Bath - Stonehenge

Belushi's Bath

Leaving London for Bath was a decision caused from lack of available beds at the hostel in Shebu*
St. Christophers has a sweet deal for 2 nights in Bath and free trip to Stonehenge for £33.. thus it was decided by Grant*, Emil & myself to head to Bath for a few days and leave the rapid pace of London.

Grant n Me

*Shebu - English slang for Shepherds Bush.

**Grant and Emil I met in the hostel in the Shebu.

Along the river Avon Bath,
with the St John the Evangelist-
Roman Catholic Church

Bath -
is a ceremonial city in the county of Somerset in the South West of England, 156 km west of London. Initially established as a spa resort by the Romans in AD 43 (it is suggested that its older than that though). The town is built around hot springs and are the only naturally occurring ones in the United Kingdom.

St Michael's Church

We arrived in Bath in the early afternoon, and made our way to the St Christopher's hostel where we were staying. As with this chain of hostels it was above another Belushi's bar.

We where in a fairly good location and had St Michael's church right on our doorstep. It is an impressive sight, with medieval origins this church was built in the 1830's (with its predecessor dating to 1742)

Bath Abbey

The Abbey Church of Saint Peter & Saint Paul (or Bath Abbey) is a Anglican Parish church and former Benedictine monastery. It was founded in the 7th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. It is an example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and has an amazing history. It is the largest and most impressive of the churches in Bath.

Weir on the River Avon

The river Avon runs through Bath and is controlled and has been shaped by wiers. Is is a very scenic little town, and was notably colder than London and also notably cheaper.

mmm chocolate

We checked out the town and settled in for the night heading to a pub up the road for dinner. We found ourselves surrounded by barely dressed uni students on a pub crawl, thus transforming this peaceful little village into a loud fluro, raucous madhouse, it looked a lot of fun :) There are a quite a few uni's in Bath and bringing with it lots of students.

picture of a picture of Stonehenge

The next day we went and sourced our Stonehenge tour, the pick up point being only a short walk from the hostel. Its about an hours drive through the country side, travelling through small villages and seeing some interesting sights.
I got to see some examples of houses with thatched roofs, saw the Westbury White Horse*, and some random tank road signs.

Westbury White Horse

* The Westbury White Horse is a hill figure on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain. It is said to be the oldest of several white horses in Wiltshire and belived to have been created in 1742, and restored to it current shape in 1778. They are carved out of the hill side and consist of white chalk.

Stonehenge is located right on a highway and cordoned off by a fence. Despite not being able to get up close and touch the stones, it is still an impressive place.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire. It is composed of earthworks surrounded by a circular setting of large standing stones, and is at the centre of the most dense Neolithic and Bronze age monuments in England. It is believed to have been erected about 2500 BC. There is still a lot not know about the site, although evidence has been found that indicates it served as a burial ground since its earliest beginnings.

The surrounding area is also littered with burial mounds, these have been used to bury the dead in Britain from 2900 - 800 BC.

We got a headset and walked around listening to some of the known facts and history. The site is in a large grassed area with not much else around which make the stones a fairly prominent landmark.

We just casually strolled around taking it all in, Stonehenge is an amazing place and there is so much unknown about it that it remains fairly mystical. A lot of people are not impressed by the 'Stones' but I think it was definitely worth the trip. There is just something about the place that was moving.

Roman Baths

The Roman Baths are a big tourist attraction in the town. There are four major features, the Scared Springs, the Roman Bath house, the Roman Temple and the Museum holding finds in the Roman Bath.

On our the final day Grant and I went to the current Hot Baths, that you can actually swim in. We where able to get 4 hours for the price of 2 due to a deal with our train tickets. This was the perfect way to spend our last afternoon, relaxing in a heated pool on the roof of the bathhouse in Bath and enjoying the steam rooms. Very relaxing and therapeutic, just what the doctor ordered....

From here it was back on the train to London, where I am still deciding where to go next... I am just planning to finish out the week, and see some more of Europe!!! YEW

Roman Bath House