Back to Britain, Part 9
Drive
Across England to Bath
June
10-25, 2003 (Updated Dec. 4, 2003)
By
Lewis Nolan
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Wednesday, June 18, 2003 – To Bath
The day started poorly
when the Dolphin Square’s concierge discovered that we did not have a
reservation for the Hertz rental car. After being stung several times in the
past with rental car screw-ups, I had asked the concierge desk last night to
check on the Hertz reservation I had made weeks ago.
The car was part of the
Northwest vacation package deal. Hertz had somehow put me down to pick up the
car on June 24, which was a week later than the date on my Northwest voucher. I
took a black cab to the nearby Hertz office at Victoria Station, where a polite
young man of Indian ancestry sorted it out. I paid about $200 more than the voucher price to buy extra liability and
theft insurance, putting the total rental above $500 for the week. They
upgraded me to a comfortable Vauxhall sedan with only 2,500 miles on the
odometer.
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| Lewis at Bath's Great Bath |
| Click Colored Type to Enlarge Photo |
In another Hertz screw-up,
a young Arab attendant did a lousy job of prepping the Vauxhall. He had failed
to vacuum a large pile of crunched “crisps” on the back seat, which he remedied
when I pointed it out to him. Much worse, he had failed to fill the gas tank.
That oversight – which I didn’t catch until later since I read the gas gauge of
the British-made vehicle in reverse – initially cost me about $50.
I drove through light,
mid-morning traffic around Victoria Station two or so miles to the Dolphin
Square, where I collected Betty and our baggage. By carefully following the
route suggested by the Hertz counter personnel, we were able to skirt around
the £5 surcharge zone and avoid paying for the daily “congestion fee” required
to drive for even a minute in the busiest sections of Central London.
It took an hour and a half
to get through moderate traffic to the outskirts of the city, where we picked
up the M4/A41 Motorway, a multi-lane, divided highway in excellent repair. The
Motorways are the equivalent of America’s Interstate Highways - only faster.
Traffic was heavy around lunchtime, whizzing along at 70-to-80 mph. We stopped
at a Mojo Service Area that includes fast food, sit-down restaurant service,
convenience store, motel and gas stations for both cars and trucks (or
lorries). It was spic and span. A sign proclaimed that Mojo had won the “loo of
the year” award for cleanest restrooms (or WCs as they are sometimes called in
England).
We arrived at Bath about 1
p.m. and we stopped at an Esso station for gas. It was 40 pence per liter,
which translates to about $65 to fill up. Unlike in the U.S., the combination
gas station/convenience store had no restrooms. An attendant said British law
only requires public WC facilities in stations that serve food.
It seems the Brits favor
air-blower machines over paper towels in their facilities, which are generally
clean, well supplied, conveniently located and free of graffiti. Even pet waste
seems to be managed well, with special containers for such strategically
located around parks. In London, signs warn of £500 fines for pet owners who do
not clean up after their pets. Piles of dog droppings do not litter sidewalks
and public areas in London like they do in parts of Paris. A Brit remarked that
the Gallic attitude of “it’s somebody
else’s problem” prevails with pet waste just as it does with other aspects of
the sometimes maddening French indifference to matters Americans and the
British think important.
We checked into the Hilton
Bath City. We had the smallest room I’ve ever seen in any major hotel or even
economy motel. There was barely enough room to walk around the bed. Furnishings
and equipment were minimal. There was no air conditioning – surprising for a
hotel charging $200 a night. At least a small fan and open window cooled things
off at night. But the shower didn’t work properly – the water was either cold
or scalding. The tiny desk in the room was buried with an armload of
promotional material – including guest comment cards I put to good use. The
Hilton’s business center had but a single Internet terminal – with a dialup
connection that was dead-dog slow.
At check-in, I quickly saw
first-hand why the Hilton brand is struggling with an image problem of uneven
quality. The reception staff was young, pleasant and not very well trained;
they kept guests checking in waiting in line while they patiently chatted up
walk-up backpackers asking about rates and accommodations. A Hilton concierge
gave us confusing driving directions for a “shortcut” that ended up costing us
nearly an hour in lost time the next day. Desk staff allowed a walk-up to jump
ahead of my requested time slot at the Internet terminal.
But in fairness I must add
that we’ve also had some good experiences with other hotels managed by Hilton
(which has its operations center in Memphis). I should also say that the Hilton
Bath City had a particularly nice bartender on staff, Matt. The hotel also had
an obliging restaurant manager, who arranged for us to sit at a table with a
great view of the Avon River and the picturesque bridge just downstream.
