Following the Breezy Call - Day Three

"Ye distant spires, ye antique towers..." ~Thomas Gray

I had little planned for my time in Bath.  Sure, as a Jane Austen fan, I could go to the Jane Austen Center but I'm also a Rick Steves fan and his book didn't rate the Jane Austen Center as a must see.  Anyway, I'd heard or read that Jane didn't particularly liked Bath so I wasn't really there for her.

Now, a friend who has been to Bath (and knows me really well) did recommend the Fashion Museum and that I did see.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I found a unique benefit to traveling to England in November.  Sure, the daylight hours are more limited but that also means, you don't have to get up before 5 am to watch the sun rise.  And watching the sun rise over the "antique towers" of Bath (yes, I know Gray was talking about Eton College but I think the terms apply here) was amazing.

I woke about 6:30 and slipped out of the hotel a little after 7.  Before I left the States, I had thoughts of running while on vacation.  Sadly, my running gear didn't fit in my suitcase (I was determined to stick to carry-on size) but I had done some research into where I would have run and in my research, I found something called the Bath Skyline Walk.

The Bath Skyline Walk is a walk of about 6 miles that meanders across various fields, by-ways and hidden places.  It shows you expansive views of Bath and narrow paths.  You'll be joined by locals, walking their dogs, and, maybe even a cow or two (make sure you wear boots, I was really glad I did).

I wanted to get back to the hotel in time for breakfast so I chose to follow the shorter route 3 milr route as opposed to the longer 6 mile route.  It took a little bit of switching back and forth between GoogleMaps and the National Trust map of the walk to get my bearings but just when I was about to despair that I wouldn't find the the trail, there it was.  A tiny little National Trust plaque with an equally small arrow by a kissing gate on Bathwick Hill, just opposite Cleveland Walk.  Now secure, I made my way through the gate.  And found two different paths going in slightly different directions.

I chose the path that seemed to go in the direction I wanted; I needn't have worried.  The paths converged at the next gate.  The path then led through several fields and gates, each with its own view of Bath glowing in the rising sun, its own view of neon pink clouds set against a slowly brightening violet sky.  I found a small farmhouse tucked away in a narrow little valley, never mind that it's on the map.  I still feel as if I discovered it.

I kept my eyes open wide so as to see anything and everything.  I took pictures left and right, up and down.  Whatever caught my eye, I captured, as a photograph, as a memory, no matter if it was lofty or ordinary.  It all seemed extraordinary to me.  A bright red mailbox, set in stone.  The engineering required to build a stone wall with no mortar.  Cables radiating from a pole, against a crystal blue sky.  It was all beautiful to me.

Once past the fields and downs, I was joined by commuters and school children on the paths.  Can't say I would mind walking that route to work everyday.  The path led to narrow backstreets and then I walked past the University and the golf club.

There I found the last main sight on the Skyline walk before descending back into Bath, Sham Castle.  Sham Castle is literally a fake castle, a folly.  And folly is the perfect word to describe Sham Castle.  A single turreted wall, set in a field, reportedly built to "improve the prospect" of a wealthy Bath homeowner.  It just seemed silly.

However, as I stood there, looking at this wall, in a field, no real castle to be seen, I was struck by a sense of whimsy.  The sun seemed to be shining on one side of the wall but not on the other.  The grass really seemed to glow a brighter green on the other side.  It made me think of Narnia and all the gates to other worlds that existed in the Narnia books and for a second, I wondered a couple of things.

One, did C. S. Lewis ever walk the Skyline path?

Two, what would happen if I walked through the gate?  Would I still be in Bath?  Or would I be transported to another, magical world?  Or even worse, what if I wasn't and the magic spell was broken?

I chose not to break the spell, I didn't want to lose the magic.  Besides, I had already walked through the magical door, that morning when I followed "the breezy call of incense-breathing morn, the swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed" (Thomas Gray, Elegy) and found myself tracing steps that dreamers have followed for years.