"Where the Romans rested: by canal and by river around Regency Bath."
Walk directions
Cross the bridge and follow Pulteney Street to the Holburne Museum. Pass to its left, into Sydney Gardens behind it. Cross the right-hand footbridge over the railway and turn left, for steps down to the towpath of the Kennet and Avon Canal. Turn right under a long bridge. At its end, cross the canal and continue on the other bank, to a cobbled ramp up to Bathwick Hill.
Cross the road to a small Tesco, where steps lead down to the tow path. Turn right (now with the canal on your left), past two sets of locks and across Horseshoe Walk. In front of the road bridge of the A36 (Pulteney Road) cross the lock gate, and go down steps to pass under the road. Follow the canal under another bridge to turn left alongside River Avon. Pass under the railway and then climb past the end of a concrete footbridge.
Turn right across the dual-carriageway Churchill Bridge. Continue on the Avon Walkway, now with the river on your left. Follow the path under the girders of the Midland Bridge, the covered bridge known as ‘Sainsbury-Homebase’, and the fine suspension footbridge, Victoria Bridge. Then turn up right, just before a girder bridge. Turn away from this bridge along Midland Road, to the busy Upper Bristol Road (A4).
Cross and turn left to a gate into Victoria Park. Toilets are ahead; otherwise turn uphill on steps and paved paths close to the park's left edge, to enter the botanic garden. Follow any of a multitude of paths to a pond and the very top of the gardens.
Exit the botanic gardens to left of the Minerva Temple (it's marked 'Aquae Sulis') and turn right, back into the main part of the park. Bear right at a signpost for the Bowling Green, onto a diagonal path across the park. At the park’s edge a lane descends past allotments. At the lane foot, cross slightly left into a tarmac path, ‘The Gravel Walk’; this passes below Royal Crescent. Turn left to the end of the Crescent, then right, into The Circus. Turn left to the first exit, Bennett Street, and at once right, down a narrow lane. At its foot keep right, down into George Street.
Turn left in George Street, and take the first right into the busy shopping area of Milsom Street. At its foot turn down right into narrow New Bond Street Place. This crosses four streets to the abbey churchyard. Pass the abbey to the river, and turn left to Pulteney Bridge.
Landscape
- Canal and riverside, and England's most handsome town
Dog friendliness
- Urban walk – dogs on leads (fines for fouling)
Parking
- Podium multi-storey (north of Pulteney Bridge); Bathwick Hill on Sundays, or unrestricted parking 0.25 miles (400m) uphill; or use park-and-ride to the Bus Station close to Churchill Bridge
Toilets en route
- At Victoria Park, and in Sydney Gardens behind Holburne Museum
The centre of the Earth is hot because its low-level radioactivity generates energy that has no way to escape. Surface water that trickles far enough down gets heated. Hot water rises, so it then starts to trickle back up again. Sometimes it gets right back to the surface. This natural phenomenon... delighted the Romans, who built five baths and two swimming pools as well as the original Minerva Temple. Bath's baths The 'Minerva Temple' in the Botanic Gardens (mid-way on the walk) is marked with Bath's Roman name of Aquae Sulis, the waters of Sulis – Sulis being a British hot-water nymph whom the Romans identified with their own Minerva, goddess of wisdom. (If your clothes were stolen at the baths, you'd throw in a metal curse tablet asking Sulis Minerva to sort it out.) In barbaric Britannia, Bath was an oasis of civilisation, comfort and fun; the Romans established the baths here within 20 years of their arrival. So much washing didn’t suit the medieval temperament; Henry VI visited the place around 1440 but was too embarrassed to take his clothes off. But for Celia Fiennes in 1687 there was no need to blush. ‘The Ladies go into the bath with garments made of fine yellow canvas, which is stiff and made large with great sleeves like a parson’s gown; the water fills it up so that it is borne off that your shape be not seen.’ Water feature It was under the influence of George I and Beau Nash that ‘taking the waters’ became the must-do and to-die-for of the fashionable 1720s. Beau Nash, the style icon of his times, was Bath Spa's Master of Ceremonies for over 50 years: vetting new arrivals and sometimes certifying even middle class folk as suitable to take part in the balls and assemblies. Thus Bath, like a peasant village but to very different effect, became a place built all at once out of a single sort of stone. Its superb Georgian street-building, around its medieval and Roman heart, classes it as a World Heritage City. Oolite delight Bath's distinctive stone is the yellow oolitic limestone of the Cotswolds. Oolite is pronounced 'O-alight' and means egg-stone. Look closely, and you'll see that the Bath stone is made of tiny round specks like fish eggs. Each speck has a shell fragment at its centre, and was rolled around by tides and waves in a warm tropical sea. Beaches of oolite sand are found today in the Bahamas. Despite being around 150 million years old, the stone is not very resistant to weather and modern pollution, and Bath's buildings take a lot of keeping up.
Somerset remains rural and unspoiled, and ever popular areas to visit are the limestone and red sandstone Mendip Hills rising to over 1,000 feet, and by complete contrast, to the south and southwest, the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. Another popular spot, the Quantocks, once the haunt of poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, are noted for their gentle slopes, heather-covered moorland expanses and red deer.
"Where the Romans rested: by canal and by river around Regency Bath."
