Bath

For the penultimate stop on our journey we spent two days in Bath Spa. As the name suggests, the Roman's built baths and a temple here in 60 AD because of the hot springs that emerge in the center of the city. More about that later.

We came here to meet up with Brenda's friend, Laurie, who came from Wales to spend Monday with us. Unfortunately, our train from Bromsgrove was cancelled and, by the time alternate arrangements were made, we arrived ninety minutes behind schedule. So much for the efficiency of British rail. We nonetheless made the most of our time with her and she brought us around to areas of the city we likely would not have discovered had she not been our guide.

I had no idea what to expect from Bath and was astounded by how beautiful it is here. Many of the Georgian style buildings date to the 17th century and some are even older than that. The Gothic abbey was founded in the 6th century and was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. It is a very impressive structure, although we didn't find time to visit it on this trip.

And why were we so short of time? Because my beautiful and generous wife treated us to a day at the Thermae Spa baths that included three hours of soaking, sweating and chilling followed by a 50 minute spa treatment. Aaaaaaah!

By the time we had showered, changed and de-pruned, it was after 6:00pm so we went for our first pub meal at the Grey Fox pub. The therapist at the spa suggested I take in plenty of liquids to replace those I'd lost, but I'm not sure he included a pint of stout in his recommendation.

We wrapped up our day wandering through the streets and enjoying our very relaxed state.

Now we're off to London for our last stop outside of Canada.Read more