A trip to beautiful Bath

I couldn’t get a HelpX to fit around the dates when I would be in the Bath area so I decided to just book a hostel and stay there for two nights to check it out (2nd - 3rd May) since I was on the way up the country. I’m so glad I stopped there; it is a stunningly beautiful place. I arrived late afternoon and found that my hostel, Bath Backpackers, was a two minute walk away from the centre which was fantastic. I spent a couple of hours just walking around and soaking it all in – This is a must do in Bath! The architecture is simply amazing, and seeing the pale yellow Bath stone lit up in the afternoon light is fantastic. I especially loved Bath Abbey - it’s one of those sights that stop you in your tracks.

The Pump Room at the end of the Roman Baths, complete with a busker playing the tin whistle. His dog was wearing a plastic Roman gladiator hat as if he didn't even notice it...

The river Avon

I found that there are free two hour long guided walking tours and was very lucky to see that one was leaving at 7pm, the first evening one of the season. It was a great tour – the guide was super knowledgeable and even went over time a bit as he had so much to tell us about. I saw a lot of the sights that I had already walked around but I didn’t mind as it was so much more interesting to hear about the history or stories or gossip (e.g. which famous people are currently living in the Royal Crescent etc – (John Cleese is one)). 

The next day I spent the whole morning looking through the Roman Baths. This is a massive place, and really beautiful. You used to be able to swim in these baths but at some point someone had to catch something and die, just to ruin it for everyone else…There is now a super modern complex for the public, even more pretentious and overpriced than Hanmer Springs (£28 for two hours!!!) – I was going to stump up and pay but ran out of time in the time. Oh well, my wallet thanked me haha.

Anyway, the Roman Baths were really interesting. Part of it was walking through a museum and part was walking on top of and through an archaeological site, as well getting right up close to the actual baths themselves. A lot of it is underground as the Bath street levels gradually rose a few metres over the years; so you are actually walking around under the streets of Bath as you look at all the artefacts they’ve found. I was especially surprised by being able to walk, on a path, right through where they’ve uncovered the large Roman temple area that was part of the complex. You could actually tell that you were standing in the entrance way or on steps leading to the main building. It was quite a bizarre feeling to be walking through this rather than just looking at a recreation in a museum or something. It was also quite surprisingly calm and serene standing out on the balcony looking down at the main bath, or on the actual Roman footpath around it at water level; despite all the other tourists there it never seemed to feel really busy. It was as if the rock sort of absorbed any excess sound and it just made it fell really nice and peaceful.

Ducks thoroughly enjoying the warmth

That afternoon I went on a half day tour out to Stonehenge (next post) and after that I had a nice meal out and chilled out with a magazine, which was great to just have some time to not do anything. After Bath I caught the train to Oxford to catch up with my very good friends Louis and Claire for the night; then the bus on to Cambridge for one night to catch up with my friend Tom. On the way to Cambridge the bus passed through a town called Milton Keynes, which was interesting because it instantly gave off the impression of being a horrible, square box place. I found out later that everyone thinks the same – it is a new, purpose built town with a huge shopping mall and a huge business park, but it is just a big concrete nothingness with no character.

Cambridge was pretty, but I felt the same as with Oxford – I couldn’t live in either place. They are the two big prestigious university towns, and there is just an air of stuffyness and high class and a gated community feel.

King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge

Punting, famous in Cambridge