Bath.......

Motored on toward Bath and the weather was taking on a bit of a change...
It was starting to cloud over which was a bit of a relief from the hot sun and who would think in the UK one would be looking forward to a shower of rain..



Spreading out from the city centre....

 

The Georgian terraces fill the rolling hills...

As you get closer to the town....




An ornate cast iron bridge... 1800s... the rain had started...

And under the...

 

Cleveland House tunnel...

Above the tunnel...

 

 

Sits Cleveland House which was the Kennet & Avon Canal companies headquarters....

Got caught, me, in a heavy shower as we moored up. Had a "drip dry" off and an easy afternoon...

Next day took a walk around Bath.. The mooring was only a 12 minute walk to the town centre.
It is a very nice place too... but alas there are zillions of AAssshhoonn and other tourists so to get a photo we ventured back after 8pm. The tourist buses had left for the day..

The Famous...





Roman Baths are in this building...
Never paid to go in as your not even allowed to "Dabble" a toe in the mineral waters these days....

 

The building also houses the Baths museum...

Across the square is the...

Bath Abbey...1499.... Inside has fan vaulted ceilings, never took a photo, but they looked like a lot of work...

Out front was ...

 

Large intricate carved front door....

A feature of the architecture is the cresent shaped buildings....

 

This one, the circle,  has four sections which complete a circle of houses surrounding a green area.....

And a very impressive semi circle...

The Royal Cresent... 1767 - 1774....

Unfortunately there was scaffolding on the buildings and I don't do scaffolding photos so only a section to see.....

On the walk back to the NB...

 

A game of cricket at the Bath cricket ground... Excellent viewing from the footpath....

 

Next day back for more sights and one of the best is of the....

 

 

River Avon where it flows under the Pulteney Bridge... 1774...

And over....




The weir....

 

The bridge is one of only four in the world with a row of shops on each side the full length of the span... Built to connect the town with the new Bathwick Estate.....

 

You can see the shop windows... from the footpath the shops look about two metres wide...


Looking down...

 

Onto the weir...




Horse shoe shaped.....

 

 And put in place to help with flood control....

 

 

One thing I did notice in Bath is that houses have Front doors...

And here are....

Some....

Of....

The.....




Most "Trendy"... well in my opinion.....

Next stop Bristol.....

Bradford on Avon...

We stopped over for 2 nights at Bradford on Avon. Right next to the canal and spreading onto the hills it's a very nice place.
Peter and Jackie on NB Imagine moored with us which made for 2 enjoyable days and nights.

You can catch a train to London or to the west and the station is...

Very handy to the canal on the walk to the town centre...

The buildings we like. They look so solid and give the impression of warmth...

Built of....

Jurassic Limestone..... Bath Stone......

An old and attractive.....

Pub.... stone and slate......

And nearby....







The Bridge tea rooms.....  An old Blacksmiths cottage... 1502...

Not one to venture into too many churches, not since getting expelled from Sunday School, but this one was worth a look..

 

 

 St Laurence's church... An Anglo Saxon build....



 

I know in NZ we think a 1938 Ford Coupe is old and something dated 1885 is like prehistoric but this church was built about 800 and is practically the only one left that hasn't been modified at a later date.

The building was only about 7 metres wide and Pete and myself entered the tiny side room going wow this and look at that unaware a service was going on. We made a hasty retreat to wait 10 mins to re-enter..

The Larger room where the....




Congregation are seated... no heated seats here....

And looking toward the

Chancel or Presbytery room... through the arch doorway...

Hardly enough room....

 

To Swing a Religious Cat.....

 

We got to speak to the......

 

Dude in charge... turns out he'd been to our home town... Napier NZ...

Just after this photo shoot his off sider, dressed similar, came past carrying a silver tray with glasses of the holy water and wine I think, anyway I said "I'll have a double thanks"...
No answer.. not even a Holy smile...

Moved on to the centre...

A town centre street....

And another.....

 

Narrow but a lot of traffic passing through....

Looking from the....

Town bridge over the Avon...

And on the other bridge wall is a small stone room... was the lockup for drunks.......

 

The nearest pub had a karaoke night.... cheap entertainment and an excuse to go there.... who needs an excuse....

Anyway....

The DJ was setting up when we arrived.. a choice of 3000 songs and all the tacky stuff,  coloured lights that put patterns on the wall and floor, a smoke machine and check out those "Silk" flames....
Plus the DJ had 36 inch long "pointed as" crocodile skin type shoes.

We settled down with a pint of ale and wine to taste in anticipation of a "ripper" of a night....

A truck load of intoxicated woman turned up.... perfect.....

One soon grabbed the mic, and gave her rendition of "Valerie"....

Some of the others...

Showed their style on the floor......

Several different groups from hire boats called in and there were some humorous acts...
One fella who had done an "American Pie" badly came over and asked Jackie if she wanted to do a duet.
"What sort of songs do you do"? he asks...
"Hymms" she replies... no duet there...
The later it got the braver Peter got so......
In the end.....through the smoke haze....

 

 

Peter Jagger done the old classic..... "I can't get no".........

Well Satisfaction is what we got with a "Belly" full of laughs...

Fame set in quickly and others were asking Peter  to be in a....

Duet......... never reached the solo standards though...

All in all a bloody good time in Bradford on Avon....