Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral

Today it was down to stonehenge, then over to Salisbury to check out the old village and Salisbury Cathedral.

Getting out to Stonehenge was abit of a drive, thankfully Madeleine took us out, so navigating and driving wasn't a problem for us, took around and 1.5-2 hours to get out there. When we left, it was a beautiful still day, but by the time we got to stonehenge the wind had gotten up, and the stones are quite exposed....

It was amazing to look over the stones, which they think have been there since about 3500BC.... or though a "Henge" (something hanging from something else) has been there much longer, the first ones where made from wood.... You can't walk amoung the stones now, which is a shame as that was something I wanted to do (Rowan here today) but years of other other people taking samples of the rock with hammers and what not has resulted in the building of a roped off path, around 20M from the stones to keep people away from them.... a shame that the actions of others have ruined it for the rest of us..... but a stuning sight all the same, something that makes you realise how little time each of us is here for....

After the stones, it was down to the town of Salisbury for lunch and to look over the Salisbury Cathedral. Salisbury itself (well the part we saw) is an old town, with a cannel going through the middle of the town, with nice old brick buildings either side. We had lunch at a local hot bread shop, managed to get seats inside, which was lucky as it rained during lunch.

After that it was down to Salisbury Cathedral, notable for having the highest Spire in England. Another thing that was noticable about this Cathedral was that it was mostly unchanged in design since when it was first built. In all the other cathedrals and buildings we've seen so far, various kings and queens have added bits if there own, normally in the modern (for the time) style, but Salisbruy Cathedral was one style, pretty much, all the way through. The catherdral itself is massive... and seems even more so, i think, because the are no other large buildings near by. Lots of Church cannons are buried in here, some going back to the 1100's.

the other major thing here is the "Magna Carta" thats kept here, one of 4 original calf hide copys, and the best surviving copy written in 1215 (apparantly it was lost in a filing stuff up, so no one had it out in the light for quite some time). The "carta" itself represents the foundation of democracy (or though the king (King John) that signed it went back on his signature a couple of years after signing it... caused a spot of civil war....)

After all this it was time for a quick coffee then back on the road, hoping to beat rush hour traffic, which we managed pretty well.... and back to Madeleine and Micheals place (a really cool little Brick Bungalo)....

and thats it.... wow

R&M