Bath

I woke up at about 8.30 and had a shower. Breakfast was included and downstairs in the café. It was fairly ordinary.

I walked into the town and located the tourist office. I got an accommodation guide and a brochure about the Roman Baths, and checked that trains left from Temple Meads. I walked to the station, discovering the YHA hostel on the way. The next train was after 11am. Unfortunately, it cost £5.

It was a funny little four-carriage train but it got me there in about 15 minutes with a few stops. The weather was horrible almost from the minute I walked out of the train station. I found the main street and was immediately impressed by how beautiful the building were, particularly compared to Bristol. I saw the Pump Room and the Abbey, but made a beeline for the Roman Baths. The tickets were £10. The displays were very well laid out, with tantalising artefacts being mixed with real sections of the old building for our view. We had hand-held audio guide things which were very good and descriptive.

We saw pieces of the sacrificial altar and burial stones, and hair pins and combs, then looked into the overflow drain and learned about the ceremonies undertaken both in Stone Age Celtic times as well as Roman times. A spring that was so warm was not common and so the people thought it was a gift of the gods – the Romans worshipped Minerva and the Celts Sulis. So many gifts were tossed into the baths in thanksgiving. Also, curses were tossed in asking the god to intervene in thefts and other crimes – for the culprit to be punished.

In Celtic times the spring was not contained, so the area was very marshy. The Romans brought the ‘technology’ to build the stone surrounds lined with lead and to feed the spring in appropriate directions. When the Romans withdrew in the fifth or sixth century, the baths complex fell into disrepair and other forms were built over it. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the original foundations were uncovered and fully excavated to reveal the historical significance. Unfortunately, more discoveries may be waiting to be made but nearby buildings are in the way.

At the end we were actually taken outside to the main large bath, and though it was raining, you could still see bubbles rising to the top. We were taken through the various rooms and had the Roman rituals explained to us. The Roman bathing tradition has survived mostly in the ‘Turkish’ bathing form. No one can use those baths because the water is untreated, but I still had the urge to get in to feel the warmth. I later discovered that there is a bath complex nearby that you can actually get in (probably exorbitant). I enjoyed the tour, and am only sorry that:

(a) I lost all my photos of it

(b) the Pump Room was closed

(c) I couldn’t taste the treated bath water.

It just means I’ll have to go back when it’s warmer.

I walked up Milsom Street to the Assembly Rooms which is where the Pump Room restaurant had moved to. The rooms were beautiful, but the prices were high and the staff completely ignored me, so I went to have lunch elsewhere. I found a nice café back down the hill and had a pot of tea and panini.

It was getting late by now, so I went straight to the Jane Austen centre, where as it was I’d missed the last guided tour, so they let me in cheaper to do it myself. It was interesting, with a lot of references to the mentions she made of Bath in her novels, as well as her own experience of living there. After her father died, the family were forced to move to progressively less grand lodgings – the Centre is located in Gay Street, near where the Austens lived at number 25. It also traced Jane’s perception of Bath as she got older, and displayed a portrait that is supposedly more faithful to her face than the official portrait used.

There were a lot of silly things, though, repetitions of photos of where they lived, and letters and newspapers you couldn’t actually read. There were also displays of period dress which were fairly interesting. I was glad that I went, though the staff there had to throw half a dozen of us out well after the closing time of 4.30.

I had pretty much seen everything. From there I walked up Gay Street to the circus. It’s an amazing circle of houses in four (or three?) curved groups in perfect condition. It was impossible to take a decent photo both because it was dark and because you could never fit it all in without doing a video camera sweep. The Royal Crescent was even more amazing because the curve was continuous, and probably a complete semi-circle. My photo was quite poor, but it would be possible to get a decent one in better conditions.

I walked through the park back to the town and found the Theatre Royal. It is a well thought of Georgian theatre, but I only saw the foyer because the show running was a terrible panto and they only run tours twice a month. The foyer looked nice.

I walked to Bath Abbey and discovered that it was closed due to the service that particularly day being held somewhere else. Some people came out while I was outside so I ventured in. I was told that it was closed to the public but the man let me stand at the back for a few minutes to look. It’s pretty amazing with a very pale vaulted ceiling. It would be great to see in daylight so that the colours in the stained window could come through.

I didn’t get to see Queen Square, Pulteney Bridge, Sydney Gardens, the canal, or the George pub, but they are other reasons to go back when the weather is warmer. I found the station and headed back to Bristol.

I walked back the way I knew (i.e., via the backpackers) and dropped in to ask them about an internet café and about me staying the next night. The internet café is in Baldwin Street and I found it but it was closed. I also found a little supermarket so grabbed a newspaper, some pot noodles, some juice and some chocolate (oh, and this book). I headed back to the guesthouse, looked at the paper, started this diary, and watched TV, eating my pot noodle as well. I turned out the light directly outside my room this time, and slept better for it.