A Wild and Stormy Day!

Hello!

Up this morning about 7 and down to breakfast on the dot of 8 am.  Rollestone Manor does do great breakfasts.  I’m afraid that we’ll have to miss breakfast tomorrow though, as we need to be at Stonehenge by 7:45 am.

Lovely place on the way to Avebury

Avebury, stones and henge

More stones

The weather has become very interesting, mostly because of Storm Doris which is heading this way and is supposed to hit tomorrow.  Storm Doris is bringing in strong winds, and there may be snow and disruptions through the midlands and up to the highlands tomorrow.  It is a fast moving storm, though, and is supposed to blow itself out into the North Sea by tomorrow night. 

Windy, cold and muddy!

Large stone on the right

More of the Avenue with thatched barn and house

Back to the Red Lion!

Those are some seriously big stones!

Yet another henge!

The difficulty, as I probably mentioned before, is that tomorrow is our early access to Stonehenge.  Of course!

Out to the car around 8:30 am and it was a very brisk and windy day.  Our plan was to head back to Avebury and hopefully get some good walking in before any rain started falling.  However, before we were half-way there, the rain and mist, and certainly the wind, really started.  With construction traffic around Devizes, it took us probably almost an hour to get to Avebury; with the smaller A and B roads, which tangle themselves all around and up and down, it really isn’t possible to go too terribly fast.  And then when added with the rain and wet roads … it just takes longer than one would think to get anywhere!

We were probably the third tourist car in the Avebury parking lot, and R paid the 4£ for parking and out we went.  Wow … blowing wind and lots of water and mud wherever we looked.  We headed first to the Avebury Museum, which was interesting.  Hard to believe that for all the times we’ve been in Avebury (probably 10 or 12?) this is the first time we’ve been to the museum.  It included some interesting exhibits and tried to put together a very interesting time line of what was happening here in England vis a vis what was happening and being built elsewhere in the world around the same time.  From there, we headed down one “Avenue” – these are long lines of huge stones, and finally crossed the road to get to the second Avenue.

Weir on Avon River going through Bath

Pultenay Bridge, Bath

Pump Room

Truly lovely!

My soup and Welsh rarebit

R's chicken and cress salad

And dessert ...

We had planned on going up on the hillside to get a good photograph of the stones and the henges, but Robert and I both slipped and slid in the mud, and were lucky to hold on and not end up totally covered in thick black mud.  That decided both of us that with the mud and the wind, we were fine staying on the ground and off any hill tops – which itself was a challenge.  (And another challenge was taking my shoes off when we got back to the Manor … seriously, they needed a really good scrubbing, as they (plus our jeans) are nicely encrusted.)  Lastly, we paid a visit to the Henge Shop, which has been there for years.  In fact, as I recall, I believe I got my wonderfully warm and lined wool mittens there, last time we visited.  Finally decided that we had slid enough, and got back in the car to head to Bath.

White Horses.  Yesterday’s blog included a photo of a White Horse but I had forgotten to explain what that was all about.  Contrary to popular belief, most White Horses – figures created by scraping off the top soil to expose the white chalk layer beneath - are not of great antiquity. Of the eight White Horses currently extant, only the Uffington White Horse is of certain prehistoric origin, being some three thousand years old. Most of the others date from the last three hundred years or so, though the hillside White Horse can be a slippery creature and the origins of some are impossible to establish with any certainty.  It turns out that there is a layer of chalk only a few feet below the surface, making it relatively easy (certainly easier than trying to move some of the Avebury and Stonehenge stones into position!) to draw out some of the figures. 

Bath is truly a lovely small city and we have visited and stayed there numerous times in past years.  No problem getting into the city, although the parking garage where we usually park has some VERY tight parking spaces.  Up to the ground floor and out through the Waitrose (grocery store) and into the center part of town.

We first visited the Pulteney Bridge, which has really a lovely view.  From there, we headed towards the Bath baths, and thought we would try the Pump Room for lunch.  The Pump Room has been a highlight in Bath for decades, as it is an historic building in the Abbey Church Yard.  It has been designated as a Grade I listed building since 1950.  Along with the Lower Assembly Rooms, it formed a complex where social activity was centered, and where visitors to the city gathered.  The present building replaced an earlier one on the same site, designed by John Harvey at the request of Beau Nash, Bath's master of ceremonies, in 1706, before the discovery of Roman remains nearby.

Even though it was about 12:30 pm when we got there, we had no problem getting a lovely table for two.  A pianist was playing standards and contemporary music on a stunning grand piano, providing a wonderful backdrop to our great meal.  I had their “light lunch” special, of a bowl of fabulous tomato soup and Welsh rarebit.  Robert also had their soup but he had his with a ballotine of chicken with watercress and dressing.  He said it was great!  I also had a “chocolate cake” with cream and chocolate ribbons for dessert … that was yummy!

From the Pump Room, we took ourselves next door to the ticket area for the Baths.  Seriously, we have been traveling for the better part of six weeks now and I think this is the first place we have really run into people and crowds, or at least it’s the first time I can remember! 

Great Roman bath

Bath Abbey taken from roof top terrace of the Baths

Great Bath

Gorgon sculpture from pediment of temple

Love those Roman mosaics!

Head of Minerva

Old Roman plumbing!

Roman sacred spring

Potato and leek soup

R's wonderful steak!

As I say, we have been visiting Bath for years, and really enjoyed the Roman Bath Museum – but they have totally redone it – it was done in 2014 – and if it was great before, it is phenomenal now!  They are using many different devices – movies depicting the various inhabitants of the Roman town, and given them names and occupations. Computer graphics that complete a pediment so that you can see what the entire thing probably looked like.  All sorts of clever and innovative devices and they all worked extremely well!  They also provide free easy-to-use audioguides, which really can make a big difference.  In this case, they had one basic adult commentary.  They had a second for children, and they had a third featuring Bill Bryson, the writer we have very much enjoyed reading.  (His In a Sunburnt Country is compulsory reading before each and every trip to Australia!) Very, very enjoyable experience and one we would definitely recommend to others.

Finally, about 3:30 pm we finished at the museum and decided to head back to Shrewton.  It took about 45 minutes to get there – still rainy and windy but the traffic moved well and we had no problems.  Resting up now for dinner and possibly naps!  Last night I found myself really tired by the end of dinner, so may try to get a bit of a nap before we go downstairs!

More later!

m

xxx

Just back from another excellent dinner, but honestly, I’ve decided that I can’t have both a regular sized lunch and a regular sized dinner; that’s way too much food!  So!  For starters, we both had wonderful potato and leek soup with croutons.  Robert followed that by a fillet steak – perfectly cooked (rare) with mushrooms, tomatoes and onions, with a side of chips (French fries).  I had the goat cheese with chutney in puffed pastry … yes, again, but it was a starter portion, and just perfect!  We are now back upstairs, and I’m preparing to post … yet again!

m

xxx