DAY 113 - 114: Bath

On the 28th of August I went for one last walk with Meg and then I had to say good-bye. I was quite sad, she is such a lovely dog and I really enjoyed spending time with her.

While in Wales I googled what the comparison of the price of clothing was between Britain and The Netherlands. It seemed that Britain is cheaper, so I decided to get rid of some of my summer clothing and replace them with winter garb. Got a new coat, scarf, 5 pairs of socks, 1 pair of trousers and 3 warm tops. It took real talent to pack everything back into my two bags as I had only gotten rid of 3 pairs of shorts and one top and I had lost 1 pair of socks! But somehow I managed, though my bags are definitely heavier.

So off I went, walking to the station, Arriva train into Cardiff, GWR to Bath and then the Uni bus to the YHA.

The YHA is located in a historic villa, newly renovated. Clean. comfortable. And I met a fellow Wellingtonian here. Joy lives in Newton and we have agreed to meet when we are both back home. She comes over every year and has a group of people here whom she stays with while cleaning up their gardens!

The view from the hostel down onto Bath. I was so thankful for the Uni Bus... this hill I was not going to try and climb with my luggage.

Bath sandstone everywhere. Georgian style everywhere.

The Pulteney Bridge on the right, the weir on the Avon in front of it. The building on the left is the Empire Hotel. It has 3 very different facades. In the middle, on the corner, it looks like a castle (representing the upper class). Next to that on both sides it looks like large villas (representing the middle class) and next to that it looks like cottages (representing the lower class). 

Part of the Circus. Sadly you cant take a photo to show it is circular unless you go up in a plane or helicopter. Okay, you could of course also go up in a Hot Air Balloon!!

Part of the Royal Crescent. In the middle there is an expensive hotel. 4 or 5 of the "apartments" are still full house sizes. The rest is broken up into more affordable flats.

One of the many beautiful sandstone buildings in the Georgian style.

The detail carved into the standstone is amazing.

Queen Victoria visited Bath as a chid with her mother, never while she was queen.

The crescent shape of the Pulteney Weir is supposed to deal better with the amount of water coming down the river.

The Bath sandstone is very prone to erosion.

Adrian, the volunteer walking tour guide. They make it very clear that they do NOT want tips. It is a truly free tour.

These colourful owls were everywhere. Different artists have decorated them. Businesses pay to get them placed by their businesses. You can buy a 1 pound leaflet which then directs you to them all. And eventually they will be auctioned off. All the money going to charity.

Beautiful door of the Bath Cathedral.

After walking around for several hours, I sat down on a bench on the plain, had my lunch and listened to this young man. Nice voice, nice music.

In front of a chocolate shop.

Well, that is one way to use a phone booth.