[B] Stonehenge and Bath

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We had pre-booked (and paid for) a trip to Stonehenge and Bath earlier in the week, so when our alarms went off at 6am on Saturday morning we forced ourselves to get up rather than stay in bed all morning. We arrived at the meeting point a little early so had a much needed coffee. It turned out that the trip was a big hit and over 150 people had booked - the biggest BUNAC trip ever we were told - which meant they had to arrange an extra bus so we were a bit late getting away.

Bus trips have never been my cup of tea but I have to say this one was truly appalling. There was some problem with the air conditioning system which caused the back third of the bus (where we were) to have the heaters on full blast for the whole trip yet left the bus driver and the people at the front nice and refreshed. It was over 30 degrees the whole way and there wasn't a spare seat in sight or even room to sit normally because we were so packed in.

Anyway, enough bitching about buses! We arrived at Stonehenge at about 11am and stepped out of the furnace into a nice mild morning. The stones have been fenced off to deter graffiti so you can't get right up close but you can get close enough to see how big they really are and see the detail of the stonework. We stayed for just under an hour before leaving for Bath (they made us get back on the same bus, the bastards). As cool as the big rocks are, there's only so long they can hold your attention.

The town of Bath built up around Britain’s only mineral hot springs where the Romans built public baths in the early first century. Apparently the Romans introduced bathing to the Brits and they loved it. The town has prospered ever since. The Roman baths were excavated in the 1960s and terraces were added to the original stonework to allow people to enjoy the view. The blend of old and new construction is really quite neat (in the photos, everything about 1m above water level is new, including the terraces and statues).

For one reason or another, every building in Bath is made from sandstone. This makes it a very pretty place and has to be one of its best features - they don't call it 'Beautiful Bath' for nothing. The Circus and the Royal Crescent are supposedly two of the finest examples of Georgian architecture you're ever likely to see and they do look quite neat really.

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