Bath

Another day on the trains for Mick, heading to York for our friend Mickle’s funeral. Tilly and I stayed put, two train fares would have been too much or hiring a car too far to drive there and back in a day. Mick left suitably attired in a baseball cap, apparently there were lots of remarks that everyone should have worn one. It was a very rare sight, Mickle without his cap on.

Tilly’s mornings for the last couple of months have consisted of sleeping whilst we move the outside, so it wasn’t until Mick was about to leave that she realised that the back door was open for her. At two hour intervals she returned as requested.

Puss in Boots needed some attention this morning, lists, contacting the set builders and prop maker. I’ll be heading off to do a weeks painting soon so needed to check that supplies were on order and how my accommodation would work.

Then I revisited my Houdini model. Various ideas had been chatted about yesterday and extra details like the blue doughnuts needed to be added. Monday is the first deadline for the design, I need to send photos to Vienna and hopefully get the thumbs up from them.

Mid afternoon I needed to leave some glue to dry, so instead of sitting watching it I decided to go for an explore. Tilly returned home so was left in charge. Friday is obviously a day when most hire boats are returning to base as the moorings here were just about empty and not that many boats passed all day.

I walked down to the lock, crossed the bridge and headed up to the road above. Straight on was a footpath, so I followed it up the hill. A kissing gate and National Trust sign invited me into Bathwick Fields, I’d stumbled onto the Bath Skyline walk without knowing it.

Within minutes of leaving the boat I was high above Bath with fantastic views across the city. The curve of the railway, the spires of the churches and the Bath stone rows of houses lined up along the hills.

I dipped down to an orchard where you could pick the fruit, but sadly I didn’t have long enough arms to be able to reach the top most branches, everything else had long since been picked.

Across more fields alongside Jacob Sheep and many squirrels busy collecting nuts. Maybe they had emptied the nuttery I came across. A road that led to Smallcombe Garden Cemetery. For £3 a decent burial could be afford by artisans as well as rich Victorians, over 7000 of them until the plot was full. In 2014 the Heritage Lottery Fund gave support to preserve the cemetery and you are invited to look round the grave stones for locals who left their mark on Bath.

Up through another field, I seemed to be walking in the opposite direction to every one else, but then I didn’t know I was on a recognised walk. The path led further up hill and by now my glue would be dry and I wanted to return home. Eventually there was a gate not marked as PRIVATE and I started my steep descent back down to Bath, then back up the locks to the boat.

An evening of worked followed which actually finished ten minutes before Mick stepped back on the boat at around 11:30pm. A Regular Little Houdini is now ready to see what the producers in Vienna think on Monday, fingers crossed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 miles walked, 4 trains, 3 tubes, 1 bus, 1 final farewell, 1 cap and guitar, 1 weeks work sorted, 3rd props list, 1 sad gits tea, 1 plant pot headed statue, 1 not 2 bottles of wine, 7 hours shore leave, 1 long day for everyone.