The Great British Traveling Show

Travel to Bath: The Robson Report

Great Britain has rail strikes frequently.  The first one did not affect us because we were not traveling that day. However, the second work stoppage was on the day we had train reservations to get to Bath; no trains were running in the country. We had been forewarned that this was going to happen, so Jim arranged for us to go there by bus.

Not wanting to miss the 8:00 bus we left our pub lodgings in Moreton-in-Marsh before the Inn doors were unlocked at 7:15. Getting out of our room started by our climbing through a service entry with suitcases. This was only the first hurdle for travel this day.

After coffee and muffins at a local coffee shop, we hurried on to the bus stop. Buses could be really busy due to the strike; we got there 30 minutes early standing a long time in the chill. A couple of other travelers joined us as the bus arrived. The driver opened the door to say “hi” and that he would be returning in about 10 minutes with a busload of school kids. Such fun! These were the same kids we rode with yesterday after school. He waved goodbye, but soon returned with a very crammed bus-though no peeing dogs this time.

We arrived in the city of Cheltenham an hour later and waited in a warm coffee shop for 2 hours for the next bus. Reservations were required for this one; we were grateful we had seats because it was full of travelers inconvenienced by the train strike.

Instead of the sunshine forecast for Bath, gray clouds and spitting rain seemed to have followed us from the north. We checked into our modern hotel in the center of Bath and then spent rest of the afternoon walking and planning tomorrow.

Day 2 Two Tours of Bath

Jim found bananas and pastries at Sainsbury’s for a lovely breakfast instead of paying £40 in the hotel. A corps of volunteers offers free walking tours of Bath twice a day. We joined the morning group and spent the next 2 1/2 hours learning all about the city and its history.

The guide was marvelous and gave one of the best tours we have ever taken. Our one disappointment was the closure of the elegant Assembly Hall where beautiful women and gallant men danced and courted in so many Jane Austen books and movies.

As the first tour finished, we scurried for our 1:00 timed entry into the Roman Baths. A temple was built on this site between 60 and 70 CE so Romans in Britain could worship the goddess Sulis Minerva and bathe in the thermal springs—still flowing today.

The baths were built for public bathing and the hot springs were believed to have healing powers so many sick people came for “the cure” in hopes of regaining their health.

The original baths fell into ruin after the Romans left Britain in the 5^th century CE. The area around the springs became the city Bath over many centuries. Much of the original bath has been excavated and the pools look now exactly how they were organized in Roman times.

The museum has an excellent audio tour and we spent three hours there walking on the same stone walkways and stairs to see the very same pools. That was amazing! Finishing our tour, we tasted the same mineral waters that people for over 2,000 years have been drinking. Hot and full of minerals and far from thirst quenching, it is supposed to be healthy!

With five hours and two tours under our belts, we felt the lack of food under them. We stopped for a “pasty,” a baked traditional Cornish shortcrust pastry typically filled with meat and vegetables. Our first one was surprisingly good.

My theft-proof, unbreakable purse strap fell apart while we were in the Roman baths; we visited a charity resale shop to find a replacement. The first one we entered had the perfect bag—I am sure it was never used and I was delighted. Charity stores are everywhere in Great Britain and far nicer than the ones we have at home which tend to being much bigger and messier.

Bath Abbey, completed in 1611, was open for Evensong. A huge blue balloon of the earth was suspended in front of the altar as part of a traveling display to other Anglican churches. The idea was to inspire congregations to do more to help protect God’s earth. Beautiful but a bit odd in the ancient setting.

The boomy acoustics made it impossible to understand the minister. But choir and organ used the acoustics to create rich, fantastic music; evensongs are wonderful ways to end the day. A very full day ended with a brief rest and dinner at Yum Yum Thai restaurant before turning in for the night.

Day 3 Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral

Heading for Stonehenge, we walked to the station and caught an early train to Salisbury about an hour away from Bath. From there we jumped on a bus that took us to Stonehenge. Then another bus took us from the visitor center to the actual site, a mile down another road. It was a perfect day and not too terribly crowded.

Stonehenge is a marvel of ancient engineering of course, but to us it seemed smaller than pictures of it. A guide suggested we visit the site first then return to the visitor center before more crowds arrived. We did that which was good and bad.

We really should have gotten the audio guide at the visitor center first which provided background and insight as we walked around the circle. When we returned, we picked up our audio guide, toured the museum, and spent an hour listening to the guide. We had free time because we just missed the bus back to Salisbury.

Boarding the bus to Salisbury, we learned we could get off at Old Sarum, a ruined castle site and poke about there. It was the earliest settlement of what is now the city of Salisbury.

Evidence of human life in this area dates back to 3,000 BCE. An Iron Age hill fort was built in 400 BCE at the intersection of two major trade roads and was continually occupied throughout all the succeeding centuries. King Henry the First built a royal palace there in the early 1100’s. and the ruins of it are clearly evident today. It sounded very worthy of a visit.

Our driver told us that buses would come every 10 minutes so that when we were done hiking, we could easily hop on a bus back to Salisbury. A very long walk up a steep hill was lovely, but nothing too exciting. We were almost back to the road when two buses flew by. We waited for 30 minutes for the next one—not 10 minutes.

Finally, we entered the city of Salisbury. Our second major goal of this day was to see Salisbury Cathedral. This cathedral has the highest spire in all of Great Britain and houses one of 4 original copies of the Magna Carta.