Our dinner at the Hilton’s
restaurant was marked by a wonderful view, satisfactory service and so-so food.
With Bath’s proximity to the ocean, I had been assured that the swordfish was
fresh caught and just off the boat. It was not and the portion was skimpy.
Betty had a decent ham Calzone. But at least the Hilton is in an excellent
location. It is within a few hundred yards of the scenic bridge and river weir,
the Roman Baths, the Medieval Bath Abbey and the main shopping area of the
ancient town.
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| Betty by Bath Abbey |
| Click Colored Type to Enlarge Photo |
Important dates in the
history of Bath include the following:
-
About 60 A.D., Romans
begin to develop Bath as a spa and center of Pagan worship around the hot
springs near the Avon River.
-
5th Century,
the end of Roman rule in Britain.
-
676, convent of
Christian nuns founded.
-
973, Edgar was crowned king of all England in
Bath Abbey.
-
1090s, Norman bishop
transfers his throne from Wells to Bath and founds cathedral.
-
1611, Abbey that was
largely destroyed in 1539 is repaired.
-
1701, Queen Anne
visited the hot springs, re-establishing the city’s prominence. It soon became
a place where fashionable artists, intellectuals and political figures would
come to meet, to convalesce (Admiral Nelson was among those who took the
waters) and to relax in spa facilities built over hot springs.
-
1942, German warplanes bomb
Bath and damage Abbey.
-
2000, Ten-year
restoration of Abbey completed.
The Roman ruins at Bath
are a wonderful sight, and indeed one of the most visited tourist attractions
in England. The Medieval Abbey also offers much. But I was turned off by the very
heavy crowds and the grime and litter that seems to accompany them. Service at
the lunch shops was excruciatingly slow. I have the idea that those who work in
the shops serving tourists know that most visitors will not return – and they
certainly give them no reason to come back. Since Bath is a World Heritage Site
(like Egypt’s Pyramids and Rome’s Coliseum), there will always be a steady
stream of fresh visitors.
One of the guidebooks
warns about the crowds, particularly in the mornings and early afternoons. I
was astonished by the foul language shouted by two young, punkish women
embroiled in separate, verbal fights with young men. Passersby pretended to
take no notice as the women screamed obscenities on the busy sidewalks. I might
have a more favorable view of Bath (pop. 83,000) had we visited at a different
time of year.
We toured the Roman Baths
late in the day to escape the worst of the crush of school groups and other
sightseers.
The Romans built the bath
complex over a natural, hot spring in 60 A.D – just 17 years after their
legions invaded Britain. They named the
combination temple-spa Aquae Sulis in honor of the Celtic Goddess Sulis and
also of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. The Romans loved their baths,
which formed important social centers in the fabric of the empire – like the
pubs of modern day England and Ireland. Most Roman citizens visited the public
bath at least once a day to exercise, to be bathed and massaged by slaves and
to visit with their fellow citizens of all classes. A guide told us that one
Emperor was asked by a non-Roman why he bathed twice a day. “Because I’m too
busy to bathe four times,” was his response.
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| Betty by Bath's Royal Crescent |
| Click Colored Type to Enlarge Photo |
Three centuries after
building the baths at Bath, the Romans pulled out of Britain. As the millennia
passed, the Roman bathing tubs, mosaics and sculptures were forgotten and
eventually covered up. By the 17th Century, members of the English
aristocracy came to Bath to convalesce and to be seen. The healing, hot spring
water pours out of the earth at a steady temperature of 116 degrees F. The
spring that filled the Roman tubs also filled the English tubs. The English
built new bathing facilities nearly on top of the buried Roman ruins. There is
no evidence that the 17th and 18th Century English knew
what was beneath.
It wasn’t until late in
the 19th Century that archeologists discovered the Roman baths that
had been hidden by several feet of earth for centuries.
In 1880, workers digging a
sewer uncovered the first glimpse of what subsequent excavation revealed to be
a splendid model of advanced Roman engineering. The elaborate baths had central
heating and plumbing – conveniences that were not seen again in England for
centuries. Among the treasures unearthed during decades of archeological
digging was a full-size bust of the patron goddess of the temple-spa, Sulis
Minerva. The gold headdress that adorned the bust was long gone. I bought a
small, scale model of the bust in the souvenir shop.
The Roman baths are now
subterranean. Underground passages and walkways have been excavated and
rebuilt. Wireless headphones and self-guiding brochures make for easy touring.
