Category: Family

That’s me walking a path in Avebury. We had come here today to visit the stone circles that surround the (tiny) town. Here’s a portion of the stones:

And here are a couple of shots showing the scale:

Avebury is not as stunning (or famous) as Stonehenge, but it is different in that we can walk right up to the stones and touch them. There are many stones in and near the town and we only saw a small portion.

We then headed north to Warwick, to visit the famous castle.

This is a beautiful and well preserved castle which is now owned by the company behind Madame Tussaud’s and ran as a very commercialized tourist endeavour. Despite this, it actually manages to be an educational and extremely interesting experience with quite a few good attractions.

I particularly enjoyed the giant trebuchet (which fires a burning ball of ammo), the walk up onto the battlements and the scandalous exhibit based around the love affairs amongst the victorian nobility.

That’s me with a bear, and a ‘waxwork’ figure of ‘Edward The Caresser’. Lovely stuff. And here is a clock which was apparently once owned by Marie Antionette!

And to end todays post, a fancy sheep we met in a field in Avebury (they lived with the stones, you see…)

I ate CoCo Pops for breakfast!

This was in Brighton, before we left the B&B. Our room was tremendous, with very high ceilings and striking decor. We actually had a sea view as well.

Anyway we left early to head to today’s destination. Here’s a hint:

And yes, I was there too (check out my shirt)…

Stonehenge. For me, the signature of England. It was surreal actual being there.

The National Trust is doing a great job presenting the monument. Everyone is given a handheld mp3 player with commentary coded to various points about the monument. It was extensive and interesting, and imparted such knowledge as the fact Stonehenge may have been built by The Devil himself! (I previously only knew about the druid and alien theories).

Joking aside, I’ve now been to Stonehenge!!!!

We had lunch there as well, and I had a birdy audience:

Maybe it was because I was throwing them tiny pieces of my sausage roll?

After Stonehenge we headed to the nearby town of Salisbury. This was to see the very famous cathedral (which has the tallest spire in England), but the town itself was picturesque and welcoming:

The Cathedral itself was quite breathtaking to say the least. Impossibly tall, old and decorated….

… it also happened to house a copy of the Magna Carta! Yes, the actual document, which we got to see. This was quite a pleasant surprise to us! The second photo above incidentally shows the modern font inside the cathedral. Precisely engineered, the surface is water which flows equally out of spouts on four sides. It is mesmerising. Be sure to enlarge the first photo to appreciate how tall the actual cathedral is.

Here’s where we are staying right now. I’m in the leftmost room on the top floor typing this only minutes (maybe) before you read it…

I’m not sure when (or even if) we’ll have internet access again, but hopefully it will happen. You can look forward to more entries then 🙂