The South West adventure

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I decided to take a trip down to South-west England for a few days. I hired a car and drove many miles through many counties including Wiltshire, Devon, and Cornwall.

Highlights included:

• Salisbury (Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, and the ruins of Old Sarum)

• Other castles/building ruins including Old Waldour castle and Tintagel (supposed birthplace of King Arthur) and Glastonbury Abbey (supposed burial place of King Arthur)

• Other castles in better repair including Dartmouth Castle, Pendennis Castle (Falmouth) and the Roman baths and Abbey in Bath

• Other towns/vistas including Dartmouth, Penzance and Bath.

• Seeing baskin sharks just off the beach at Falmouth.

• Other quirky bits like the town of Glastonbury - just filled with new age weirdos. So much so that it was difficult locating a pub to watch Portugal defeat England! The locals had little interest, the pubs were filled with tourists! I did drink water from Chalice Wells and climbed up the Glastonbury Tor but in neither case did I achieve the sense of well being that such a spiritual experience is expected to provide. Maybe it is a case of non-believers not receiving the benefits!

• Meeting some great people, both locals and tourists, at B&B’s, pubs, and tourist attractions.

• The fantastic countryside. Lots of green rolling hills and heaps of beautiful flowers, both wild and in well-tended gardens

My other highlights are in separate blog entries for Torquay and St Merryn.

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Photos

Stonehenge
On a gloomy day, it was hard to take a decent photo.

Salisbury Cathedral
Under renovation (like most sites I have visited on this trip) but still spectactular

Old Waldour Castle
A castle featured in Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves (just for you, Mum)

Dartmouth
A beautiful day and plenty of color to capture

View from Glastonbury Tor
Very typical English country side. The temperature was in the low 20's and humid, in spite of the mist.

Friendly moggy
Believe it or not, I even made friends with a cat at Chalice Wells. I had just taken a photo of the tree under which the ashes of Marion Zimmer Bradley (my favorite author) had been scattered so maybe this was her familiar!

Bath
Roman Baths in the foreground, Bath Abbey in the background

Comments

[Arthur & Helen]

Thanks!
Hi there Merryn Great to receive your Blog comments and pics; sorry the replies have been a bit 'thin'. Your trip sounds fantastic and we also enjoy the photos, especially the one of the boats at Dartmouth (a bit different to Vuda!). We look forward to receiving more, and thanks for including us. Love, Arthur, Helen, Simone and family.

[Barbara Beury]

Some of our favorite things
Glad you got to Devon and Cornwell by car. We did that trip several years ago with Bev and a friend of hers. We had severasl serendipitous experiences and decided the area was quite magic for us. We are really enjoying traveling along with you and reliving our experiences in the same places. Thanks for the post card from London. Meko sends his love.