Let it snow, let it snow, but not in Bath.

A couple of weeks ago it snowed quite heavily for the best part of a week. As you can imagine the country ground to a halt and most people became very lazy and took a couple of days off work. I couldn't believe the number of people who suddenly couldn't get into work without even trying. Maybe it's just me...

Here's the snow from my office window at home in the early hours before I set off for the gym.

Fortunately for me I could easily work from home and cycle/walk to wherever I really needed to go. For me it was business as usual and the only disruption to my week was an extra day working from home and not being able to cycle to the gym.

I did take the opportunity to build a snowman in my back garden. I'm quite proud of my effort and it was great fun to play in the snow.


The following weekend after the snowfall Debbie and I took a day trip to Bath to see the sights. I'd been to Bath many times before but never as a tourist. Most of the time it was to see someone or to do some shopping.

We took the train out on Saturday morning from Bristol Parkway station. The tickets were quite cheap and because we did some online research we got some half price vouchers for the tourist exhibits that we wanted to see.

Here's Bath Abbey. I'd walked past it many times but never thought to stop and take the time to see inside it.

We started off visiting the abbey and then wandered around the town looking at the sights and sounds of Bath. We were surprised to find that all the snow had melted in Bath, despite the surrounding area still being quite white.

A statue just outside the abbey on the way to the abbey crypts.

We also went to see the Roman Bath Spa. This would have been quite an expensive place to see, given that each ticket was £12.00! Fortunately our vouchers gave us a two for one offer.

Even though the actual space of the Baths is very small the owners had done quite well to make a visit to them last quite a while. It took us a good hour or so to walk around the place, and we could have taken much longer if we stopped at every exhibit.

We had audio guides, which talked your way around all the interesting things to see at the Spa. The tour took you around several levels in the Spa and there were quite a few scale models showing what the place would have looked like in Roman times.

The main courtyard of the Roman Baths. You can see the steam coming off the very warm water.

It was quite impressive to see the hot spring water bubbling up from the ground and I could quite easily see how the Romans would have thought that it had magical healing properties. It would have been quite refreshing to take a dip in the spa despite the cold outside temperatures.

Debbie overlooking the source of the Spa water.

A great day out in Bath wouldn't be complete without a couple of pints of Guinness. So after stopping at a local pub we took the train back to Bristol.

We had a good time in Bath and I had a very different perspective of the place from before. It's amazing what you can find on your doorstep. After living in Bristol for over twelve years it made a refreshing change to see a place from a tourist point of view.