Blogs from Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Aquae Sulis ... The Romans identified the goddess Aquae Sulis with their goddessMinerva and encouraged her worship. The phenomenon of waters at Bath coming hot and furious out of the ground had explanation ... worship was the solution. This blog is somewhat long. Bath was so wonderful. Definitely worth another visit. Have met a lovely couple in St. Ives who have invited me for a return and I will definitely be inviting them to dinner when I next arrive. The name 'Bath' does not seem to have quite enough elegance for such an elegant city. The train journey from Cardiff via Bristol was an adventure in itself. Football fans were on their way to an afternoon game... the beer was flowing ..the voices were raised... the spirits were high... high also was the number of passengers ... read more

Today we wanted to look around Bath and get our bearings. The City of Bath provides a free walk every morning at 10.30am, led by a group of volunteers. We had breakfast at a leisurely pace and set out for the walk. The walks begin outside the Abbey and Roman Baths. By 10.30 there was a large group of people waiting to join the walk. Luckily 4 guides came. We were divided into 4 groups and each group set off in a slightly different direction. Our guide, Peter, was very knowledgeable, and came equipped with photos of old Bath. We walked around the area close to the Abbey and Roman Baths , as Peter explained the history of Bath. It began with a Roman settlement - draw to the hot water that came out of a ... read more

Geo: 51.3814, -2.35745Today Meriel and I and the dogs, Monty & Malfy enjoyed a 2 hour meandering walk through the fields and along the Banks of the Avon between Great Somerford And Malmesbury. Our route took us though woods lined with flowering bluebells and the remnants of the daffodils.With the dogs securely on leashes we crossed a number of field with grazing cows. Now all my previous encounters with such bovine beasts have been unremarkable... you'd only have to blink an eye and the cows would turn away. Not these ones... I reckon they were zombie cows.... not only did they actively follow us but they didn't even stop advancing when we we trying to 'whoosh' them away! Quite disturbing.... but we prevailed! Humans 1 - Cows 0.After nature there must be culture - I went ... read more

Geo: 51.3814, -2.35745We left Cardiff and headed out on the M4 having successfully escaped the parking building with no damage. Target destination - Stonehenge which we achieved with only minor deviations from our course. Stonehenge and the museum are pretty jolly impressive and well worth a visit but I do have to do a rant about British traffic management.About 2 miles from Stonehenge, traffic goes from two lanes to one and grinds to a halt. Yes, I get that they have to preserve the heritage site but really? Can't they do better? But wait, then you get to the lovely new visitor centre and I cannot begin to describe the chaos of the cafe. A million visitors a year and they could sure learn a thing or two from Macdonalds. They have buses that take you ... read more

One day to go until our visit to Japan and either my suitcase has shrunk or (more likely) I am trying to fit the usual four seasons worth of clothing into one medium sized case! Let's hope I have an iron in the room at the other end as my clothes now look vacuum packed! So why are we going to Japan? Tricia (medical director) and I (executive clinical lead - community services) have been invited to lead a two day conference in Tokyo and visit numerous palliative centres in and around the area. How lucky are we? The first thing I should say is thank you to my colleagues who will be covering my absence and for doing it without any grumbling (well when I was in the room at least) - silk kimonos will ... read more