2005-08-27: Come for a Bath

To take a break from our long walks in Swindon (nothin' else to do here) we went to Bath today. Actually we went on a long walk last night to find the North and South Park, thinking that they would be more parks like the others we have seen. Instead we found some housing developments much like, well, the Projects or Bronx. Luckily it didn't rain this time, but we must have gone 10 miles before we could figure out where we ended up.

We got up early to enjoy a full day. As of late I haven't even dragged myself out of bed till after 8pm. It must be unemployment kicking in. We jumped on the train for the trip. Luckily Swindon has a nice direct and cheap service to Bath and back. Off the train we walked about some of the old streets. These are the oldest streets we've seen yet. However they have been rebuilt enough times to give the area only a 300 year old look. We walked up to to the Roman Baths and Pump Rooms. Despite an ?19 entry for the pair of us we decided that when in Bath, you may as well see the only thing that makes it famous.

It was a good journey through there. The little portable audio tours were fun, you press the button for the area you are in to here information from it. You can then follow up with more information or move on to another sections. It was much like a choose-your-own-adventure, which was pretty apt given we were walking in a dungeon of sorts. It took us a couple of hours to get through there. At the end by the cold pool plunge you see all the money people keep ditching into it. The archaeologists dredge the pool every once in a while to collect funding. Seems to me they should leave it a few thousands years before doing that, 1 year old coins aren't really ancient history. I did see an Australian 10c piece in there, that brought a bit of a cheer to me. I also saw a credit card, I can't figure that one out.

We had also been into the Bath Abbey. It was another big church, they are all starting to look like a big church. Luckily unlike the Salisbury church there was no-one checking to see if you put in a donation or not. So we didn't. Yes we are still poor at the moment.

The buildings were followed by a brief journey through a market square. There was a French food festival on. We spent the time sampling everything that was on offer.

After that we walked up to find the Circus, a circle of buildings. Then we went to the crescent, a half-circle of buildings over looking a big park. Then I decided to walk up a hill to a look out point. We walked up a rather steep hill and passed the look out point as we headed for a church I'd been using as a land mark. Then rather than walking a few metres down the road back to where the look out was we walked up another long hill. A hill that was long. I think it was long, it did take a bit of time to walk up it. We did pass the houses of the rich of Bath, and they were nice places. We also saw some of the craziest parallel parking on the side of the mountains.

We finally found our way down the hill to a park. Edyta had to stop at that point as her feet were bleeding. So I heroically dashed off to find band-aids, not something easy to do in a town set up to sell stuff to tourists. Then we went and walked more green parks. We saw millions of squirrels dashing all over the place (and some fleeing children chasing them like dogs after a sea-gull). The Botanical Gardens managed to trap us inside till we walked around it twice to find the way out.

Afterwards we had our first meal of fish and chips. It wasn't really that British; in fact it was rather plain and we didn't even finish the chips.It was nothing compared to the pies we had for lunch. But it was time to get home (7 hours straight walking can wear you down, especially when a quarter of it is up hill). So we returned from cheery old Bath to run down Swindon (which I've dubbed the Elizabeth of England). On the way out of Bath I stumbled upon the local Games Workshop. I'd been keeping my eye out all day and had finally figured it was not in the town centre. But as I was stopping to put away the camera I glanced left and saw the new range of Tyrannid figures. Success for me!

And the real good news is that Edyta has work now. She got a 6 month packaging job in Swindon. I'm still unemployed, so she is the bread winner and I'm the houseman. I was considering doing the work too; but I still think I'll hold out till I can get some software work. It is a very competitive market though.

Cornered at last!

French festival

The church at the top of the hill