Bathstone and Stonehenge

Our drive out of Wales landed us in the little town of Twerton on the outskirts of Bath. We booked into the cutest little 'holiday park' which, conveniently for us as we had arrived at dinner time, had a wonderful bar and restaurant. We got a good nights rest and woke up bright and early, all set to conquer Bath in a day.

After a short stroll through a field and easy bus ride, we found ourself in the Honeycomb city, described as such because all the buildings are built out of golden yellow Bath Limestone. The entire city is a World Heritage Site, so the outside of any new construction must only be out of this material and fit the style. The result is that we walked down the Mall which, although opened only 4 years ago, looked like it had been constructed in the 1800s (only a tad less weathered than its neighbours).

A great way to see the city was on a walking tour, a free service provided by the Mayor and conducted by his Honorary Guides. Our Guide had held this position for 22 years and ours was his 947th walk. During the two hour walk he told us, in entertaining detail, why Bath became the thriving and popular city it is today, from the ancient Romans who bathed in the 38 degree natural springs, through the 17th and 18th centuries following Queen Anne's visit and to the importance of the World Heritage status today.

Our walk started in the Abbey Courtyard, outside of the Roman Baths. We wandered past the new and controversial spa which was delayed in opening by 4 years. A failure to use waterproof paint meant that, when the rooftop pool was filled with water from the natural spring, it seeped straight through and flooded the 3 levels below it. Bet that caused a lot of finger pointing and red faces.

From there we wandered through the streets passing The Royal Crescent and The Circus, two grand housing lots built following Queen Anne's visit hundreds of years ago. Soon enough we back in the courtyard where we started.

After our tour we headed into the Roman Baths and undertook another great audio tour through the mazes that lie beneath what is now ground level. Its amazing how much of the entire system, including pools, saunas, plunge pools, pipes and drains, remain intact. It's even more amazing that they lay buried until quite recently considering their vast history. We dared to dip our fingers, if ever so briefly, into the main pool, despite signs saying it was untreated. We gave them a good scrub after just in case. And to top off our visit we paid 50 pence to drink some of the warm sulfur smelling spring water. Yum!

It had been a bigger and longer day than we expected so, instead of pressing on, we stayed in the same holiday park as the previous night, enjoying a lovely discount as return customers.

The next morning we drove to Stonehenge and joined the masses of people wandering around the site. Luckily you aren't confined and can feel quite isolated despite the number of people. The audio commentary is a must here. If you don't use it you may wonder what all the fuss about a pile of rocks is.

In reality, Stonehenge is a very eerie and mystical place. 3000 years ago people went to an amazing amount of effort to move tonnes of rock from Wales, bring them to Salisbury Plain, arrange them in a circle in a distinct way so as to reveal what month it is when the sun shines through certain archways, construct an avenue leading to the site from the river nearby and bury people in mounds around the site. And we have no idea why.

From Stonehenge it was only a short drive to Salisbury. We visited the Cathedral but unfortunately all the tower tours were all booked up. It was still great to marvel at yet again another great church and view one of only four remaining copies of the Magna Carta in original form. It was quite a sight to see 3000 words and 64 legal clauses packed so tightly onto one sheet of Vellum and the key clause that underpins our legal system today.

We popped in to see Sally Stocks, a close friend of the Bevans, who lives in Salisbury. It was lovely to sit outside and chat. She's probably the last person we'll see that we know until we get to Germany in 2 months time.

Stay tuned for our next post which promises to be our most terrifying and illegal one yet.

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