Blissful Bath!

Up early- well earlyish- to catch the 10.03 train to Bath. It was a miserable rainy day and we got wet just walking to Elephant & Castle. Tubed it to Paddington for the connection to Bath. I knew we had to buy tickets instead of using the Oyster cards, but what I didn’t know was they would cost 69 pounds-EACH! I thought she said 38 pounds for 2, not 138 pounds! It wasn’t till we were on the train and I sorted out our tickets that I saw the awful truth! This day had better be worth it, I thought. I couldn’t believe it was SO much more expensive than a trip to Brighton. And no, it wasn’t first class! Heavens only knows what that would have cost!

After the shock of the cost, I determined to enjoy myself as much as I could so pointed out to Keeley the beautiful green countryside and the quaint little villages of houses with thatched roofs, all the while thinking we’re paying for the scenery! Amazingly as soon as we were out of London, the skies cleared to a beautiful sunny day! We arrived uneventfully in Bath and navigated our way to the old town centre, the site of the Roman Baths and the more modern Thermae Spa, where we were to spend the next 2 blissful hours- this is what we were here for. It was 27 pounds for entry not including towels (we had brought our own to save money!) We thought this was going to be the most expensive part of our day, not the train trip!

We changed into our togs, put all of our gear in a locker, and headed up to the rooftop pool which use the same thermal waters as the Romans did all those centuries ago, and stepped in. Warm and relaxing, but not as hot as I would have liked.

As I am wont to do, I started chatting to a couple (actually turned out to be brother and sister, Mark and Kim, from Falmouth and Bristol), who were treating themselves to a day out. She has two boys aged 14 and 12, so I suspect she needed it. You think I can talk? I couldn’t get a word in edgewise! But I did find out lots about her and her travels! I also found out she got a return trip to London for 12 pounds but she did book it 6 months out! Grrrrr!

We floated around for the next 2 hours, getting a great shoulder massage form the warm waterfall, then moving over to the side jets to get a back and butt massage, and lastly over to the bubbled area to just relax.

We decided to try out the steam room downstairs. There were 4, each with a different fragranced steam if you can believe it. Lotus flower, jasmine, eucalyptus and mint, but we chose the lemongrass and ginger! What the spa lacked in heat, the steam room made up for it. After cooking for a while, and sweating out all of our toxins (I think that’s what’s supposed to happen anyway), we’d had enough and went back up to the rooftop spa pool for another soak and to use up the rest of our two hours even though we were both starving!

I thought I’d better take Keeley to look at the Roman Baths since we actually in Bath and had spent so much to get here, although all I wanted to do was sleep! We found the Pump Room, which looked very posh and very expensive, but we thought what the hell? It couldn’t be more than the train trip! And we were starving! We were ushered to a table where we were surprised to find lunch was still available (it was 2.20pm and lunch was served till 2.30pm) and there was a 3-course lunch deal for 20 pounds! Haddock fish cake topped with poached egg for entrée, poached chicken breast with vegetables for mains, and of course vanilla panna cotta for dessert. (see Keeley’s photos of Bath!)

We made our way back to the station calling in to a games shop on the way. I found a game called Tension, which looked like fun, but was heavy and 25 pounds, so it stayed on the shelf.

There was a train 8 minutes earlier than ours going to Waterloo, so we thought we’d catch this one as it was only one tube stop to Kennington. Little did we know that this was the slowest train in the history of the world! Instead of an hour and a half, it took three hours! We both fell asleep!

We had to get back to our airbnb, dry our clothes as best as we could, have dinner, wash our hair and pack ready for our flight to Paris tomorrow! After the extravagances of the day, we shared a soup I’d bought at the supermarket earlier in the week, with fresh bread rolls, and berries and Cornish Clotted Cream Icecream, in total less than 10 pounds! I calculated how much the day had cost us in Aussie dollars! OMG, more than a week’s wages! I’m going to have to work like a navvy to pay this off!