The Roman Baths

The Roman Baths are THE place to check out in Bath. This was one of the best sites Ive visited on all my trip.

Around 60AD or so, the Romans built a temple & town where Bath now is. Of course, they also built some baths as the place had lovely hot springs, known for their therapeutic properties. The Romans were only in Bath till about 400AD - not sure what happened after that. But the baths are in remarkable good condition, have been very well preserved.

Definitely a must see!

The Ancient City of Bath

Bath - what a beautiful city! Clean, fresh air. Friendly, charming locals. Cute little knick-knack shops. Just lovely!!

I did a walking tour, which covered most of the main places in Bath. Jane Austen lived here. But she didn't like it at all, & happily left the place. But that was when it was a wild & raunchy place. It's not anymore.

2nd Nov - Hostelling in Bath

I arrived by train in Bath, happy to get out of London. I was really quite worried about whether I'd actually be able to live there cause I just didn't like the energy - restless, impersonal, dirty.
Bath was a lovely change of scenery.
It was one of the only times on my trip that I thought I'd find accommodation when I got there. After lugging my backpack around for over 45 mins - bloody heavy thing - I settled on a rather unsavoury pub hostel to save money. I'd booked my Egypt trip the day I left so I really focused on saving money during my time in Bath.
I was not only in a hostel, but also a shared dorm. Luckily I shared with only one woman. And I hoped she wouldn't snore. But it wasn't snoring I needed to worry about. The noise from revellers outside the pub at night menat I didn't get much sleep at all.
The next day I escaped & headed for the YMCA up the road. A bit less tacky, quite pricey, but at least I got a room to myself.

London...for a bit of fresh air

After 2 months at Shambala, I was more than ready to have some respite. Bec needed a break too, so we took a plane headed for London. Not the usual place that you go for a bit of breathing space, but I found it ideal!

Checked out Camden Markets which were very funky indeed. And the parks were replete with Autumn colours. But after 5 days, I was really eager to get out of London too, so I booked a train to see some of the countryside. On to Bath!

Mini Road Trip - Ballater, Braemar & Cairngorms

The second mini road trip Bec & I took was a day trip south. We drove through the Cairngorm mountains first off. High & desolate with windswept grasses, the mountains were spellbinding. We came to an exquisite little river with an old bridge across & stopped to be mesmerised by the river's stirring. Beautiful!

Later, we thought we might just pop in & visit good ole Liz for a cuppa. But the Queen wasn't home in her country castle in Braemar. There were, however, lots of bobbies about, so we did a quick u-turn in the driveway & got outta there pretty fast.

We found a little castle just near Ballater, which was really cute & very closed. So we just got to take pics from the outside. There was no one else around & the surroundings were gorgeous. The sun soon set & I realised that we had nearly run out of petrol & hadn't spotted a petrol station that was open. We drove & drove till finally we came across a station that was opened only for the next 15 mins - lucky!

We then headed back to Shambala, quite a bit later than expected, another great road trip under our belts. Exhausted but thankful we had the opportunity to get out & about.

Mini Road Trip - Dornoch & Ullapool

Bec & I were itching to get away from Shambala - its energy can get to be very repressive at times. So we planned two one-day road trips. The road to Dornoch & Ullapool was our first trip. And what a trip it was. We stopped off at Dornoch & had the closest thing to real croissants. A cute little town, we had a wee wander about before deciding to jump back in the hire car & head across to the west coast.

The road to Ullapool was sensational. Almost surreal in some places. Barely a car passed us by, & the country was wild & felt forgotten. We stopped here and there many a time. Mostly, we just took in the glorious surrounds, did some singing & had more than a few laughs.

At Ullapool we stopped off & had some fish & chips before heading back to Shambala. It was a very good day indeed!

Kath's Farewell Eve at the CC

One of the women who worked, but didn't live, at Shambala is Kath. For her farewell, a bunch of us headed over the road to the Community Centre in Findhorn Park on a friday night. After a huge yummy meal - all vegetarian, of course - we had a few wines. And, next thing that happened was that Bec & I burst into song with 'Dancing Queen'. The whole centre joined us singing - it was great to hear.

Then William, this guy from the CC, started dancing with Kath. As Bec & I sand 'Hey, Big Spender', Kath was getting down & dirty with this guy - go Kath!!

A great night was had by all! Several of us even went back to Shambala & danced for a while longer.