Jul 30th - Bath

There’s a lot of things to do and see in the lovely city of Bath but the one ‘un-missable’ attraction is a visit to the thermae, the city’s Roman baths.  

Taking advantage of the natural hot springs in the area, from water fed from the local Mendip Hills, the Romans constructed a temple and public baths here dedicated to the Goddess Minerva.  The presence of these baths led to the development of a small urban settlement and hence the birth of the town of Bath.  In constant use up until the end of Roman rule in the 5th century, the temple and baths nonetheless fell into a state of disrepair on their departure.  However, on being ‘rediscovered’ during the reign of Queen Victoria, and with the supposedly healing qualities of the water, it once again became a ‘health spa’. 

Today the site’s use is as a museum that, not only includes the Great Bath, but also presents the history of the baths and temple.  In addition, it’s also home to the many archaeological artefacts that have been found on site.  It was a really interesting visit and, with some audio guide commentary from Bill Bryson the author, we spent a great couple of hours. 

Out for a walk this afternoon along the very pleasant Kennet and Avon canal.  Once a major artery for the Industrial Revolution, connecting Bristol with London, today it’s mainly used for narrow boats and pleasure craft.  With a flight of six locks, raising boats 20 metres in 600 metres, we followed, and assisted, a number of barges on their way.  A lovely way to spend our last afternoon on our Cotswolds sojourn! 😊

Tomorrow we head off back to Worthing when the blog will be put into hibernation for a week before we take off for a trip to Cornwall 😊