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Published: June 12th 2008
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After staying in the new forest we ventured up into the town center of salisbury. Wandered around and check out the cathedral there which has the highest spire in England and was originally only supported by something stupid like 4 feet of ground!!!
After buying cute loping starfish shaped gingerbread biscuits we headed further north to stonehenge.
Stonehenge was great! We grabbed the audio guides and listened to all the bits... The fact that they still don't know why it is there or how it came to be there or what it exactly symbolises is incredible, but makes the mystery so much more intriguing!
From there we went on to bath... I managed to get myself lost heading back to the car and had to ring mum for directions as she had the map hehe... Anyway she found me and we found the car and we headed back towards the Roman baths and Pump house... The Roman baths were actually really interesting as it was a sacred place for them as they were able to 'magically' receive hot water naturally from the ground that was believed to have healing powers, and so a temple was built to honour
the water gods that had provided this miracle... After checking out a lot of the sculpturing and the layout and different areas of the baths and how they were modified with social conventions, like men and women not bathing together etc, we grabbed photos and I stubbed my toe... That is important trust me!
Following the exploration of the baths themselves we headed towards the pump room which is actually a restaurant, but has the kings fountain inside too, which provides fresh water from the hot spring... We were able to have a glass each, and whilst it was very weird drinking hot water, I figured healing properties are always handy, an lo and behold, my stubbed toe stopped bleeding! Hehehe
We then went up to the assembly rooms but didn't go in as we didn't have time to do that and other things we wanted to do as well... Which included a visit to the Jane austen house and having 'tea with Mr darcy'... Food always wins over dressing up, sorry...
Anyway, tea was lovely, we had a double tiered serving tray with cucumber finger sandwiches, cheese finger sandwiches, chocolate cake, lemon cake, and fresh scones
with local jam and clotted cream... Very very filling, yet so very yummy!!! And I might state, cheaper even with currency conversion than most of the high teas in Sydney!
With full bellies we decided to head to our hotel for the night... It was a fantastic little pub just out of plymoth, enjoyed some local cider and headed to bed to rest up for today.
So after another mighty huge breakfast, we set off today to do the bulk of the cotswolds, including the Cornwall coast... Those that don't know, this the very bottom south west of England that looks sort of like a boot...
First stop was mount st Michael, which is a castle on an island... There is a causeway, but it was covered by the tide, so we caught a little boat over... Although it was a very steep climb to the top, it was worth it! The castle has been maintained exceptionally well, and the gardens are beautifully maintained, but the gorgeous view looking back towards penzance is spectacular!! It was a great start to our day!
We headed to penzance, just around the cove, and discovered probably the biggest shock
tea with Mr darcy
That is what it was called... He was on the shelf just behind us... of my life... Yep even bigger than brighton beach being covered with stones instead of sand! There are no pirates in penzance!!!! Nothing! No cutlass bakery or pirate treasure souvenier shop! Nothing! I took a photo of the only thing that resembled a pirate in penzance... We even asked at information who officially confirmed there are no pirates in penzance... Disheartened but full of cornish pasty we headed to lands end, which is basically the very bottom tip of England.
From lands end we jumped back on the myths and legends trail and had our faith restored by heading up to constantine bay... This bay is the setting to one of both mine and mum's favourite books, greensmoke... It really is an amazing book, go read it! Anyway we found the dragon's cave and got all excited about it, there were many exclamations of 'it is exactly how I pictured it! Everything, the whole area it is spot on!'
With our faith restored in myths and legends yet again, we rounded the corner for a quick stop in St merryn's so mum could grab many a photo of her next to the sign... I can understand her excitment...
I get excited whenever there is a Rachel st or something, and my name is common! Mum's is rare and she got a whole suburb!
After mucking around there a bit we then continued up to tintagel castle, the rumoured birth place of king Arthur... As in the sword in the stone dude... After finding ourselves amongst every piece of roadworks, traffic jam, behind tractors and generally anything that wanted to slow is down, we ran down to the castle gates to find out they had just closed... Fortunately the courtyard area stays open all the time, it is just the island terrace that closes, so we went up and ran around the ruins, peering over to see whe had missed... From what we could see there wasn't much, so we left fairly content... Till we reached the mammoth hill we had to climb to get back to the car! Hehe
Headed to tonight's hotel which is also lovely... It is just out of barnstaple, although on a back road that feels like the middle of nowhere! We thought we had taken a wrong turn, but just as mum was about to call them for directions we drove
the only pirate we saw in penzance
Needless to say, I was devastated and crushed I couldn't play pirates! past it! Phew!
We have been pretty lucky with the hotels... I don't know what to call them really, as hotel is totally misleading you... They are pub stays basically, but they have all been of a very good quality, better than some of the hotels we have had!!! This has been great as I expected bed bugs! But all has been good so far! The owner of tonight's nearly died when we told him that we have done nearly 800 miles since midday Monday hehehe
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Mel
non-member comment
So Jealous!!
Hi Honey, I hope all is well...by the sounds of things you are having a sensational time and I am SO JEALOUS! I am loving the self portriats (you are both looking sensational) and I wish I could run through those hedge mazes and play off with your head in true Bolyen style (I know I cannot spell). I am also a little envious of those cucumber sandwichs as well, they were huge unlike the little ones we had at high tea!! Anyway hon, better love you and leave you but now that I have put 2 and 2 together and can send messages, I will be an avid emailer - wahoo - just what you need random emails to distract you from sightseeing!! Much Love xo mel