To and In Bath

June 29th (Sun) – We woke up to another nice day in Mousehole. Breakfast today was Eggs Benedict for me and an English breakfast for Mike. I also asked the chef/waiter if he could make hot chocolate and he said “I’ll give it a bloody good try”. It was delicious so I’d say he did bloody well! We knew we had a long drive to Bath today so we said goodbye to Mousehole (alas) right after breakfast. We drove around Penwith as the shopkeeper at the Mousehole gallery had recommended (as it was “unspoilt” and let you see the old farms and how things have always been) and it turned out to be a really wonderful suggestion. I can’t even describe the landscapes we saw in a way that will do them justice. There were parts where you were simply breathless. I tried to capture some of this on my camera but looking at the pictures makes me realize I’ll have to hold the images in my heart because the pictures just don’t capture the reality. I was sorry to leave this area; Cornwall is amazing and we didn’t even see a third of it.

I was actually feeling downright yucky today but after Penwith, the plan was to head toward a spot called Tintagel (pronounced tin-TAD-jel) to the remains of a medieval (and perhaps earlier in spots) castle. There has been some supposition that this might have been King Arthur’s castle but in fact when we got there it was clear that they can’t really say so for sure. Because we didn’t really know where we were going, we pulled over at a sign that said “Park Here for Tintagel Castle and Church”. As we paid our 1 pound, we realized that we’d probably been taken by a local getting money from tourists for parking – and so it turned out. We had a long walk over fields with big round hay bales (not sheep) lying about until we met a road that took us up to the church, where there was parking for FREE. Yeesh. I would have liked the walk on any other day but I was feeling unwell and it was windy and chilly. In any case, we soldiered on past the church, which was surrounded by low walls that looked to be made out of slate stacked together at a slant – I meant to take a picture on the way back but it was raining by then so I didn’t have the chance. They were really interesting walls and I’d have liked to share how they looked; I always wonder about the hands and minds that put them together.

I must say that Tintagel Head was awesome, in the true sense of the word. To think people built a castle out there, well, holy cow! There used to be a land spit between where we were and the Head itself but that has fallen away – so they’ve built a pedestrian bridge in between. But to get from one side to the other you have to walk down a LOT of stairs and back up again on the other side. Some of the individual steps were half again the height of my leg, so I (and others as short as me) had to go down pretty slowly – thinking all the while of how the hell I was going to get back up again. As it was, I pooped out and let Mike go on ahead over to the other side. I contented myself with the ruins on my side and sitting on some ancient stairs and looking at the view. Pictures will show I was not happy on the stairs and partly it was because of feeling miserable, but partly because I really just couldn’t push myself to go up the other side, back down, and back up this side again. In any case, Mike very thoughtfully took pictures all about the Head and also took pictures of the information tablets that told you about the ruins. As he was coming back up the stairs on my side, it started to rain and we still had a ways to go to get back to our car. The wind blew the rain sideways and by the time we got back to the car, we were more than slightly damp. Did I say I was miserable? Geez Louise, that walk totally sucked – but hands down it’s better than what I was doing last summer at this time.

After we got to the car and I dried out a bit, I felt a little better but despite Mike’s willingness to stop for tea somewhere, I felt we should drive ahead to Bath, which was still several hours away and it was already 2 PM. The drive was uneventful and we arrived out our B&B with no trouble. Our B&B was right on the edge of all the interesting bits of Bath, so walking around was very easy. We were both tired when we finally got to Bath but we ventured out to find a place to eat. Looking at our various brochures we decided to head for Yak Yeti Yak – a Nepalese restaurant (great name, huh?). As my former student and now Dr. Good-Ament has cooked Nepali food for us many times having gone there on a Fulbright, we decided we couldn’t pass up such a restaurant. We stumbled about for a bit and then realized we’d passed it, so we retraced our steps only to discover, along with another confused looking couple, that it had moved. The four of us decided to try to find its new location together on the assumption that four sets of eyes were better than two sets. In the end, we actually passed its new location as well (it was down a flight of steps, below street level). When we did find it, we decided to sit together with our new friends, Jeff and Phyllis from the San Capistrano area in California. They’d been down to Cornwall for some sort of family reunion with cousins Jeff had never met. We spent a very pleasant evening with them eating delicious Nepali food. We think we bored them when they asked what we did but at least we were enthusiastically boring! We learned that Jeff is some sort of high-level administrator with the school board and Phyllis had just taken early retirement a week before – and was thinking about becoming a physical trainer. She was lovely in a very earthy way. I’d hire her!

