Saturday 29th March: Bath; More of Bristol: Clifton Suspension Bridge

After a nice breakfast of cereal with raisins and banana and the requisite toast, again with peanut butter, Andrew drove us to the nearby town of Bath.  The weather cleared by the time we got there, only about a half hour's drive and he dropped us right in front of the house of Jane Austen, complete with life-like statue in front and period clothed gentleman greeter.  We took pictures with him, then proceeded a couple of blocks to the center of town.

Jane Austen's home in Bath

Bath is the site of a hot spring, used by the early Celtic population and the site of a Roman development dating to around 50AD; it was used for several hundred years before the fall of the Roman empire and resurrected after the Norman conquest (1066). It has been continuously occupied since.  The site of the actual bath fell into ruins but was built up again in the Victorian era (late 19th century). They offer a tour of the site but since the front of the building is completely covered with scaffolding due to a makeover, we did not take it.  Bath Abbey was adjacent to the Roman baths on one side of the central square.

We entered the Abbey past a small assembly of anti-drone protesters and gazed at its magnificence. They started construction of this one in 1140 in phases that weren't completed until the mid 1400's with another recent addition in the 1880's. The Bristol Cathedral is largely in the Norman style which has several unique features that we didn't study very carefully (I did take a few quick snaps) before returning to the street.

Bristol Cathedral central nave

Ceiling detail

Bath abbey - street view

Bath Abbeyl with street performer and Roman Baths behind scaffolding to right

The town square was for pedestrians only and featured a very good Spanish guitar player, fully amped, and several of the stationary figures, or living statues. One was a likeness of Jane Austen or maybe just a Victorian woman.  She was painted in a bronze color and standing on some pedestal under her skirts so she was about 7 feet tall, holding a flower and assuming a difficult pose.

The golden guy pouring an endless glass of water

The Jane Austen living statue

On the next block was another man, all painted gold, holding a one legged pose without moving, pouring a glass of water from a bottle, seemingly without ever emptying the it. There was a violin player with full electronics, doing loops and playbacks so he sounded like a small orchestra.  John told us later that the city council selects the street musicians carefully and allows them an hour in each spot, so they rotate around the several blocks of the ancient downtown.  There were plenty of shops and restaurants, and a produce market.  Bath was bustling with tourists from all corners of the world (you could hear them talking and try to pick out the languages; we heard French, German, some Eastern European, some Chinese and Japanese and a wisp of Spanish from Spain. 

We passed a spot advertising a fundraising CD and record sale, so I HAD to go in, of course, while Evie went in a little corner cafe.  I wound up spending 20 pounds on three classics, not the best of deals, but hard to find (the Who's Quadraphenia, Ogden's Nut gone Flake by the Small Faces, and Greatest hits of Hermans' Hermits).

We had a nice lunch of soup for her, panini for me with fries and then walked around across the street to the River Avon and enjoyed the view. There was a lovely park right at a curve in the river.  The banks are all walled in through the city, and there is a constructed water fall with a building on a bridge.

Park at river's edge

Over the river towards the southeast

The Pulteney Bridge

Pulteney Bridge crosses the River Avon in Bath, It was completed by 1774, and connected the city with the newly built Georgian town of Bathwick. Designed by Robert Adam in a Palladian style, it is one of only four bridges in the world with shops across its full span on both sides. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.


Another tourist volunteered to take our picture at this spot, and actually got above us a bit and got a really good one.

Evie and I in Bath with the Pulteney Bridge as background

We wandered into a covered market with many stalls under a big dome where we encountered Prince Harry who graciously allowed Evie to have a picture with him!!

Public market

Evie and Prince Harry

We then walked several blocks out to the bus station, right next to the train station, and took a bus back to Bristol (11 pounds for both of us).

It was a scenic drive on the upper deck, through more green and rolling hills, with plenty of sheep and cows grazing. We arrived at a very busy Temple Meads station in Bristol with a good view of it at second floor level from the bus.

Temple Meade station in Bristol, from upper deck of bus

The bus wound its way into downtown and we missed out stop; the bus continued for a long way to the main bus station and we had to walk a mile all the way back to the dockside!  We jumped on a water taxi when we got there to take us to the site of the USS Great Britain, the first iron hulled steamship, built right here in Bristol around 1850 I believe.

The ship is a star attraction; It was the largest ship in the world at the time, ran aground in Ireland on its maiden voyage, was repaired, then ran passengers to Australia for something like 50 years, before it wound up abandoned in the Falklands for a long time, and finally returned sometime in the 1970's to Bristol and restored completely in recent years. It is part of the long legacy of ship building for Bristol. But darned if we didn't get there too late for the tour, and besides, the great dining room was being used for a wedding, so we would only have had a  partial tour anyway.

Here's a link to a 13 minute you tube tour of the ship: USS Great Britain Tour

Web image of USS Great Britain's stern

 We settled for lunch at the attached cafe, and jumped on the water taxi back to the quay.

Water taxi going past Pero's bridge

Water taxi and apartment complex

Replica of Mayflower era vessel

We called for Andrew to pick us up and sat and people watched while waiting for him. He was a great tour guide and drove us to the famous suspension bridge over the river Avon--and this time we paid the toll and drove over it to a park on the other side. There was a steep hill to get to the vantage point that showed the gorge and bridge, but it was truly worth it to see this view.

View of the Avon Gorge and Clifton suspension bridge.  Note yellow fence for cave access (currently closed)

Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge, which opened in 1864, spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset, England. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the bridge is a grade I listed building.

It's a pretty impressive span, an artist was busy painting the scene, and an elderly walker, an old soldier, stopped and gave us quite a bit of the bridge's history as we chatted between all three of us; he even   took our picture after it had clouded up a bit. Weather changes quickly here!

With Cousin Andrew at Avon Gorge

We walked up to the top of the hill overlooking Brunel's amazing bridge, where there was a building that had been an observatory with a cafe and an elevator down to the cave that opens onto the gorge, but, unfortunately, it's now abandoned.

The Observatory

We then worked our way back to the car and off to their home. Phyllis Wagg is Evie's father's cousin; therefore, her second cousin and the only living blood relative in England.  She married John Wagg in the early 50's and had two sons, Andrew and Ian; Andrew lives at home in their beautiful house in a very up-market area not too far from the suspension bridge called Hambrook; Clifton itself has many very attractive Georgian and Victorian homes and some that appear to be stately homes on wide streets.

Andrew, gourmet cook, had put a chicken in the oven along with potatoes and veggies, so we had another lovely dinner with more Apple pie and hot custard though they pulled out the chilled custard from last night for me and it was great!  I have to make it more often!

This time our hosts had set up the futon in the bedroom so that I was made more comfortable and able to sleep soundly.  I read more of the book that I had started while Evie chatted and watched a little British TV, before retiring late.