October 13 - Stonehenge & Bath

They don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK.  All I got was cold chicken in the flat.

Another busy day - the morning in Stonehenge and the afternoon in Bath.  It didn't end until about 8 o'clock (after starting at 05:30).  So, I am tuckered out.

I'm going to take tomorrow off and do laundry as well as a couple other things.  If my energy returns I may get back to this tonight; otherwise I hope to catch up while the washing is doing it's thing.  

Good morning - good noight's rest, breakfast is done, washing is done & now in the dryer.  Julie, thanks for the Tide packs. So practical!  I assume it was your idea, Julie.  Ian would have told me to just pound them on a rock in the nearest stream  😉

On to yesterday's adventures:

Got picked up at the Stanhope Arms at 0700.  The Piccadilly line was back in service so no drama there.  Bus ride out was comfortable, but what a pile of traffic!  Nobody works - they just drive around or ride the subway.

Stonehenge - It looks just like the pictures on the web, but you get a feeling for the place if you are there.

The little tit on top of the largest stone is a marker for one of the Solstices.  I forget which, so I failed the test.

The main piece still standing.  You can see concrete reinforcement on the stone at the right of the photo.  

Stonehenge suffered a lot of damage when it became popular and wasn't regulated.

At one time the area was privately owned, and the owner could have done anything he wanted with those rocks in his pasture.

Apparently, the last private owner of Stonehenmge bought it at an auction, with his wife's money, when she actually wanted him to buy Dining Room furniture (according to Freya, our guide).  Here's a BBC link to their version of the story https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34282849

This is fun.  At various places around the path there are these posters, challenging people to position themselves for a cute photo.  One would show you pushing up the tilted stone.

If you jump high enough, and the photographer is really quick, you can 'walk' across the stones.

Last photo shows how they might have transported the stones.  The local guide said this was probably incorrect because the stones would sink into the ground.  But I think, if they put down enough brush, logs and rollers, this might have been able to work (kind of like the way loggers put down 'punching' for their machine in the bush).

On to Bath: Very short history:  Bath was first settled by the Celtic tribes (who didn't bathe, but worshipped the gods wholived in the waters).  The Romans took it over and built the baths.  After the Romans left the baths fell into disrepair, until rebuilt by English gentry in the 18th century (Georgian era) as a fashionable spa.  So most buildings are not more than 300 years old.

(Oops, time to check the dryer.  Not even close! Needs much more time).

The river Avon.  The weir is for flood control; there is a canal bypass behind.

There are 7 Avon rivers in Britain. (Quiz question: why?)

Part of the Medieval wall around the old city.  Note how the street has been built up - a common prctice by the Georgians.  You can see how much lower the buildings behind the wall are.

A large London Plane tree.  Freya had to point out to the group "for the Canadian" that this wasn't an oak.

A nice view of the bath's main pool with the Abbey in behind

Layout of the complex.  There is a lot of information on the web about this.  

These are the pillars supporting thr floor of the hypocaust or heated room.  Like a steam bath?

One of the smaller pools

The hot springs water flowing into the complex

Pieces of the original Roman building.

I'll leave the baths now.  There are lots of artifacts in all the displays.

Besides I had a more fun idea.  I met Freya and told her that I wouldn't go back with bus and would take a train later, because I wanted to climb the Abbey Bell Tower.  

The front Entrance to the baths.  I listened to Miranda, the opera singer, busking as I ate my 4 Cheese & Jam Toastie.  Basically a toasted cheese sandwich.  Will skip the jam next time.

Off to the Abbey Tower.  Our guides were Toby & Angie.  Small world department:  Angie had toured western Canada a couple of years ago and got to Nanaimo!

212 steps up (and down)

Part way up.  This is where the Bishop would address the crowd in the square below.

(I poached this photo from the web since mine wasn't very good.)

 One pf the flying buttresses.  The original Abbey didn't have them.  They were added later when building additions required them.

The bell ringing room with Angie descrobing the procedures.

There were 3 'types' of ringing:

-Pealing, where 10 people manually rang the bells (see next photo)

-Regular (?) ringing - where 1 person ring the  bells pulling on the cables seen to the left of the picture.

-Automatic ringing, by the 'green machine' behind

The cables used for pealing. 

Here's a link with more photos https://www.bathabbey.org/worship-and-music/bell-ringing/

     A couple shots of the bells    

Shows the 3 ringing mechanisms:

-Pealing, where the whole bell rotates 360 degrees,

-The red hammer below

-In the photo above you can barely see the other hammer, a cylinder to the left of the bell, on the outside.

The back of the clock face

And, two views from the top of the tower

Back down and a view inside the Abbey.

There are over 6,000 bodies buried beneath the floor of the Abbey.  Here's a BBC story about that and some of the problems it caused.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-23685801

Last part of today.  I went to the Rail Station and bought a Bath - Paddington train ticket.  While waiting on the platform they announced that my train, the 14:38, was cancelled due to equipment failure.  The next train was a half hour later and, of course, was as crowded as can be.

So, instead of a nice ride looking at the English countryside, I was jammed into a corner with no view.  Oh well, at least I made it.