I began to flag at a certain point, realizing that we’d gotten to Bath later than our usual arrival time at our destinations, so it had to be after 9. Indeed it was, so we paid our bill very amicably and then walked along together towards our B&Bs. On one corner, a young man was standing with his arm around an older man – and he said to Phyllis and me, “It’s my dad’s birthday today, wouldn’t you like to sing Happy Birthday to him?” So we did – and then were instructed to give him a kiss. It was all very silly but heart-warming, too. We then parted ways with Phyllis and Jeff and continued on to our room where we dropped into bed like sacks of potatoes.

June 30th (Mon) – Our first morning in Bath saw us arranging to have our clothes washed by “Speedy Wash”. They come get it and bring it back to you all clean. We decided that despite the cost, it was worth it in terms of convenience and the time gained. No standing around in a laundry meant more time to explore.

I had eggs and mushrooms on toast this time for breakfast but vowed to lay off the eggs for a bit in the next few days. Mike had croissants, yogurt, and cereal. Our room here at the Villa Magdala is very pretty. Apparently the building used to be two Victorian homes that have since been knocked together. The balustrade is original to the house and is ornate and very pretty, as is the room itself. All pale yellows and blues. Our windows overlook the park and down Henrietta Road with its line of Georgian townhouses all in a row.

We headed out to explore the town, walking down by the River and towards the chocolate shop I had of course discovered on the map. Along the way we found our first bookshop where I bought a children’s book called “The Mousehole Cat”. I figured having stayed there, I really out to have it. Once at the chocolate shop, Mike was persuaded to get a champagne truffle and I got a hot chocolate and two chocolates for later (that I ultimately shared with Mike). I’d been taking a dietary supplement daily for my dairy issues but the rich cocoa was too much for it, as I later learned while wandering around the Roman Baths. Thank goodness there are WCs for tourists!

We spent a little time on the square in front of Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths, looking around and just enjoying the nice day. (With the exception of a day or two, we’ve really had luck on the weather end of things and I hope it will continue to be nice.) There were queues of school groups waiting to go in to the Baths and we spent time remarking on how the group who clearly belonged to a girls’ school all looked eerily the same: long blonde hair (whether natural or not), artfully mussed, with big sunglasses and bags, tights under short short skirts, dresses, or shorts, and off-the-shoulder long-waisted tops. If you’ve ever seen the movie Heathers – well this was creepier than that. I’m sure individually they were all lovely young women, but as a group they were a bit frightening.

We decided to head into the Baths before the various school groups but as luck would have it, just as we headed in, the groups were called forward by staff. Ah, well. What’s a tourist experience without school groups?! Actually, Mike figures we were in the Baths for something like three hours but it was so absorbing that I didn’t feel as if that much time had passed. All of the ruins here are something to see and the free audio guides we got really helped us to understand how things must have been. For one thing the Baths themselves are 600 meters below the current street level. As I understand it, they were discovered in the 19th century because people living in the area began to complain that warm water was seeping into their basements. When engineers of the time went to find out why, they discovered the Baths and convinced the government to buy up the houses and uncover the ruins. The Baths were not just used for pleasure but were considered to be fed by a Sacred Spring and the waters were thus considered to be healing. The Baths are part of a temple complex built to the goddess Sulis Minerva and the ruins of that temple (mostly foundations and steps, also underground) are part of the exhibit as well. You can also see what they understand to have been the changing rooms and various other baths that are offshoots of the Great Bath. How they heated the rooms, set up the drains and piping, and generally constructed the baths is really interesting – especially since the drains, for example, are still in use today. The Great Bath is the only one currently filled (not counting the Sacred Spring that feeds them) and used to be completely enclosed. Now it’s in the open air so the water is green with algae, but during Roman times there was an arched roof on the building to keep sunlight from the water and so the water would have been clear. You can also still go the Pump Room where people have been going for hundreds of years to drink the healing waters (now treated). Mike and I had a sip or two but: Ewwww! Remember, it’s a hot spring so the water is warm and I also just didn’t care for the taste. I have to say that I did feel a bit better the next day, so who’s to say it doesn’t actually do the trick?

