Bristol, Bath and beyond

Not strictly part of the journey home... we have just spent a couple of days in Bristol, Cheddar and Bath. The pretext was to do a kid hand-off to Rachel's parents in Bristol. Bristol being where Rachel's Aunty lives.

After a nice lunch with Thea (Rachel's aunty) and her kids and grand children, Rachel and I headed off for Cheddar and Bath. Cheddar is a town (pretty, nice cream teas and cider), a gorge (twisty turns and impressive rock faces) and of course the cheese.

Then into Wells (between Cheddar and Bath), beautiful Cathedral and to Bath by Saturday evening. Not a B&B free in Bath, but we managed to find an inn with a room free and a pub to pass the evening away (did better than M&J).

Quick potted history of Bath (learnt on the Sunday). First there were the pre-historic chaps, living in caves dropping flint tools into natural springs of heated water. Next came the Romans who decided Bath was a sacred place, built beautiful temples, and, of course baths - this was around AD45. For 400 hundred it was a great spot to visit on the edge of the Roman Empire, open to all (servants, soldiers and the rich). Mid-400s the collapse of the Romans and so the place degrades in the dark ages until around 1700 when a couple of innovative chaps (an architect and a gambler) turn this down and out town into the place to be for the well-to-do in the 18th century. Not a lot happens, the water comes and goes (at a rate of 1.7 million litres per day) until the 19th Century when it gets rejuveniated and they build a bunch more beautiful buildings on top of the old ones, by now the Roman Empire is about 12 feet below the road level. WWII happens, a blitz over a week, then the 1960s and 70s with some shocking architecture further threatens Bath until UNESCO come to the rescue and make Bath a World Heritage site.

Some well done archealogical excavations and good audio tour make Bath a must see in the UK.