I woke up to seagulls screaming and the rumbling sounds of trucks on the street as the pub downstairs received their deliveries, but unlike in London I just went back to sleep. No jam packed day today, I get to sleep in.
I woke up properly around 8, got ready and went downstairs to have breakfast (I got a poached egg on avocado toast). First thing on the agenda was to go to visit the Roman Baths, the reason Bath is called ‘Bath’.
There is a naturally occurring hot spring under the city, and the Romans built a temple and bathing complex around it dedicated to Sulis Minerva, a combination of the Celtic goddess Sulis (Goddess of Healing and Water) and the Roman/Greek goddess Minerva/Athena (Goddess of Wisdom). The city itself was called ‘Aquae Sulis’—the Waters of Sulis.
There has been extensive archeological study and preservation around the site, and the entire complex is fascinating to walk through. The Georgians were equally obsessed, and built complementary structures around the ruins in order to allow visitors to experience the baths. The combination is this semi-preserved elaboration on ancient ruins.
So many artifacts (especially coins) were found at the site and they are all displayed in a series of exhibits and vignettes throughout the complex.
The coolest thing is that they found a part of the original gilded bronze statue of Sulis Minerva that would have been the focal point of the temple on the complex.
This is apparently one of the most well preserved Roman artifacts found in Britain.
I took the opportunity to ‘take the waters’ which was also referred to as ‘The Cure’ in Georgian England. …it’s warm, slightly weird tasting water.
After whatever curative properties the thermal waters gave me, I decided to walk to the Pulteney Bridge, and then to the Palladian Bridge on the outskirts of town. The Pulteney Bridge is fascinating in that it’s a normal bridge that was built with shops on either side of it.
That road and the narrow shops on either side of it are suspended over the River Avon.
Next I walked along the River Avon Trail which is a very nice walking path, and got some great photos of the buildings around the river.
It was nice out and the sun was even shining.
For the rest of the walk to the Palladian Bridge, Google told me it was a half hour walk, mostly on city streets but that, my friends, was a damn lie.
After trekking up and down some of the steepest “roads” I barely consider walkable, the pavement dead ended at a gate that said “no entrance”, a gate into a field leading off the wrong way, and a glorified deer path up a steep muddy hill with a wooden handrail. Given the two allowable options I climbed up the deer path hoping it would lead to a civilized way into the park.
It did not.
I did get to walk through shaded paths of wildflowers like a tree fairy, which was nice.
However, I did get bitten by a plant I brushed against.
My leg identified this as stinging nettle. Do not recommend.
The deer path deadended at a low, wide stone wall and on the other side I could see the civilized path I had been trying to get to for the better part of half an hour. I was getting sweaty and my leg was hurting, so I made sure no one was looking and scrambled over the wall and down to the nettle-free path.
The rest of the walk was lovely. The path led down to the fish pond and the bridge, and I took some shots so that you could see how much hiking I had ended up doing.
I had made it almost all the way to the house on the top by the time I decided to jump the wall into the park.
I briefly walked down around the fishpond and then back out the exit gate to the paved road I had originally started my off-roading adventure from.
I needed a snack.
I walked back into town a different direction and was able to find the shopping district, where I popped into a few shops before discovering Ben’s Cookies. I needed a cookie, they had really good cookies, I bought a cookie. I also had a chat with the nice lady at the counter about the name of the store. Apparently Brits call big squishy ‘cookies’ but things like Oreos are ‘biscuits’ and they don’t have anything equivalent to southern style biscuits…except for scones…which are sweet. After making it half a block, I went back and bought a small box of them for the road. I am provisioned.
I went back to the room to change clothes and rest a bit after my two hour Palladian Bridge escapade.
Where is my gallant captain with a fashionable gig to drive me up to this “scenic overlook”??
It started raining a little while after I got back to the room and I took that as a sign that I should stay in, relax, and read for the rest of the afternoon. Later I decided to go put some bags in the car (to make it easier to leave in the morning) and then I stopped in The Pig and Fiddle to have (an AMAZING) steak and a pint of cider for dinner.
I plotted out my charging points for tomorrow’s drive since I have enough range to get from Bath to Stoke-on-Trent, but I need to recharge before I go on to Baslow. I’m getting more comfortable with driving all electric, but it takes some planning for sure…