Day 9—Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath

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The mornings are getting a little slower, but we were out of the camp and in town by close to 10am. Salisbury Cathedral and this time we convinced the kids it was going to be different. It was, it was Sunday and there was a special service so we couldn’t go in to the main Cathedral. We walked the cloisters and the gardens and looked at the enormous spire from within the grounds.

From the Town of Salisbury, we then joined the throng heading to Stonehenge. Salisbury is really close by, so it took practically no time to get there. Salisbury probably owes a lot of it’s tourists to Stonehenge. We missed the car park entrance so ended up parking in the lane next door. The car park was nearly full, and we didn’t save anything as the car park ticket price comes off your admission. The admission price was very reasonable, and you got the special audio guide included, which kind of made it strange to see people pulling up and walking around the outer fence and looking at Stonehenge though a cyclone fence. We spent over an hour walking around it, as the audio guide is vvveeerrryyyyy thorough. We had luch at the cafe there, which for English prices wasn't unreasonable. It is quite an amazing set of stones and the weather was windy and cold and seemed to be a perfect match. We walked up the hill to the burial mounds and then headed back to the camper.

From Stonehenge we followed the AA instructions and headed effortlessly off to Bath. Coming down the hill into Bath itself, we got an amazing view of the town. At one point I pulled over for a photo op and Tanya figured we would never get back into town. 2 photos and back into the traffic just like any other local...just pull out and keep going and bugger everyone else!!! We planned to pull into town off the A4 and do a circuit of town before coming back tomorrow. It was a Sunday and there was masses of traffic trying to pass through heading north towards Chippenham. We eventually gave up to head around town towards the camp site on the north-west of town(after sitting in traffic for 45 minutes on the edge of town). We headed for the Bath marina and caravan park and the office was closed. We got our AA guide out and assessed our options and decided to try the nearby Newton Mill Caravan Park. It was first class, picturesque and the staff were helpful, which we were starting to find people in England less and less helpful. He showered, organised ourselves and headed off to the on site pub and restaurant for an excellent meal, couple of beers and Tanya had a couple of Bacardi’s.

The weather appears to be closing in a little tonight and a couple of small showers to contend with while walking to the pub and showers. The locals have all been tlaking about, "this is the last week of good weather".

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