Stonehenge

So stone henge you say, 48pounds each on the train and a nine mile walk from the trainstation you say, stuff that for a lark I say - lets hire a car and have outselves a road trip. On the way there:



One has to say it was a lot smaller than I though it would be from the TV shows and books I've seen about it. Not quite dissappointing, but a lot more compact as it were than I expected. Not to get me wrong, it was still big, and each stone was massive, but I guess it's more that I've heard so much about it over the years that it did have an awful lot to live up to. The audio tour (included with entry price) was pretty good - though given that this calendar / temple / pub was built many thousands of years ago they could have done with out "the ditch around the stones was dug by hand" "the stones were shaped by hand" "...by hand" "... by hand". We're not all americans and hence understand that not everything is done with cranes and power tools. Though I guess it does give them something to talk about other than "Here be stones, we know not why".
Other interesting things to note - tourists used to hire a hammer from the local blacksmith so they could chop of a lump and take it home. We've had to progress to postcards and "english heritage mustard" (wtf??) in the gift shop.

Zoya this one's for you:



So after all that history we couldn't resist wizzing down the road to look at "Wood Henge". Not that there's much to see - the wood having gone quite a while ago has been replaced by short concrete pillars. I think you'll agree though that these make a stirring sight:


We drove into Sailsbury and stopped at the old castle and old cathedral (which was pulled down so the stones could be used in the current one). Was pretty dark by then so no good pics...
Our last stop was one quick look back at stone henge at night time - well 5pm and hence completely dark. Here we had a nice chat with the security guards who get the "occassionaly hippy freak" but are always amused to be alerted to their presence as they stumble into either a) the sheep or b) the thigh high almost invisible wire carrying a little electric surprise.
One last note on this conversation - why of all the flaming cricket teams did we have to lose to a bunch of whining poms? *grrrr*

The drive back to london was completely un-eventful, it simply taking an hour or so extra as we looked at some of the interesting by ways through ye olde londone towne. Note to potential travellers, although the street map may indicate that the road you are on is a large road, that goes straight to your destination - do not be fooled. There will be (without any mention on the map) barriers across the road, corners where there have no right to be corners and the occasional black hole. I think this method of keeping cars out of the city is a much better initiative than the congestion tax.