May 30th - Skyline walk of Bath

We walked into Bath this morning to tag along with another free walk in a different part of Bath.  The walk was supposed to start at 1100, but the guide never arrived, so at 1110 we pulled the pin and walked home again.  

While we were waiting Ben persuaded me to take a photo of the wooden Abbey door that faces the square.  A very impressive door. 

After  a little bit of preparation we headed off instead to walk the Skyline Walk.  This walk takes in a circuit of the Hills surrounding Bath and allows you to look down on the city from above.  It also takes you into limestone meadows with wildflowers blooming and woods, through lots of kissing gates (we made good use of them) and along lovely paths. 

The weather was much warmer today (predicted19C) with little chance of rain, so we took our chances and travelled light - one backpack with a few essential supplies of water and snacks. 

track of our walk from home and back again - 12.5km approx. 

This map is not facing north.  Beware. 

different map of the walk. 

This is the view from just past 2 looking down at the university, 

Lovely family taking a break after a steep climb (and wondering what they had got themselves in to) . 

 There were a series of lovely benches along the way with great quotes on them.  If we realised they all had quotes we would have deviated to others on the path that we caught sight of, but didn't actually have to walk past.  Here are some of them..

Hither from noisy crowds I fly.  Here dwells soft ease and peace of mind.  Richard Graves 1755

I am gone into the fields to take what this sweet hour yields. - Percy Shelley  1792 - 1822

If a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, rejoice for your soul is alive
 - Eleonora Duse 1858- 1924

Sweet blossom, opening to the beams of day. - Jane Bowdler 1743 - 1784

Trevor spotted this butterfly on a mushroom as we walked past on the narrow woodland path.  

No walk is complete without a permanent orienteering course. 

huge cliff abut 10m high

Stone stile being crossed with style. 

 We stopped for lunch overlooking some sports fields, and sat on the top edge of a sloping lawn which surrounded the fields on three sides, dangling our legs down the slope.

Drystone wall being reconstructed, The wooden structures show how wide to make the wall,  The plumbers line shows how high to go. 

Long jump pit with a gate on it!

This narrow, steep  pathway ran between private properties from the meadow above to the road below. 

wildflower meadow.

A community nuttery.  In years to come the whole community will benefit.  Forty almond, sweet chestnut, cobnut and walnut trees were planted on this national trust land and will be ready for harvesting in a few years time. They have a grass mowing day when you can learn to use a scythe here. 

one of the skyline walk markers

These places have their own skyline view all the time (but a tough walk in to and out of the city centre) 

An apple orchard also on the walk and on national trust land. The grass is managed by allowing a local farmer to graze his sheep here.  This also saves the local ranger time and effort. 

The Bath skyline spread out before us at the end of the walk. 

 Rather than leaving the walk in the recommended way, we decided to leave under this huge Oak tree , and made our way to the canal path. 

We stopped to pick up for tea at our local supermarket (and Cornettos to eat on the way home) before one last look at the canal boats being prepared for their next trip away.

We can see why this walk comes highly recommended.  It is 9.5km for the walk itself, and the path is well used, so easy to follow. You just have to get to the start of the walk, which is quite a climb from the city centre. The views are spectacular and the variation in scenery is great.
An excellent way to spend one of our days in Bath.

May 29th - Walking in Bath and Roman Baths

Although we had done our own walking tour of Bath the previous day, the ones with the Mayors Honorary Guides get almost all 5 start recommendations on Trip Advisor and are also completely free. What’s not to like about that??

There had also been some complaints about the reliability of the information from the previous day’s guide (me) who had made up lots of useless junk info in an attempt to entertain the walking guests, but not reliably portrayed the true Bath.

So we hot-footed it down to Bath again, just in time to catch on to the free walking tour at 1030am just outside the Roman bath.  This is super easy to find, because the Roman Bath is on the same square as the Abbey – a very tall and recognisable landmark.   

