Snap: The Pultney Weir

The view of Pultney Bridge and the weir in front must be one of the iconic sights of Bath along with the Roman Baths and the Royal Crescent. Our visit to Bath on Sunday for the Bath Half Marathon which you can read about here took us past this bridge several times. The runners village was close by and the start and finish line were in Gt Pultney St just beyond the bridge. This 18th century bridge is unusual in design in that it has shops built on it.

Today I am joining in with Helena's meme Snap and have chosen four angles of the Pultney weir in front of the famous bridge. These were all angles that we viewed it from during our wanders round during and after the race. I have been partly inspired by Eileen's "compass" duck .The present weir is v shaped and was rebuilt in this shape in 1972 as part of flood defence measures. Bath had suffered from serious flood problems up until this time.

This first picture is the classic view often seen on postcards taken from the next bridge downstream and showing the Parade Gardens on the left.

This second view is from directly by the lock gates close to one of the exits from Bath Rugby ground. The effects of all the recent rain and wind is evident in the collection of branches and trees caught by the weir. The background shows the collanade walkway in the gardens.

Thirdly this picture is taken from the steps climbing up from the towpath by the side of Pultney Bridge. A similar picture is often taken from one of the windows of the shops. It clearly shows the v shape of the present weir.

The fourth picture looks back across the river once we have crossed the bridge. It is taken from on top of the collanade shown in pictures two and three. It shows the row of extra toilets for the race and on the right you can vaguely see the rugby field.

Then as a bonus here is a view of the bridge from this last viewpoint. Note the queue of people still leaving the runners village.

I am looking forward to linking up to see what other snap ideas there are this week.