Robot Claw

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 🙂

Day three meant leaving London and heading to Dover. Time to start our 9 day whirlwind driving odyssey!

We rode a lovely high speed train out of London, and here it is:

Dover is a seaside town, half tourist resort and half stopover on the way to Paris (the channel tunnel starts near here). It has three major claims to fame: a massive port, a historically important castle and the very famous ‘white cliffs’.

That’s the beach above. A classic ‘pebble beach’. A seawall breakwater creates a waveless lagoon in which swimmers practice to swim the English Channel. Our first activity was a boat tour to see the White Cliffs from the harbour:

The cliffs are white due to chalk content, and run for miles. They are quite impressive (relatively) up close. Here’s a better shot, and please pay attention to the top:

That’s a castle up there, and it was our second attraction of the day.

After lunch, of course:

Yep, that’s a bucket of cockles, whelks, prawns, mussels and fake crab.

The castle is up on the cliff overlooking Dover, and was built in 1197. It is enormous and contains such attractions as an authentic Roman lighthouse (from back when the Romans occupied England) and a Saxon church. During the Napoleonic years tunnels were carved deep into the cliffsides, and during WW2 the tunnels were expanded and outfitted to be used as a base of operations. From these very tunnels – which we toured – the Dunkirk evacuation was masterminded.

We explored the old castle keep as well, which was tall and mazelike and shows that the architecture of all those RPGs I’ve been playing for most of my life isn’t too far off reality:

And here is our breakfast as the Dover B&B (called the Restover). It was extremely comfortable and far better than our London hotel…

We haven’t ridden The London Eye yet (that’s the big Ferris Wheel), but on our second day we went to the Tower Of London.

This is a large castle in the middle of the city, right alongside the Thames. It’s been there since the 12th century, and is remarkably well preserved and presented. Many kings and queens have lived and ruled from the tower, and many famous peoples have been executed or buried there as well. It reeks history, and every part of it is fascinating.

Nothing less, perhaps, than the Crown Jewels. They are on exhibit in a heavily fortified building inside a gigantic walk-through safe. They are the actual crown jewels, so we got to see (for instance) the biggest diamond in the world and a gold-plated punch bowl big enough to bath in. Unfortunately photography is prohibited, so no photos, but I assure you it is a sight worth seeing.

Second most interesting is the Royal Armories. This is the exhibit of the collection of weapons and armor owned by the royals. Three such examples:

The left shot shows a suit of armor and horse armor that was made for (and presumably worn) by an English king from almost 500 years ago! It’s difficult to see in the image, but the armor is fully engraved all over and is just an amazing work of art. The rightmost shot is a close up of another royal suit of armor (from 1600 if I recall), this time gold plated and – again – fully engraved. Awesome stuff.

The collection’s not just old stuff though:

A few years ago London had an anti-crime program where people could anonymously turn in guns without fear of punishment (guns being illegal here). The above photo shows a pistol that was turned in, and yes those are real (over 1500 of them…) diamonds. All the was known was the gun was made in Germany; by or for whom is a mystery. It is now in the royal collection.

We took a guided tour from a beefeater; saw the ravens that live in the tower; saw 500+ year old graffiti and even ate in the cafe inside the tower. For all my joking about the current royals (check your mailboxes for postcards…) I have to say I greatly enjoyed the history in the Tower.

Here’s a shot of the Thames from just outside:

And here’s a shot of my lunch, and KLS’s ordering-of-dinner:

Cricket on the telly and page 3 girls in the paper…