There were about 80 people standing around waiting for the tour to start in the drizzle. The crowd was split into four groups and we were allocated to John. He was quite funny (in a dry English way) and quite knowledgeable and it was well and truly worth making the effort. We revisited some of the previous day's places, but in a very different way. We learnt lots. We mostly walked in drizzle and stood in shelter to listen. 

Bath is a world heritage city (one of only two in the world - the other is Venice) 

The entrance to one of the Baths in the city - Kings and Queens Baths

the Cross Bath (you can book this for a private bath as a group)

The hot bath.  Actually they all come at 46 degrees C.  (this means that the water is emerging from just over 2 miles below the ground) 

at the side of the Cross Bath.  

The new updated city Bath.  You can swim up there.  You can also pay to have various therapies and treatments on the levels below. This new Bath complex (with filtered water so that people don't get meningitis and die) cost the city 40 million pounds and took about 6 years longer than it was supposed to.

John pointed out the differences between the three sides of The Circus. - the one on the Northern side is styled like a palace. (with a fancy bit in the centre) 

I'm really enjoying the little plants growing out of walls. 

 The Three master's levels of the  houses on The Circus each have a slightly different style on their columns

Top storey - fancy tricky stuff

Middle storey with scroll bits

Lower storey with pretty carvings and otherwise very plain.

This is a different view of the Pulteney bridge so that you can see past both the back and front of the shops on the bridge. (just behind where the car is turning the corner)  

Many people cooperated with the government and donated their lamp holders to the war effort (iron was scarce).  Sadly the streets were less light then and the metal was dumped in the Irish sea unused at the end of the war.!  Just a few remain to be admired, and you can easily imagine a light like this over every path lighting the street so people could walk home safely. 

We finished the tour back by the Abbey - where John explained that the builder of the Abbey (Bishop Oliver King) wanted his name to be remembered - even by those who didn't read, so he arranged for this stone carving to be on each corner of the Abbey - the Bishops mitre, over an Olive Tree and then the Crown!!

We were so exhausted by the information overload and the chilling cold that we sought shelter in the covered guild crafts arcade, ignoring the crafts, but seeking warm tea and curry for lunch. 

Once rejuvenated by the food and drink we decided to pay our money and see the Roman Baths (despite the high price).  

They have really put together an excellent exhibition explaining the area, how it was used and showing what has been uncovered.  We walked on the stones by the baths just as the Romans would have done!! (but didn't bathe in the water here as it is a public health risk).  If you want to bathe you go to the new pools and pay your money there. 

I hadn't realised that this was a place of worship as well as recreation and social interaction for the Romans.  I also hadn't realised what a social thing it was for the Victorians. It seems that coming to Bath for three months of vacation, leaving the kids at home with Nanny, bringing your servants with you and "taking the waters" regularly was a thing. 

A number of statues of Romans overlook the main pool.

The main pool viewed from the Terrace. It gets drained every now and then and looks clear and attractive for a while, then gets green with algae again. 

We were provided with an audio tour - dial up the number you see before you on a sign and listen to the information.  Bill
Bryson has done some commentary and you can dial up his work if you want to hear his take on some of the items  

stone carvings found and "jigsawed"  together by the archaeologists to give an idea of what they would have shown originally. Highlighted with a light display.

When not lit with the special lights.  We have seen this Celtic face over a number of doors as we make our way around Bath. 

These are metal curses - you write your curse on there, fold the metal and throw it into the pool so that the goddess can read it and act on it. 

the petty reasons for curses that have been found.. 

the sacred pool

Water flowing through the Bath area (underground) 

a pensive moment...

cute family shot.

...and one of the photographer on the opposite side of the pool

On our way home we walked past these unusual plants in the florist shop .  Apparently the Nertera or Coral Bead Plant is a ground cover which needs to stay at a temperature of 13 to 18 degrees C to stay healthy.  This is probably why we have not noticed it in SA.

The map shop also had a map over 300 years old of the Oxford area which Thom pondered over for a while through the window.  They were asking £1150 for it.

The day was completed by delicious pizza and a good SA wine.