Date of walk: Friday 21st September 2018
Distance: 1.9 miles / 3 km
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Link to the walk details
We decide to keep our third walk relatively simple, so we head to Bath to do one of the shorter, circular, city walks. This needed minimal planning as the route is straight-forward and tours the city.
I decide to keep the OS Map on ‘Standard’ as opposed to ‘Leisure’, as it is clearer for the city centre. We park in Manvers Street car park for the great location, but I stupidly forgot to check what it would cost us, which turns out to be an eye-watering £4.80 for 3 hours. We debate if we will want 4 hours, but as this pushes the price up to £6.40, we decide we’ll just walk quickly.
We set off, walking the route in a clockwise direction. I have marked on the map where the best tourist attractions are (according to TripAdvisor), so we can pop in along the way. First up: the Roman Baths. I have been here when I was young but Paul has never seen them. The internet said it was free to enter. I naively believed it. The internet lied. The baths cost £16.50 to enter. Each. While I accept that this is perfectly reasonable to keep them in good order (and not that much to the posh people of Bath), £33 for the pair of us is more than we can afford. Paul doesn’t particularly want to see them on his own, so we leave the baths behind and continue on our walk.
The first part twists and turns up the streets of Bath. The architecture of the buildings is very beautiful, but to be honest I would rather be out in the countryside. We continue on to a circuit of Royal Victoria Park, which is very pretty.
We have the option of deviating from the walk slightly to continue through the park to the Botanical Gardens, which are also free (according to the internet). However we are aware of the time pressure on the car park, and the clouds are building up a little bit. We chose today for the walk as it was meant to be the only day this week without rain, but we are starting to doubt the weather forecast. As we continue the walk towards the Royal Crescent, the heavens open and a proper downpour starts. We are soaked within seconds.
We dash to the next attraction I had marked down, which is No. 1 Royal Crescent. Our third attraction, that the internet again has claimed is free, turns out to be £10.30. Although this is less than the Baths, we are still not keen on splashing out so much for a brief attraction. Plus we are soaked to the bone. We decide to crack on and get to lunch (even though the lovely lady in the museum says we can stay until the rain stops). We carry on and take a very slight deviation to lunch at The Clifton Sausage. This turns out to be a very good idea and we dry off (slightly) whilst enjoying some quality food.
We return to the walk, which now goes straight down the high street. The shops are VERY posh, so we don’t stop but carry on. There are some nice views off the bridge near the end of the walk and we manage to snap a few pics without tourists in them (or a woman who was doing some modelling).
We get back to the car with almost an hour left on our parking, and head back home.
If I’m honest, I can’t say I enjoyed this walk very much, and I certainly wouldn’t have rated it above the other walks we have done so far. I’m sure the rain didn’t help, but that’s not my only issue. My ideal walks are more in nature with gorgeous views of the landscape, or in the peace and quiet, away from the crowds. This was a busy walk, and the main thing to enjoy was the architecture of the buildings. Although they were very beautiful, I really struggled with Bath for personal reasons.
Having worked with patients in inner-city Coventry and Birmingham, I have visited people who live in all sorts of places and living conditions. I have looked after families who are so poor and have truly nothing. Being in a town that is so obviously wealthy is really difficult for me. The gates around the park were painted gold. The high street was mostly designer shops with extortionate prices. The Royal Crescent had actual columns and the priciest of cars parked outside. Zoopla tells me that the houses there cost around £5,000,000 to buy. I can’t help but look at it all and feel the money could be better spent. I couldn’t imagine ever living somewhere like Bath, and although I’m sure the residents like it, I hope I never do.
If you want to enjoy an easy city walk with some interesting architecture, then this is a good walk to do. If you are prepared for the admission fees, it passes by several nice tourist attractions (just don’t trust the TripAdvisor reviews that say they are free!!). Personally, I look forward to more walks in the countryside, along canals and (dare I say) up some hills.
Walking the 100 