In a word: WOW!

Hello!

It’s just about 10 am here in England, and we were lucky enough to have done our special-access tour of Stonehenge AND make it back to lovely Rollestone Manor and have their lovely breakfast!  We’re two for two! 

Actually, we really and truly hit a home run today, as far as Stonehenge and the weather!  Storm or Hurricane Doris was predicted to hit the UK today, and move through and clear off by this evening; it is a fast moving storm.  We have had mostly rainy and gray weather the past couple of days, and we were wondering if, with the wind as predicted, we would still be able to get to Stonehenge. 

"Slaughter" stone, so named by the Victorians

Henge surrounding the Stones

Those are really tall stones!

So nice to have some blue sky!

Taken by the security guard!

Photo of what Stonehenge probably looked like!

Neolithic pot from nearby village

Recreation of what housing might have looked like

Inside a hut

Stone on a sledge; probably how they were transported

Well, we were and we did, and it was FABULOUS!  As I say, for the first time in days, there was blue sky and even actual sunshine!  Now we did have gale force winds, of course, which is why my hood is up on all the photos (and I had my ear muffs on as well) and it did spritz some rain for a time.  But we were able to spend our allotted hour – 8 – 9 am – and it was truly, seriously and completely awesome – and I don’t use that word very often at all!

Up about 6:30 am to get ready for the day.  The wind was absolutely howling around the Manor, and somewhere outside there is a loose board or something, because every so often, we would hear it “clunk.”  We chose Rollestone for its proximity to Stonehenge, and our GPS said it would take us 4 minutes to get there … which it did.  Our names were on the list, and we were admitted, told where to park, and where to find the shuttle bus to the monument.  In all, I think there were 20 people on the bus, which took us the 2 km or so to the monument itself, and dropped us off.  To say the wind was howling is really an understatement – and out on the plain of Salisbury, there really isn’t any protection except for the stones themselves – which, I’m sure, have seen poorer weather than this morning.  I was just glad for silk long underwear and my cashmere sweater, along with turtleneck, two scarves, jeans, heavy shoes, jacket and gloves.  I wasn’t cold exactly; I was just trying to get a bit of shelter from the wind. 

They drop the security cord around the monument, and we were able to walk anywhere we wanted, except for a small roped off area right in the middle, where they’re trying to get the grass to grow back.  Also, no touching!  But the security staff (probably three in all on hand) were very knowledgeable about the monument, and could point out things such as where the solstices line up with the circle. 

Robert was hoping for a rainbow at one point, but the Sun didn’t exactly cooperate.  We did see a rainbow as we were driving back to the Visitor’s Center, and he did think of photo shop … however.  We got to spend over an hour at the monument and, with the weather, I think we were all ready to get back on the bus for a little warmth.  At any rate, the shop was open then (surprise!) as well as the café, but nothing in the café looked like coming anywhere near to our wonderful breakfasts here, so we drove quickly back and were able to get our wonderful cooked breakfast!  Robert felt, and he’s probably right, that I needed to write NOW, so I wouldn’t forget anything!  The thing is, this was such a totally overwhelming experience, I still don’t know how to write about it!  But we do have one recommendation:  If ever you find yourself anywhere near Stonehenge in future, do try to reserve a place on a special-access tour.  It’s so incredible, and something you will remember forever!

[Added Notes: As Margaret said, it is hard to describe the feeling to have such close access to a monument built 5,000 years ago.  And the questions that come into one’s mind about the people who did this!  Will we ever get the answers?  Almost certainly not but it is fun to speculate.

Also, my special thanks to Margaret for all the work she puts into our expeditions (the word trip does not do justice) that gets us to places like Stonehenge. – R]

Lots of love,

m

xxx

After breakfast, we headed back outside into the wind and drove back to Stonehenge to see their Exhibition/Museum and look through the shop.  (There is always room for shopping!)  The special exhibition was interesting, especially as they had done some recreations of what Stonehenge must have looked like over the years.  For some reason, after the initial bluestones were set in place, they were moved about 500 years later, into the position that they are mostly in today.  Why?  Even those smaller stones would be no joke to move around on somebody’s whim!  Why not just leave them alone?  So many questions.  It was funny, because just after we walked into the Exhibition, the guide was saying something to the effect of: “Is anybody here from Arizona?”  So of course I volunteered that there were, in fact, two of us!  I believe he was trying to say that people from Arizona may think that there is some sort of “receiving channel” here at Stonehenge that naturally communicates with Arizona – I told him I thought he was talking about Roswell, New Mexico, but hopefully that will teach him to ask for Arizonans!  We did a bit of shopping, and then headed to the café, where we split a vegetable Cornish pasty (veggie pie) and drinks, to tide us over for lunch.  I want to order R’s fillet steak tonight, as well as dessert!

Finally back to Rollestone Manor, and I had a lovely two hour nap while Robert read his book – Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None!”

m

xxx