Thelma and Louise

In October, twenty-five Thelma & Louise Club members went to Bath for a long week-end. It was the largest away-from-home gathering to date. Here's my take on the week-end, as co-organiser and joyful participant.

 

Realistically, and with a large dose of hindsight, we should not have booked a house in Bath to sleep seven. By October 14th, twenty five Thelma & Louise members had signed up and were making their way there by train, bus, car and even aeroplane. What had started as a casual suggestion from Crested_Grebe over tea after our White Cliffs walk in June grew far beyond everyone's expectations. “Did anyone fancy a long week-end in Bath?”. Apparently, everyone did!

In the end, we had to also book two apartments sleeping another eight,and had filled most of the nearby Guest Houses before we finally had to say, “No more!”. Crested_Grebe and I went down to Bath for a day in August for a quick reconnoitre. We had to be sure everything would go smoothly -well, that was our excuse, anyway..!

The rented house  www.amberleyhouse.net   and the Guest Houses were all in the same street not far from the centre of town, so no-one need feel isolated. The apartments -  www.abbeyheights.com  were stunning -right next to the Abbey, so they acted as a central hub and a venue for our first night's get-together. A delivery of party food arrived (pre-ordered on-line from Waitrose ) and people were soon helping out making sandwiches and putting out canapés. As more and more people arrived for the party, chaos reigned. The complicated entry codes to the building (we were over a bank) were a challenge, even to the most computer savvy, and, unable to enter, some had been ringing the door bells downstairs for quite a time. With the babble of chat, no-one inside could hear them, and our mobile phones were constantly ringing with “We're outside -let us in!” So many people, all new to each other! Thank goodness for the name tags that we had made in advance - it was lovely to put faces to names at last. Some people had kindly brought bottles of bubbly, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I certainly was – I remember standing at one point in the stair-well outside, listening to the laughter, and marvelling at the volume of noise twenty -five women can make! “Crested_Grebe” gave a speech on the possible activities for the week-end, and by the time the party broke up at about midnight, everyone had arranged companions and a plan for the next morning.

How nice it was to wake up to bright sunshine, the sounds of a city and voices in the kitchen! Unfortunately, one of the girls had spent the night on the sofa, having found herself sharing with a snorer. A kind offer from a heavy sleeper to swap beds solved the problem for the remaining nights. The con's and pro's of group sharing! In the apartment above us, “Kemccleary” was waking up from a long sleep after spending the previous night on a plane from America. She had bravely flown over just for this Event. After a leisurely, sociable breakfast, everyone headed off to their chosen activities – the free Mayor's Tour of Bath www.bathguides.org.uk  was very popular and an ideal introduction to the history and architecture of this spectacular Spa town. Just don't stand too close to the Guide who spits -when he tells you Bath is “sssolidly built of ssstone”, you'll be taking waters you weren't expecting!!

“Phileas” and I chose to visit No 1 The Crescent, a fascinating recreation of life as it was in a Georgian household, animated by knowledgeable guides in each room. Afterwards, a little window shopping, a drink in a bar, then back to base camp for a snack lunch. Being so centrally located, it was great to have a place where we could all drop in and out -even those not staying there could do so -now they knew the codes!

After lunch, six of us, plus “Mae”from Swindon, and “scl” from Bristol, who had come to join us for the day, went to the lovely Theatre Royal for a very clever solo performance of Dickens' “Dr. Marigold & Mr. Chops” by Simon Callow. The others dispersed to the American Museum, the Assembly Rooms, or the Royal Crescent, and at 5pm, some of us enjoyed a free organ concert in Bath Abbey. There is just so much to do and see in Bath!

Saturday night was another chance for all the members to be together, and we had reserved the whole top floor of the Salamander pub for our evening meal. Everyone turned up looking very glamorous, the food was excellent and again-what a noise we made! I had planned to play some soft music to provide a background ambience – silly me, -another of my useless ideas...

Sunday morning, and the sun was still shining - we were so lucky! Crested_Grebe led a party of fifteen to the Thermal Spa www.thermaebathspa.com  to bathe in the mineral-rich waters. I don't know whether anyone came out with a miraculous cure, but they all seemed to enjoy the experience, the roof top pool with spectacular views over the city being particularly popular. For me, water is only for floating on, preferably in a nice solid boat, so I opted out of this and took a walking tour of Bath, followed by a walk over to the Holburne Museum, www.holburne.org  to see the exhibition of Gainsborough Landscapes. However, the weather was so glorious, and finding the museum set in very lovely gardens (Sydney Gardens), with walks by the Kennet and Avon Canal, I'm afraid I only had a quick peep inside before I was tempted away outdoors. I could have spent the rest of the afternoon here quite happily wandering about alone, but “HolidayPam” had had the bright idea of a boat trip on the River Avon and I couldn't miss that!

At 4pm, with ten of the Thelma & Louise crew on the top deck, we cast off close to the historic Pulteney Bridge, narrowly missed the weir and set off down the river. Riverside gardens, grey herons, kingfishers, bright sunshine -it could have been an afternoon in June, not October. We even had a bit of an adventure when three young lads were spotted on a bridge ahead, with the obvious intention of dropping something on us! The captain did some clever manoeuvring, I wielded my camera, he called the police-and they legged it. Phew!

Meanwhile, some of the girls were having a champagne tea in the Pump Room www.romanbaths.co.uk , or were enjoying the Cooler Jazz Festival www.coolerfestivals.co.uk  over at Green Park Station. I was sorry to miss these, but it just wasn't possible to do everything. As the sun went down, those that had not had to return home had dinner together at Garfunkles. “Kemccleary” had fish and chips and mushy peas, of course. In addition to a lot of new friends, she went back to the United States with a whole new vocabulary – “sticky toffee pudding” being her favourite.

We rounded the evening off with the Bizarre Bath Comedy Walk. www.bizarrebath.co.uk  It took us to parts of Bath we'd missed and showed us the Abbey lit up at night, but more importantly, we never stopped laughing from start to finish. Our guide, part conjurer/showman/comedian with an incredible memory for names and nationalities , made fun of us all and a complete fool of himself. How he pulled off some of his stunts, we'll never know. But when Stuart the Bunny, who we had just drowned in the river, came whizzing around a corner on a go-cart at the end, we all cheered! It was a great finale -for him, and for us too, for the next morning we were all to disperse, back to our ordinary lives.

Will we do it again? I'm sure we will – suggestions for new destinations have already been put forward. And in twenty years' time, when some of us will be in our rocking chairs, I'm sure we'll be saying “Do you remember the first one -that time when we all invaded Bath?”