8/8 (Saturday) - Bath

We left right after breakfast for our long drive to Bath.  On the way we ran into major traffic jams on the M5 so struck off across country.  The English countryside is so beautiful but the hedge rows (some of which are hundreds of years old) are like walls along the roadside so it is usually hard to actually enjoy the sights. 

View of the Countryside from the M5

We took a detour to Glastonbury with the hopes of seeing the Abbey and the Glastonbury Tor with the Chalice Well (legendary burial site of the Holy Grail).  Unfortunately there was a concert scheduled that night at the Abbey and the place was a zoo.  We drove around town a couple of times trying to find parking places in the parking lots (and trying to find parking lots).  After a complete failure we drove out of town and managed one picture of the Tor from a distance (it’s on a very high hill…otherwise we would have never seen it). 

So Glastonbury was a bit of a bust.  The town and what little we saw of the Abbey were real teasers.  We will have to go back as it looks very interesting.  Maybe next time we’ll take the train.

We arrived late afternoon at Bath and had a bit of a time finding our hotel due to all the one way streets.  We are staying in the Berdoulat And Breakfast, just around the corner from the Abbey.  Leaving the B&B we walked down to the waterfront park along the River Avon...

and to the Pulteney Bridge (Bath’s answer to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence) where shops line both sides of the bridge.  So from the top of the bridge it just looks like any other street.  You have to be along the river to see that it is a bridge. 

Pulteney Bridge

Near the bridge we saw a tour boat so decided to take a boat ride (as if we didn’t get enough cruising earlier in the trip).  There were some very pretty stretches of the river...

and a number of people out punting and rowing in the shallow river.

The cruise took us as far as the old toll bridge at the Bathampton weir (a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream or regulate its flow). 

Then it was back to Bath and the bridge.

Among the other tidbits of information shared by the docent on board we found out that there are five rivers named Avon in the UK.  This one is not the well-known one that flows through Stratford, Shakespeare’s home.  

Upon our return we found that the Roman Baths and Pump Room were still open so we were able to get in more sightseeing today.  The Baths were fascinating and beautiful. 

Hot springs:

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The upper level had lovely views of the nearby Bath Abbey.

In addition, they had done a wonderful job with their exhibits and the information displays.  We both very much enjoyed this special part of Bath.

We also stopped by the adjoining Grand Pump Room where, during Georgian/Regency England the upper class came to "see and be seen" in "refined" surroundings.  The room was also featured in some of Jane Austin's novels, including Persuasion.  The room was elegant and beautifully furnished and is now a restaurant but we passed on dinner.  A bit pricy.

On the way out we stopped by the Abbey but it was closed for visitors.