat chatting until bed at 10pm.