I’ve never been really keen on icy cold water…like plunge pools, ice fountains et al…especially after I’ve just been steaming or sweating in a spa. Now I realise I’ve been conned. Have just visited Herculaneum, the town just near Pompeii which was submerged by the same volcanic eruption of Vesuvius, and seen one of the very first spas. The Romans practically invented spas (SPA even comes from the Latin salus per aqua, Health through Water) and when building them made one major difference between the mens and the womens variety – both had heat rooms, the tepidarium and caldarium, but the womens’ spas were minus the cold bath, the frigidarium. Now I will never feel guilty again if I don’t fling myself into a freezing cold bath or pool…