Walk details
2hrs
Difficulty:
Easy
Gradient:
Flat
Distance:
4.75 miles (7.6kms)
Ascent:
200ft (61m)
Walk directions
Cross the bridge and follow Pulteney Street to the Holburne Museum. Pass to its left, into Sydney Gardens behind it. Cross the right-hand footbridge over the railway and turn left, for steps down to the towpath of the Kennet and Avon Canal. Turn right under a long bridge. At its end, cross the canal and continue on the other bank, to a cobbled ramp up to Bathwick Hill.
1 of 6
Cross the road to a small Tesco, where steps lead down to the tow path. Turn right (now with the canal on your left), past two sets of locks and across Horseshoe Walk. In front of the road bridge of the A36 (Pulteney Road) cross the lock gate, and go down steps to pass under the road. Follow the canal under another bridge to turn left alongside River Avon. Pass under the railway and then climb past the end of a concrete footbridge.
2 of 6
Turn right across the dual-carriageway Churchill Bridge. Continue on the Avon Walkway, now with the river on your left. Follow the path under the girders of the Midland Bridge, the covered bridge known as ‘Sainsbury-Homebase’, and the fine suspension footbridge, Victoria Bridge. Then turn up right, just before a girder bridge. Turn away from this bridge along Midland Road, to the busy Upper Bristol Road (A4).
3 of 6
Cross and turn left to a gate into Victoria Park. Toilets are ahead; otherwise turn uphill on steps and paved paths close to the park's left edge, to enter the botanic garden. Follow any of a multitude of paths to a pond and the very top of the gardens.
4 of 6
Exit the botanic gardens to left of the Minerva Temple (it's marked 'Aquae Sulis') and turn right, back into the main part of the park. Bear right at a signpost for the Bowling Green, onto a diagonal path across the park. At the park’s edge a lane descends past allotments. At the lane foot, cross slightly left into a tarmac path, ‘The Gravel Walk’; this passes below Royal Crescent. Turn left to the end of the Crescent, then right, into The Circus. Turn left to the first exit, Bennett Street, and at once right, down a narrow lane. At its foot keep right, down into George Street.
5 of 6
Turn left in George Street, and take the first right into the busy shopping area of Milsom Street. At its foot turn down right into narrow New Bond Street Place. This crosses four streets to the abbey churchyard. Pass the abbey to the river, and turn left to Pulteney Bridge.
Landscape
- Canal and riverside, and England's most handsome town
Dog friendliness
- Urban walk – dogs on leads (fines for fouling)
Parking
- Podium multi-storey (north of Pulteney Bridge); Bathwick Hill on Sundays, or unrestricted parking 0.25 miles (400m) uphill; or use park-and-ride to the Bus Station close to Churchill Bridge
Toilets en route
- At Victoria Park, and in Sydney Gardens behind Holburne Museum
The centre of the Earth is hot because its low-level radioactivity generates energy that has no way to escape. Surface water that trickles far enough down gets heated. Hot water rises, so it then starts to trickle back up again. Sometimes it gets right back to the surface. This natural phenomenon... delighted the Romans, who built five baths and two swimming pools as well as the original Minerva Temple. Bath's baths The 'Minerva Temple' in the Botanic Gardens (mid-way on the walk) is marked with Bath's Roman name of Aquae Sulis, the waters of Sulis – Sulis being a British hot-water nymph whom the Romans identified with their own Minerva, goddess of wisdom. (If your clothes were stolen at the baths, you'd throw in a metal curse tablet asking Sulis Minerva to sort it out.) In barbaric Britannia, Bath was an oasis of civilisation, comfort and fun; the Romans established the baths here within 20 years of their arrival. So much washing didn’t suit the medieval temperament; Henry VI visited the place around 1440 but was too embarrassed to take his clothes off. But for Celia Fiennes in 1687 there was no need to blush. ‘The Ladies go into the bath with garments made of fine yellow canvas, which is stiff and made large with great sleeves like a parson’s gown; the water fills it up so that it is borne off that your shape be not seen.’ Water feature It was under the influence of George I and Beau Nash that ‘taking the waters’ became the must-do and to-die-for of the fashionable 1720s. Beau Nash, the style icon of his times, was Bath Spa's Master of Ceremonies for over 50 years: vetting new arrivals and sometimes certifying even middle class folk as suitable to take part in the balls and assemblies. Thus Bath, like a peasant village but to very different effect, became a place built all at once out of a single sort of stone. Its superb Georgian street-building, around its medieval and Roman heart, classes it as a World Heritage City. Oolite delight Bath's distinctive stone is the yellow oolitic limestone of the Cotswolds. Oolite is pronounced 'O-alight' and means egg-stone. Look closely, and you'll see that the Bath stone is made of tiny round specks like fish eggs. Each speck has a shell fragment at its centre, and was rolled around by tides and waves in a warm tropical sea. Beaches of oolite sand are found today in the Bahamas. Despite being around 150 million years old, the stone is not very resistant to weather and modern pollution, and Bath's buildings take a lot of keeping up.
Somerset remains rural and unspoiled, and ever popular areas to visit are the limestone and red sandstone Mendip Hills rising to over 1,000 feet, and by complete contrast, to the south and southwest, the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. Another popular spot, the Quantocks, once the haunt of poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, are noted for their gentle slopes, heather-covered moorland expanses and red deer.
