Bath

Let start with a nice camper van:

The classic kombi camper just like the one we used to have...isn't it wonderful!

And that was Bath.

Okay I'll tell you about Bath, firstly what a brilliant Airbnb - breakfasts included stewed plums and goji berries with yogurt, and that was just for starters, next was the best porridge I have ever had. In fact I can only remember one other time I had such great porridge, and it in somewhere like a hostel and it cost $8 or perhaps it was £8, I don't know, but it was excellent. My hosts also offered scrambled eggs, an array of juices, tea and proper coffee, and then there was Kez - the dog, who would roll over and invite you to give him a tummy rub. Kez is an unusual name for a dog, I used to have a motorbike I called Kez, named after our Kez of Bo Selecta, a completely silly comedy show.

    Bath was very very busy, it was a weekend, school holidays and one of the most visited places in England. Whats interesting about Bath is every street and every building is in keeping in stone and architecture, it must be one of the most consistent towns in Britain, and thereby lies its beauty, everything is just so tasteful. I walked into to town, and through Victoria Park which backs onto the famed Royal Crescent which leads to the Royal Circle, every street looked so clean and tidy and uncluttered. I visited the Fashion Museum which chronicled the changes in attire from 1700's through to 20th century, it was fascinating, except for the noisy student group who sulked and shouted their way through the exhibits seemingly oblivious to the quiet and the fact they were the only ones making a racquet and all other visitors were trying to listen to their audio guides. Back outside I found the canal and the longboat locks, from there I headed up the hill for a splendid view of the town before going back to town to go into the Roman Baths which were extremely busy so I couldn't really enjoy it that much, although I did find a plaque titled 36: Bryson, so I listened to Bill Bryson on the audio guide as he spoke of the wonders of looking out over bath from this vantage point of the baths, I'm sure it is wonderful minus the thousand other tourists bumbling around like human clutter, you might guess by now I don't like crowds, or people, its not that I don't like people, just not large groups of people over say 1 or 2, or loud people who mistake their existence for the sun or some other vital planetary body. I can probably cope with up to 6 people in one setting - but that's only if I know them, or most of them. So I vowed to come back, mid winter perhaps and hopefully there will be a few less people, hopefully none so I can enjoy it and really take it in.
   I walked back from town sharply just stopping to get an avocado and some salmon back to the peace and harmony of my airbnb.
   The next day was the last day of this trip, I thought it may be less busy in town but it was Sunday and perhaps only a fraction less busy, still having seen everything I wanted to see the day before it was actually much more relaxing just to have a wander around, I did however go back to my favourite spot - The Victoria Gallery, its just two gallery rooms, but beautiful rooms, its quiet and with a nice big green seat with information folders lying around about particular artists and artworks, for example I learned some artworks were painted on copper to lend a luminosity to the work. In the hall up the stairs is a sort of DIY cafe, with some comfy chairs and a coffee machine in which you can make yourself a tea or coffee from a selection for £1.50. It's a lovely space. Its the most tranquil and restful place in the center of Bath in peak season.

Nice and quiet self serve beverage area at the Victoria Gallery

The lovely Victoria Gallery

   I headed out of town on my way back to Sussex and contemplated what place to visit on the way, Stonehenge was en-route and even though it was English Heritage I could park for free with my National Trust sticker saving £5.
(Note, I recently tried to change my keyboard settings to a person now based in the UK and wanting £ symbols instead of $. After some fiddling about I now only have limited command of single and double quotation marks, and I still didn't have £ symbols so now I have to do: alt +(num lock on) 156 which produces a £ sign! Still that may help someone else wanting to write a £ on a keyboard set up for dollars!)
   Once out of town I stopped to pick up some German hitchhikers who also wanted to go to Stone Henge, when we got there we found it was £16.50 per person to see the stones!!! They queued up but I thought I'd just walk up and see how close I could get which turns out to be pretty darn close, I let them keep their big rucksacks in the car and collect them afterwards so they could enjoy the stones unburdened, so we agreed to meet back at the car in an hour. The stones are maybe a mile from the car park and if you pay you can get a shuttle up there, but there is a nice walk over National Trust land across fields to the stones, I could see hordes of people pouring out and into buses and starting their shuffle around the stones with hundreds of other people. There was a nice old man selling mixed punnets of stone fruits, strawberries and berries, so I bought a punnet for £6 which was fortuitous as I was both thirsty and hungry and this would solve both. I asked him if I could get any closer without a ticket and he directed me to a gate just nearby. Through the gate was a field directly opposite where I had a clear view of the stones and perhaps only 10 meters further away from the official walk. Seeing as you can no longer go near the the stones anyway I was very happy with this experience, plus I had a nice pile of delicious fruit to enjoy away from the crowds. A few other canny people had sussed this out too and I overheard one couple quietly rejoicing in their joint saving of £33! On my way back through the fields I saw another strange ancient man made land formation that looked a bit like a simple BMX park with gentle ramps up and down, from google maps it appeared to be a series of circles. I have no idea what it was, perhaps indeed an ancient wheeled fun folly park.

Look at that lovely selection of fruit!!! and some epic stones in the background with horrors of horrors - crowds!

From where I was standing across the fence to the crowds on the right was a difference of £16.50!

Google map at time of writing has an old location of the car park shown right next to the stones on the right, its actually where the yellow highlight is on the left, the red line is the walking path, the red x is where I bought my fruit and the blue arrow where I stood, pretty much next to the stones for free. The circled area is the ancient BMX track folly.

   Back at the car the hitchhikers were waiting and had managed to on sell their tickets for £10 each after they had been to the stones as the tickets were unmarked, they had caught the shuttle there and then walked back.
   I carried on sans hitch hikers without much other excitement or deviation back to Sussex. I arrived back a few weeks ago but have been slow at updating the blog, this was due to having a back log of posts that I had at the time made notes about on my phone in the notes app. Or sometimes scribbled on a bit of cardboard lying about in the car.
Hope you enjoyed this English adventure, more to come!


Mauri Ora!