Today is Friday so I thought I’d go for a bath. It has poured, precipitated and p………….rained down all night, half the morning as well. I put the last load of laundry through the washer and drier so we are all sparkling bright. More than can be said for today. The rain has stopped, bar the odd shower, but it is barely light.
I decided upon a round about route to the Roman baths……….
The bridge over the river Irt. It carries a footpath and the Barrow in Furness to Carlisle railway. Great fun was had here, you can see a wee brown dog under the bridge pier on the right and a lady trying to entice him back onto the foot bridge……….a waste of time. The dogs had been chatting to him ten minutes before and he wanted to walk with us so we had to retrace our steps, if wading through this sludge can be called stepping. Henry was reunited with his mum and on we went.
Molly washing off in a pool in the mussel beds……….You can just see a bit of Alf in the foreground, he doesn’t mind being filthy, he’s looking for Mussels. He has now learnt to open them without crushing the shell. Amazing how bright he can be when it suits.
It really is this dark but the rain is holding off, it’s warm, so for the time of year, it’s a grand day.
Bath time……………………
All images will enlarge with a click. The writing is legible, I’ve checked. The following are all HDR with as little haloing as I could manage.
The changing room. I’m sure it had more privacy when it was new. It was built over one thousand eight hundred years ago so maybe, maybe not.
The romans were very good with pozzolana and lime but here they didn’t have the former so would, I assume, just use quick lime and sand……..it gets terribly hot when mixed with water and must have been awful to use. I expect the builders thought it preferable to fighting lions and tigers with sore bare hands so just got on with the job.
A close up of a niche where they put things. I hope the technicalities aren’t confusing you.
English Heritage refer to this as a door. Fine! I can live with that.
I think I’m standing in what was the cold bath…….the hot one is to the right.
The changing room again and a bit of another room on the left.
A piece of wall. I was going to stitch a panorama to replace yesterdays but the Mail Van came past and Alfie chased it. Bad dog! By the time I'd restored order he was half a mile away and it had started raining again. Such is life!
There doesn’t seem to be a ladies and gentlemens side to the changing room……….Do things never change in Italy or is Silvio Berlusconi a closet Roman?…. Would Bath house Roman be better? Or were Roman bath houses bunga bunga venues?
PS. I’m feeling better, I’ve lost my voice now, which does not help with canine control. One step forward and two back!
Have a good weekend.
beautifull reportage Adria, the firt one is simply perfect :-) congratulations
ReplyDeleteA grand tour through the ruins Adrian...I bet there was some right old bunga bunga goings on there!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Alfie has got plenty of mussels there to keep him going for some time...he won't go hungry!...[;o)
Great post Adrian, your dogs seem to have some boar ancestry in them...like mine...well i think so as he can't resist lying and diving in a hole full of mud and being light gold he ends up... like o heap of mud himself!
ReplyDeleteNow the Roman baths, oh i like this one very much. Thanks for the tour, that made my day!
I'm driving my family mad because wherever we go i have to show them ruins and tell them the story behind! :))) Love your comments a usual, full of wit! A good week-end to you!
I hope you are cleaner for your visit! Did you remember to take a towel?
ReplyDeleteA fine looking bath house.
ReplyDeleteI doubt many of today's buildings will be standing eighteen hundred years from now.
I doubt much of anything will, to be honest.
A lot of mussels there.
Laura, not great but good. You would paint light better......I just manipulate it.
ReplyDeleteTrevor, my mind boggles what went on. I bet the place was knee deep in wee dumpy Cumbrian totty.
Alf is producing more gas than Morecambe Bay. Horrible dog.
Dee Bee, dogs are dogs, I have long ago tried to analyse what they find attractive.
If you follow Hadrian's wall you will find more and better ruins.
John, no I forgot the towel. Used it when I got back. God provided three showers this morning and I didn't get out till the back of eleven.
Keith, not a fifth of the mussels there were last year. They used to harvest them in a sort of strip rotation system. I'll have a look for young ones but suspect the estuary is going through a bad patch. be Dithery's fault.
I could buy a B&Q shed and it would, most likely, see me out.
A beautiful range of showers or baths. Amazing photos as well.
ReplyDeleteAdrian..I just love your posts..I never know what I am going to find here!!
ReplyDeleteFrom laundry to dogs and Roman ruins, you make everything interesting to see and read ; }
I sure would love a nice platter of mussels right now...are they fit to eat!!
It is hard to wrap your head around the time frame of the bath house beginings...just doesn't seem possible that they are still parts remaining!! Great to see the shots of them!!
The comment you left on my blog was so funny I just about pissed my pants laughing ...mad frogs in a box lol!!
Grace
Bob, There are better Roman Baths scattered about but these are free.
ReplyDeleteGrace, The Mussels are fit to eat but need a day in clean water first as they are a bit gritty.
So many of these buildings were demolished for wall and barn building.....a great pity.
Amazing how well Roman structures last. I wonder how many modern architectural carbuncles will be surviving that well in a thousand years time.
ReplyDeleteJohn, it is down to the cement they used. Hot lime mixes last for ever. They are still used in modern times for underwater construction.....docks, canals and such.
ReplyDeleteI really must stop reading your posts from last to first when I am catching up. The Romans were a relatively clean lot if the number of bath houses they built has anything to go by.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed at Alfie's party trick. I have enough problems doing that with boiling water.
Graham, There are more baths than forts left. I wonder if the natives carried on using them when the Romans departed.
ReplyDeleteI suspect if he sucks on them they start to open.
A rather airy changing room !
ReplyDeleteJay, They were 'ard in those days. I remember or hope I do that the legions garrisoned here were not Roman but Gauls. Like mercenaries.
ReplyDelete