Bath - Saints and Sights

Nothing better than a weekend away in Bath. Always plenty to do but this time with two additional bonuses. Firstly The Saints playing Bath at the Rec on Saturday afternoon. Then going to see Marillion at the Forum in the evening. The Marillion review will be covered in a separate blog.

Took a bit of a chance staying at our first ever 'Air B & B'. No need to worry though, the accommodation was perfectly located in Great Pulteney Street, a beautiful Bath stone Georgian property. Everything we could have wanted was provided, including a partial view of the rugby ground! You could literally kick a rugby ball from the room into the ground. Well maybe if your name is Owen Farrell.

A quick unpack and it was off to see what Bath could offer the on a chilly Friday November evening?

We were promised rain , and plenty of it for the large part of Saturday. The weather Gods certainly didn't disappoint unfortunately. A brief walk into town saw us taking shelter inside the indoor market. A warming breakfast was the order of the day. It was raining so hard it was impossible to mooch around the sights. Only one thing for it !To head back to The 'Wetherspoons' pub I had discovered the previous night. At 11 AM it was already rammed. The beer I had the previous night 'Bath Ales Prophecy' was £4.50 a pint at 'The Black Fox'. Here, at the 'King of Wessex' the same brew £2.29.!!

Miraculously, as if on cue the rain stopped just before kick off. Which was very handy as the ground offers very little cover from the elements. The pitch is saturated and privately I worry that it's not going to suit Saints free flowing style.
We find ourselves in he corner of the ground , in fact as far in the corner as you could possibly get. As it was Remembrance weekend we had a 2 minute silence and soldiers from 'The Royal Engineers' represented the armed forces.
The Saints get off to a flyer! A Bath kick from inside their own 22 is charged down and the ball is kicked over the line and grounded. That was pretty much as good as it got for the Saints. Bath used the conditions better and were stronger in the scrum . Hopes were raised when Bath had a player sent off for smacking a Saints player with his forearm . It was a winger so didn't affect their strategy too much. Saints were never able to benefit from the man advantage. Not helping the cause by receiving 2 yellow cards themselves. A dull and tedious game saw Bath emerge as 22 - 13 winners.

the Bridge Cafe

 We awoke to blue skies and sunshine, a complete contrast to yesterday. A lot of activity going on at the rugby ground with all the junior rugby taking place. We took breakfast at The Bridge Coffee Shop on the world-famous Pulteney Bridge. It has been a coffee shop for more than 50 years and has  glorious views over the weir. 

Pulteney Bridge

 

River Avon with Empire Building in background

We did a short  walk along the east side of the river which provided spectacular views of Bath Abbey, Pulteney Bridge and the Empire Building.  The walk then winds it's way back round to the city centre.

Bath Cricket Club

The town centre was extremely busy ,many had already made their way to Bath Abbey for the Remembrance Day service. 

There has been a place of Christian worship on the site of Bath Abbey for over 1,200 years and it continues to run as a living church today.

The present abbey is the last great medieval cathedral to have been built in England. Building work began around 1499, but was not completed and used as a parish church until 1616, meaning it took nearly 120 years to finish.
Upon Henry VIII’s orders to dissolve the monastries across the country in 1539, the abbey lay in ruins for more than 70 years. The valuable parts of the building were taken away, including the beautiful stained glass windows which were ripped out and the roof which was stripped for the lead. Somethings never change then really do they ?

Sadly with the Remembrance service taking place we were unable to go inside the Abbey. My favourite part though is on the outside. The carving on the West Front of the Abbey is awesome. There are Angels climbing ladders on both sides of the main window in their attempt to get into Heaven. The figure at the top (North side) is said to be St Paul holding a book . On the other side is St Peter holding a musical instrument called a lyre.  

Outside of the Roman Baths was probably the best 'Living Statue' that I've ever seen!

Living Statue

Bath Abbey(West)