After the terrible weather of the last couple of weeks, we were pleased to get out into the countryside. After a bit of confusion about the route, we eventually landed upon a round trip from the Park and Ride on the Lansdowne Plateau to Solsbury Hill.
The Park and Ride is on the left, and the Hill on the right, a total of 12.5 kilometres.
The route was beautifully marked out starting with a mown path through a nice flat field. Bath and it's surroundings are notoriously hilly and starting from one very high point meant that we soon had to drop down to a very low level.
The sun was out all day making very long shadows across the landscape, as we carried on into the valley.
All too soon we were on our way steeply up and on to Solsbury Hill. Peter Gabriel had a hit with a song of the same name, which I don't know, hopefully because I am a bit young for it. However, I looked up the lyrics in case it told me anything interesting about the area - unfortunately not, although it says that he saw an eagle there flying in the night, which I personally doubt.
It was very muddy getting up to the trig point and I had high hopes of panoramic views of the Bath skyline. I don't know why I thought that now, because once up there it seemed to be hidden around another hill and the sun was right in our eyes.
On the way back we took a different, dryer route, still with the same changes in height and lovely views.