Saturday Bath day

We arrived in the village of Mere and settled down for the night. I had the topmost bedroom in the cottage, which was nice from a privacy point of view, but awkward for showering due to the pitched roof over the bathtub at the shower end. It took me a little while to develop a showering technique that worked for a 1.77m tall showerer. Once I did, I had an enjoyable warm soak.

After our Saturday morning breakfast, we set off for Bath, a place I had long hoped to visit. I had a freshly charged battery in the camera and plenty of space on the SD card, and was ready to preserve my memories of the place.

I was amazed at the density of housing on the hills surrounding the city centre

Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture

A group, including a selection of Greens, passes through the gardens.
The white haired gentleman is not Peter Green.

The famous Royal Cresecent, built in the times of King George III

Viv and Mr 6

It is easy to imagine oneself as an occupant of the dwelling above, 

but the servants were drawn from people like most of us, 

and lived below ground in quarters like these.

Georgian buildings in another part of town.

The reason I specifically mentioned getting my camera ready is that, by around this point, the camera suddenly ran out of charge. In fact, having seen a warning about battery level, I turned off automatic focus and switched to fully manual shooting, but only managed to eke a further four or five shots out before it refused to go further.

The photographs above and those that follow were taken using my Nokia mobile phone. It might have been old, but it didn't do a bad job...

Open-air market in the town

A view of Bath Cathedral: more photos to come...

The Roman Baths at Bath give the town its name.
The street-level entry is around at the level from which this photograph was taken. 

The current ground levels are well above those of the 1st Century AD.

View of the cathedral above the walls of the baths.

Classical-style statues created in the 19th century

Another view of the baths

Scale model of the baths

Funerary statue

The baths were dedicated to Minerva Sulis, a combination of the Roman goddess and 

a pre-Roman Celtic goddess. The Roman name of the site was Aquae Sulis

Promenade level view of the waters

Bath is located over the only thermal springs in Britain, where a fault line exposes 

groundwater to volcanic heat. 

The above two photographs show Roman engineering to gather and discharge the heated water. 

The drain in the lower photograph leads eventually to the Avon River.

The Roman building was roofed over, and would have been the tallest building 

in Britain at the time.

People walk around the pools much as they probably did 2000 years ago.

A woman dressed as a user of the baths.

A man dressed as a Roman soldier

Part of the roof structure originally covering the pools

A floor would have rested on these piles, and hot air would pass underneath, 

keeping the room heated.

Back in Georgian Bath, a party of Greens pass under an arch.

Bath Cathedral again

An open space in the town

A narrow passageway. Walking Greens again.

Interior, Bath Cathedral. Practice was underway for a performance of Handel's Messiah. 

It would have been nice to have been in a position to stay for it. 

Luke knew some of the performers.

Sightseers in the cathedral

Cathedral facade.