When the city gets too much, a Roman spa is ninety minutes away, a university town fifty, and the best riverside stroll is on your doorstep for nothing
Day Trips From London: Bath, Cambridge and a Free Riverside Walk
After three or four days in London, most visitors reach a point where they would like to see a tree that is not in a park and hear something other than a bus. This is healthy. The city is wonderful and it is a lot.
England is small and the trains from London reach a surprising number of beautiful places in under two hours. Here are two of the most rewarding, and for those who would rather not leave town, one walk that costs nothing.
Bath
A practical guide to a week in London describes it concisely. Bath is 90 minutes by train from London Paddington and offers two things above all: a Roman bathing complex that has survived remarkably intact, and street after street of graceful Georgian building.
The city is built of honey-coloured stone in a bowl of green hills. The Romans came for the hot springs and built a temple and bathing complex, which you can walk through. Seventeen centuries later it became the fashionable resort of Georgian England, and the crescents and terraces from that era are what you see today. Jane Austen lived here and set two novels in it.
What to do in a day. The Roman Baths, which are ticketed and worth booking ahead. The Abbey next door. A walk up to the Royal Crescent and the Circus. Pulteney Bridge, lined with shops. Tea somewhere with a view. If you want to bathe in the thermal water yourself, there is a modern spa with a rooftop pool.
The centre is compact and walkable from the station. It is hilly.
Cambridge
The same guide gives the essentials. Cambridge is 50 minutes from London King’s Cross. The university city, with its 31 colleges, the Backs along the river, punting and a fine free museum, is, it says, a rewarding day out that needs little planning beyond buying the ticket.
The colleges are the thing. Several open to visitors for a fee, at set hours, and close during exam season in late spring. King’s College Chapel is the most famous building, with a fan-vaulted ceiling that is one of the glories of English architecture.
The Backs are the lawns and gardens where the colleges meet the river. You see them best from a punt, a flat-bottomed boat pushed with a pole. You can hire one and attempt it yourself, which is harder than it looks, or pay someone to do it while telling you stories of doubtful accuracy.
The Fitzwilliam Museum is free and excellent. The city is flat and full of bicycles. Look both ways.
Oxford or Cambridge?
Visitors often ask. They are similar in kind: ancient universities, beautiful colleges, a river. Oxford is about an hour from Paddington or Marylebone, a little larger and busier. Cambridge is a little smaller and prettier along the river. You will not regret either. You do not need both.
Train Tips
British rail fares reward planning. Tickets bought in advance for a specific train can be far cheaper than those bought on the day. Travelling after the morning peak is cheaper again. Check the national rail website or an operator’s app.
Contactless payment, which works throughout London’s transport, does not extend to Bath or Cambridge. You need a ticket.
If two or more of you are travelling together, ask about group discounts. If you plan several trips, a railcard may pay for itself.
Know which London station you are leaving from. Paddington for Bath. King’s Cross or Liverpool Street for Cambridge. They are not near each other.
Other Ideas
Windsor, for the castle, is under an hour. Brighton, for the sea and a raffish seaside town, about an hour. Canterbury, for the cathedral, a little under an hour on the fast train. Stratford-upon-Avon and Stonehenge are possible but longer and more awkward without a tour.
The Free Walk
If you would rather stay in London, here is the best thing you can do for nothing. The guide I have been quoting recommends it: a 30-minute walk along the South Bank from Waterloo Bridge toward Borough Market, which, it says, costs nothing and covers the city’s best free riverfront.
Start on Waterloo Bridge itself, for the view in both directions: Parliament one way, St Paul’s and the City the other. Then go down to the riverside path on the south side and head east.
You pass the concrete arts complex of the Southbank Centre and the National Theatre, with a second-hand book market under the bridge. Then a stretch of beach at low tide. Then Tate Modern in its old power station, facing the footbridge to St Paul’s. Then the reconstructed Globe theatre. Then, under the railway arches, Borough Market, which is one of the oldest food markets in the city and a very good place to arrive hungry.
Half an hour is the walking time. Allow two, because you will stop.
Getting Your Bearings
A guide to getting around the city makes a point that applies here. Its advice is simply to tap a contactless card or phone and let the system work out the fare, with daily and weekly caps so that you never pay more than a set amount. That means you need not ration your journeys. Take the Tube to Waterloo, walk to London Bridge, and take it home from there.
A Suggested Rhythm
For a week’s visit: three days in London, one day out, two more in the city, a second day out or a slow last day by the river. The contrast makes each better.
The trains leave every half hour or so. The countryside begins sooner than you expect.
For the Train
British railways have been a source of national humour since the first train ran late. The London Prat keeps it going in its UK satirical news on day trips and British satirical news about train tickets. Bohiney Magazine covers American road trips.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