After the Baths we went searching for something for Mike to eat and found fudge and a pasty shop. We bought the fudge to save for later and Mike had a pasty. I decided to get a sausage roll for the experience but was sorry I did and tossed most of it into the trash. We’ve decided that the English don’t really understand sausage. We then started our stroll to the Royal Crescent, where the nobility used to live in the 18th and 19th centuries. Along the way, we found a cheese shop, which we entered and then drooled over various cheeses (no more dairy for the day for me!). Then we found a great bookshop called “Mr. B’s Emporium”. A really sweet dog greeted me at the door for pets (named Vlaschka –apparently she’s Czech) and after we took a browse, the shopkeeper found some mysteries for me – some take place in Bath, some in Dartmoor and Bodwin Moor, and some even in Aberystwyth in Wales where we will be heading in a day or two. Not to mention they had a WC. I only mention it because on the inside it was completely wall-papered in magazine articles, Sudoku pages and the like. Could have stayed in there some little time quite pleasurably! The shopkeeper was kind enough to tell us exactly how to get to the Royal Crescent and following his directions got us there with no trouble. It’s interesting architecture built in the Georgian period, 1777 to be exact. To get there we passed through another area called The Circus, which is similar, but not quite as grand. It was definitely impressive to contemplate, but people still live there so you can’t go in any but one, and we opted out of that.

From here we ambled back towards town and I decided that what we really needed to do, especially as I was still feeling sick, was to go the NEW Baths, which our innkeeper had told us about. This we did, and it was exactly the right thing to do. You have to pay, of course, but it was well worth it. We had brought our swimsuits with us just in case and so we went straight there. There are two pools fed by the hot spring, one on the roof and one at ground level. We went to the roof-top one first and paddled about. On one side there are benches under the water that have jacuzzi vents, so they go on and off in cycles. In another corner, there was a sort of waterfall that also goes on and off in cycles. It was absolute bliss. Then we went one floor down to the steam rooms; there were four of them, each with a different scent: frankincense, lavender, mint, and mint and eucalyptus. Oh, baby! We had to go into each one of course and in between you could refresh yourself in a hug open shower in the middle of the room that had like 30 jets – a huge “rain shower” one in the middle and then other individual jets around the edge in a circle. In this room, there were also individual “foot baths” where you sit on a stone bench and stick your feet in a little tub and fill it up with water and then turn on the bubbles! We then tried the downstairs pool but felt it was not as warm and you couldn’t see the Bath roof-line like you could in the other one. So back up we went and ultimately again to the steam rooms and then our time was up. We were wonderfully relaxed and I could easily have stayed longer and/or gone back for more! In general, I keep thinking our pace here would be too slow for Joey to enjoy, but this he would have loved.

After our Thermae Bath experience, we had an early dinner at a restaurant that sells the “Famous Bath Bun”. It was good to say we’d had one, but the food was just so-so. Good veggies, though. Dinner finished, we oozed back to our hotel still quite relaxed from the Baths and discovered clean clothes. Yay! For the rest of the evening, I down- and uploaded photos, blogged a little, and began my Aberystwyth detective story. Mike occupied himself similarly, but his book of choice was his teach-yourself-Welsh book, of course.