The electronic narrations have multiple levels of information that are accessed
through a simple menu selection; the visitor can learn a little or a lot,
depending on interest. Some fascinating artifacts contain curses written by
Roman bathers wishing their enemies ill fortune. They believed that curses
tossed into Minerva’s spring had a good chance of coming true. They also
believed that if the curse floated on the water, it would be visited on the
writer. Consequently, the Romans wrote their curses on thin sheets of lead,
which of course sank and were preserved.
Above the Roman Baths is
one of the most photographed spots in southern England, the so-called “Great
Bath” that served the English aristocracy. It is open to tour and is also open
to the elements. The Great Bath is the size of a country club swimming pool. It
is filled with warm water that flows in from the underground spring. The pool
is surrounded by a two-story, open terrace. The stone terrace is decorated with
neoclassical sculptures.
Tourists are welcome to
look but not enter the water of the Great Bath. We were told the warm water is
colored by traces of green algae and teems with bacteria from bird droppings
and whatever else the wind and open sky brings. I’m not sure I buy all that.
Many outdoor pools in America are heated; chlorine controls both algae and
bacteria. Nonetheless, it’s a neat spot and a fantastic setting for photography,
like that of the famous Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle in California.
The nearby Bath Abbey also
provides a much-photographed backdrop. It dates to 1499, when the Abbey Church
was built to replace the ruins of a Norman cathedral constructed in the 1090s. Admission to the Abbey is free
but a £2 donation is suggested. The Abbey is an imposing, stone block structure
that contains expansive, stained glass windows that rival the beauty of those
in the great cathedrals of France.
The interior walls and
floors are lined with memorials to various persons of note over the centuries.
A plaque lists the names of the Bishops and others who led the Christian
community in Bath since 676. Very few names were familiar to us. One that was
is the name of Queen Elizabeth, who visited in 1973 to mark the 1,000th
anniversary of the coronation in Bath Abbey of her monarchal forebear, King
Edgar.
Another name we recognized
was that of the late U.S. Senator William Bingham of Connecticut (1754-1804), a
relative of our pal Tif Bingham back home. Tif, formerly the president of the
Memphis Chamber of Commerce, has many distinguished relatives. Several years
ago, we happened across a plaque in Maui that was a tribute to another member
of his family, the noted missionary Hiram Bingham. It’s like déjà vu coming
around again. It is a small world we live in and it goes round and round.
Bath was heavily bombed by
German airplanes during World War II. It was an important psychological target
for the Nazis. In the 1940s, Bath was considered to be England’s second most
socially important city, after London. It still is.
The town has a distinct,
Georgian architectural style of stone building blocks and red brick. The best
example is the Royal Crescent. The huge structure forms the first row houses in
Britain. We walked a mile or so up a hill to see the 19th Century
version of New York’s Trump Tower. And what a gorgeous sight it proved to be.
The building is shaped like a huge, quarter-circle, hence the name. It offers
residents a commanding view of Bath and valley and is framed by acres of mowed
lawn.
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| Wier, bridge over Avon River at Bath |
| Click Colored Type to Enlarge Photo |
The Royal Crescent
building is a series of 18 very large, adjoining town homes that take up most
of the sweeping, block-long structure. Each of the original town homes were
three or four stories high. Most have been cut up into flats. One that escaped
sub-dividing recently sold for over $3 million. Adjacent to the Royal Crescent
is Royal Victoria Park, which the “Let’s Go” guidebook says “contains one of
the finest collection of trees in the country. Its botanical gardens nurture
5,000 species of plants from all over the globe.”
We didn’t let a light rain
the next morning stop us from poking around the historic Pulteny Bridge over
the Avon River in the heart of Bath. Both sides of the bridge are lined with
small shops that cater to tourists. Oddly, some open at 9:30 a.m. and some at
10 a.m. A few don’t seem to pay much attention to their posted hours of
operation. A couple of shops sold tiny, tin soldiers and nautical collectibles.
I saw several pieces I would have enjoyed owning were it not for the hassle of
getting them home in one piece.
Immediately beneath and
downstream from the bridge is a weir in the Avon River that is shaped like a
half-moon. The river is less than 50 feet wide beneath the bridge and no more
than 30 feet wide a few hundred yards upstream. The smoothly flowing water
forms a beautiful waterfall about 3 feet high when it passes over the weir. A
sign warns that the harmless-looking waterfall claimed the life of a canoeist several
years ago. Nonetheless, it is a spot of rare beauty. We were told that small
condos along the banks of the Avon near the scenic bridge carry London prices –
£500,000 and up.
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