Bernie in England 2006: Travel Diary Britain ’06 – 5th entry

After a good night’s sleep and some personal hygiene in the morning I hopped into my car and set off for Bath. About two hours and some congestion on the M5 I arrived at the city famous for its hot spring and excavations of a Roman bathhouse and followed my standard routine: park the car at a long stay car park and explore the place on foot. The first sight I came across was the Royal Crescent, a marvellous example of Georgian architecture and maybe one of the best-known in

Britain

. Unfortunately there were some repairs being carried out on some of the houses so some scaffolding slightly spoiled the sight but drenched in sunlight as it was, that half-circle of houses was still very nice to look at. Another example of Georgian housing, the Circus, is not far away and if you walk past it and continue walking straight ahead, you descend a steep hill and soon reach the city centre. There the main attraction of Bath, the Roman bathhouse, can be found. After strolling along the narrow streets that were at the time flooded with the music of some street musicians I took out some money at a cash machine and entered the bathhouse museum. An interesting fact about that hot spring that has been sacred to the Roman goddess Minerva, is that it is actually the only hot spring in Britain and so it has not only been enjoyed by the Romans but also by the British nobles in the Middle Ages and thereafter. The building itself reflects that, having been knocked down and rebuilt several times and showing evidence from the period of Roman occupation to the Victorian era. So, the remains of the original Roman bathhouse are some fifteen feet below today’s street level and the tour takes you through its rooms. Apparently the Romans really know how to enjoy themselves: they had had steam rooms, ice-cold pools to cool themselves off, under-floor heating and of course the big pool with the curative water and they could even combine a visit with their religious duty as a temple of Minerva was close by.

Anyway, I enjoyed the informative tour and at the end I bought a glass of the good spring water. It tasted slightly sulphuric but was quite okay to drink and, as it’s sacred to the Roman goddess of wisdom, who knows, maybe it does some good…
With that ‘drink of sagacity’ I then concluded my visit to Bath and moved on to the some twenty miles away Stonehenge. I reached the site in the late afternoon and after passing the ticket gates and getting my audio guide I climbed up the gentle slope to one of the most mysterious places in Europe. And a pretty impressive place too!
Richly illuminated by the bright sunlight it stood there, majestically and timelessly looming over the mortals surrounding it.
Just thinking of its sheer age fills me with awe, it’s been standing there in place for more than four thousand years! Although its purpose is still unknown it’s believed to have served as a kind of calendar to the people of that time, indicating summer and winter solstice and the months. Slightly stupefying by the way that the word ‘Stonehenge’ actually means something like ‘hanging stones’ which would suggest a stalactitic appearance, that Stonehenge of course doesn’t have. But that doesn’t matter, really. It’s just great!
Too bad I couldn’t see it at night with a full moon in the sky above it. That would be the photograph of my dreams!
After savouring the moments there, I went to the nearby Woodhenge (did you know that there was such a place?) where I was asked by two young lads for the next petrol station and from that some small talk quickly developed and I heard from them that they were two ongoing students and on a road trip as well! Now that’s what I really love about travelling: you always meet nice people on your way!
And who knows who I might meet tomorrow in Newquay? I shall be looking forward to it…