Bath in a heatwave

I had some serious misgivings about going to the beautiful city of Bath today, because of the extreme heat. It’s still 31 degrees and the slight breeze just feels like a warm hairdryer!

However we had both been keen to visit Bath when we discussed ideas for this week, so we decided to go there despite the heat and just take it easy. To be fair, James minds the heat much less than I do, so I did my best to be brave and he did his best to be tolerant! James has never visited Bath before and the last time I was there was with my Mum and Dad and Jennifer in about 1973.

It took just under an hour to get to Bath and get parked, and our first port of call was the Royal Crescent. It was much more impressive than I remembered; such an elegant Georgian crescent overlooking the city, with a large swathe of grassy parkland in front of it. 

We noticed a small group of young people on the grass wearing graduation gowns and getting their photos taken. They were accompanied by what I assume were their parents and they had set out a wee table with drinks and snacks. I think that these were people who have had to graduate by Zoom this year, like Jenny, and they have set up their own celebration. Jenny similarly had her photo taken recently in a graduation gown with some friends in the quadrangles at Glasgow Uni. Let’s hope that next year’s graduates can get back to having in person ceremonies.

After strolling through the streets, each one lined with very attractive buildings, we stopped for iced coffees to cool down a bit, and then made our way down towards the river to Bath Abbey. It’s walls were covered in memorials and so were the slabs on the floor; if you wanted to read them all you would be there all day! It had a pretty medieval vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows. 

Next was a boat trip on the River Avon. It was pleasant enough but headed out of the city centre immediately so there were no historical buildings to see apart from a mill at 

Still, it was a pretty river lined with trees including huge weeping willows, and some stunning houses with gardens leading down to the water. And we do like a boat trip! 

Finally, after a stop for cool drinks, we visited the Roman Baths. They were absolutely amazing; so interesting as well as beautiful. The pool was a bright green colour and the walls above it were lined with Roman statues. The museum was great, we had audio guides and there were really good displays as well, explaining the history and the engineering of the place. 

The journey back to Cirencester was much quicker; about 40 minutes with hardly any traffic. It has been a very hot day but we enjoyed our visit to Bath very much. I would like to return in cooler weather!