Bath - Day 2
Bath - Day 2! The 19th August and Day 2 of our BATH visit, greeted us with slightly better weather. It was still miserable looking outside but at least it was dry and we could try and have a good look around Bath while the heaven's were keeping the rain at bay.
First order of the day, apart from breakfast (and we all know why!) we visited the Roman Baths which were conveniently located practically around the corner from our hotel. The Roman Baths, where the upper portions date back to the 18th Century. The original Great Bath built when the Roman's occupied Britain between 43-410 AD. The Great Bath was originally roofed, with a pitched timber construction which was later replaced with a much heavier ceramic type roofing. This type of roofing required extra support and you can see the double pillars around the great bath to help support it. Eventually after the Roman's left Britain the whole complex fell into disrepair and lost to re-silting in the 5th Century. The site was rediscovered in the late 19th century and reopened to the public in 1897.
The water, not considered safe for bathing as it runs through original lead piping and recently encephalitis been found in the water. Still the water that runs into the Bath from the springs from rain that has fallen in the Mendip Hills. It seeps down through limestone to a depth of 4,300 metres where geothermal energy heats the water to about 64 -96C and under pressure the water rises to the surface. For a bit more info visit the official Roman Baths Museum site :
On our way back from the Baths, we came across the oldest building in Bath. The home of Sally Lunn (Bun) dated back to 1482. Apparently, Sally was the daughter of a pastry cook in Bath, but some say because the bun is so similar to a French Brioche that she must have been a huguenot French woman and that no french woman would be called Lunn. So perhaps this woman is only a legend. Still the building is a restaurant and museum to this day. We continued to explore Bath on foot and wandered down to the Parade Gardens after that, where there was a band playing old fashioned songs in the Band Stand surrounded by many people on blankets and in the recliner deck chairs provided by the park.
From the parade gardens, you can see Pulteney Bridge and the weir under it which crosses the River Avon in Bath. The bridge is named after Frances Pulteney , an heiress in 1767 and was completed in 1773. It was originally designed by Robert and James Adam and is only one for the four bridges in the world, with shops across the full span of it. It only stood in its original form for 20 years when floods destroyed the north end in 1800. It has had several reconstructions since then and legend has it that the bridge was designed with thought of an old woman - one that had washed her face but forgotten to wipe her bottom! Because the frontage of the bridge is spectacular but the behind or other side is rather shabby in appearance... there is no confirmation of this legend, but its rather amusing and adds a bit of hilarity to the towns history.
Another interesting thing we stumbled across on our walk that afternoon, was the Kennett & Avon Canal. This Canal joins the Thames/Kennett Rivers at Reading to the Avon River at Bath. The Canal was built between 1794 and 1810, and between the Avon & Kennett Navigation is 140km long. The Canal has several locks along the way as it runs down hill and aids the transport through and down to Bath... A TIME CONSUMING PROCESS after we watched a gondola of sorts move from one lock to the other. The gates to open and close the locks are quite heavy and require a bit of manual labour to move. This is aided by a sort of under water gate that opens and the water rushes into the lock from underneath to even out the water level and pressure so the gates can be opened fully for the boats to pass through.There are also pumping stations which pump the water UPHILL to fill the canal. The canal is quite narrow and interesting manoeuvred by passing through boats. Nothing like we've ever seen before, so we stood there like typical tourists and watched a gondola houseboat pass through a couple of the locks.
Finally, at the end of the day Steve and I found ourselves back at Sydney Gardens and managed to get a few pictures in before the camera battery went flat (Opps Ella forgot to recharge the spare after our last tour of London!) Weary and tired we made our way back to the hotel (who were politely holding our bags for us again) picked them up and stopped in town for dinner on the way to the train station to catch our train back to London. Lucky for us, the train was cancelled again (as it was with our Oxford trip) and we had to cram onto the next train back to London Paddington. Stay tuned!
