July 2nd 2007
Found this great tour that would take us from London to Avebury Stone Circle to Stonehenge to the Old Sarum and finally Salisbury Cathedral. A whole days worth of running around! YAY!
Last time we went to England back in 1998 we didn't do this. I don't know why ... maybe it was too out of the way for my mum but this was one of the highlights of the trip this time and we were both really excited! The day was overcast as usual so we both went prepared for a downpour which thank goodness we did because all day long it rained on and off. First stop was Avebury Stone Circle which is the same as Stonehenge except older. Avebury Stone Circle is the oldest stone ring in the world. The original 3 rings contained at least 154 stones however only 36 remain standing today. Back in the 14th century or earlier Christians tried to eradicate Paganism and ordered the villagers to destroy the stones and many were destroyed, however many of them decided to bury the stones deep underground next to their original location rather than destroy them. Still more stones were removed
to make room for cultivation but by the 18th century the outline of the ring was still visible and a Dr. William Stukeley started taking notes and several drawings of it, noticing that this was an ancient cultural site/temple and was the first to realize it actually formed the image of a serpent passing through a circle (traditional alchemical symbol) It barely resembles that now. The way they keep the grass trimmed is by letting hundreds of sheep graze there so better watch your step, it could get messy. They don't allow lawn mowers so I guess their alternative method works, and the dirt is probably insanely rich from all the fertilizer :-) The tour guide said we could try to catch a sheep but it would be impossible so of course the men who felt like they had something to prove had to chase the sheep around, slipping and sliding but never got close to catching one. Not even a baby! HAHA!
Next was Stonehenge. It was awesome actually setting foot on the soil of such a remarkable ancient historical site however the commercialization of it took away from the experience. It was fenced off to visitors so
we couldn't go up to the stones which is probably a good thing because most people are not like me in the sense that I'm hyper aware of the marks I leave behind and try my best not to damage anything further. Most people want to leave with a piece chipped away by a boot or a key or something or would even climb the structure. So disrespectful, but I won't even go there!! At least I walked away with a great picture of the real thing, not a postcard, without people all over the place so it looks like I was there all on my own. Too bad it wasn't sunrise or sunset! Ohhh that would be sublime! They had a sunset tour which included wine drinking but we decided against it because of the $$.
We hopped back on the bus to take us to Old Sarum. This is where Salisbury Cathedral originally stood. The king at the time and the Bishop were in conflict and both the castle and the cathedral were too close together. Eventually the Bishop made a request to move the cathedral over to present day Salisbury. After that, Salisbury as a city
bloomed and Old Sarum declined. All that's left of Old Sarum is the stone foundation and an old water well. Salisbury Cathedral is known as having the tallest spire in all of the UK as well as having the oldest working clock. It has no face and tells time using bells and is dated back to circa: AD 1386. Finally, Salisbury Cathedral has one of 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta, latin for Great Paper. The Magna Carta was introduced by the kings barons to limit the kings powers by law after quite a few disasterous failures and power trips. All in all, a fantastic day trip.
Old SarumSee how hard it was raining? That's NUTS!!
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