Traffic was horrible and we did not get to the cathedral until 4:30. As we entered, we were told it had just closed for the day. Imagine how we felt! However, Jim went to the ticket desk looking very woeful and the lady took pity upon us because we held prepaid tickets. She let us enter and view the Magna Carta and walk leisurely through the gorgeous cathedral for the next half hour.

There are so many interesting facts about this cathedral but two stand out to us. The cathedral’s foundation only goes down 4 feet and sits on wet sand. Because the surrounding town is riddled with irrigation canals built centuries ago, the building is prone to flooding and has caused one of the spires to shift a bit but remains standing after all these years. The other fascinating fact is that the city of Salisbury was spared being bombed by the Luftwaffe during WWII. The German High Command’s airplanes used the Cathedral’s spire as a navigation device. They would line up to the spire and then branch off to their intended targets elsewhere in England. We had the Salisbury Cathedral almost entirely to ourselves and it was a really lovely experience.  We caught a late train back to Bath, grabbed supper and crashed.

Day 4 Holburne Museum, Morris Dancers, and Rugby Mania

Since the past two days had been super busy, we had a leisurely morning. Becky and Steve were arriving today, but meeting times were uncertain and communication is tough without consistent Wi-Fi. We headed to the nearby Pulteney Bridge which crosses the River Avon and ends at the Holburne Museum and Sydney Park.

The park and surrounding buildings were built in the 1790’s and were an important part of the social scene of Bath during that time. Jane Austen often walked in the gardens during the time she spent in Bath.

The museum houses the personal collection of Sir William Holburne amassed over 40 years from 1830 to 1874.  Sir William’s personal art collection was quite a jumble of oddities which was a bit overwhelming.  In addition, several large galleries held portrait paintings and special exhibitions.

The two special exhibits were terrific. Sarah Biffin was a painter who was born without arms and legs in 1784. She began her career in a circus side show and through hard work and determination became one of the country’s leading miniaturist painters.

She was commissioned by many of the royal houses of Europe and received awards from the Royal Academy of Arts.

The second exhibit was of the pottery works of Lucie Rie. She was a 20th century artist accredited with moving the norms of pottery into many innovative and modern styles.

A great film of her working in her pottery studio with Sir David Attenborough was really interesting when coupled with the large display of her works.

While making our way back to the hotel, we watched numerous performances by Morris Dancers. At least 10 different troupes of dancers and musicians in wonderful costumes were entertaining everyone in many public squares—part of their fall visit to Bath. The afternoon filled with music and dancing.

Plus many rabid rugby fans were in town to watch Bath play Exeter in the giant rugby stadium in town. The perfect weather and festive nature of the town was really fun, but we enjoyed the calm earlier in the week.

We made it back to the hotel just as Becky and Steve were checking into their room. They had arrived earlier, but we had been passing ships until then. After chatting and catching up we each headed to our rooms for a rest before supper. Reservations were necessary and hard to get on busy weekend nights in Bath. We made them earlier in the day at the Yum Yum Thai restaurant where we had eaten earlier. The food was excellent and very importantly it was around the corner from our hotel. We returned there to play cards and get solidly beaten by Becky!! Such fun times to be together in Bath.

Day 4 Who Are All These People?-The Tipps/Poplin Report

Steve and Becky survived the Replacement Bus to Bath and took a taxi to the Apex Hotel where Jim and Betsy were staying and where we had room for one night. We had taken an earlier train than planned from Cardiff, but had no WI-FI on the train to communicate with Robsons. By the time we got to the hotel at 11:00 (two hours earlier than originally planned), we were hot, tired, hungry and dazed.

Even recognizing that Bath is a popular vacation and tourist spot, there were people everywhere. All the buses were full, all the sidewalks were busy, all the restaurants were crowded. What had happened to calm, glorious, golden-hewed Bath?

We walked across the street to the Bath Brew House but it did not open until noon, then tried to find another eatery but they were all full.

Morris Dancers were in the square performing so we watched them for a bit before retreating to the Brew House where we were first in queue for a growing crowd. Narrow on the front, the Brew House has a brewery and huge bar on the first floor, another upstairs, and a beer garden that holds 200.

They were only serving burgers rather than a full menu, so we ordered burgers which were really tasty. By the time the burgers arrived, the beer garden was full!

Large tables for 10 to 15 people quickly filled with men who appeared to have regular Saturday noon gatherings. Each new arrival was greeted with hugs, hurrahs, and new rounds of brew. They were loud and jovial.

We checked at the hotel to see if Jim and Betsy had returned from morning exploits. Then we walked up to Queen’s Park, a square surrounded by 18^th century edifices.

A small museum on the square had an exhibit of polished crystallized rocks.

We watched people, especially a two-year old toddler with a fascination with sticks, trading up to bigger sticks as he wandered under the loose supervision of a father and a watchful eye of a gran. When the boy finally breached the open gate and wandered outside the fence, dad had to run and catch him. Then gran took over and actually engaged in the stick game and related conversation. Her experience with children was obvious. The Park was a calm place in the storm of people.

Around 2:00 we walked back to the hotel where Jim and Betsy had just arrived from their morning exploits. They explained that there were 80,000 rugby fans in town for the Big Game. Now we understood why Bath was so crowded. We joined them for dinner at Yum Yum Thai ordered their recommendation—the best Tom Yum Kai we had ever tasted. A game of Progressive Rummy ensued with the victory to Becky and with Steve climbing to the top of the Wall of Shame but was subsequently disqualified on a technicality. The next morning, we headed to Oxford while the Robsons made a mad dash to Penzance.