SALISBURY, ENGLAND, UK

2015-11-08, 20:00, THORIN

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For the first weekend in 2014, Jason and I decided to take a quick excursion into the country. We decided on going to Wiltshire for the weekend, to explore some of the Bronze Age sites and also to see Salisbury.

Being from southern England (in neighbouring Hampshire) I have always been partial to the beautiful landscape in the south of England, and Jason hadn't had the chance yet to go around the British countryside. Hence we figured we would go to Salisbury and then drive up through various heritage sites onthe Saturday, and then explore Salisbury on the Sunday.

We took the train into Salisbury, and rented a car. The original car that we had rented was some tiny Kia, however they had decided to 'upgrade' us because the Kia hadn't been delivered. They gave us some bigger Ford, which was fine but felt a little wide. Since the cheapest cars to rent are sticks, and at this point I was the only one of the us who could drive a stick (although Jason would later learn in Iceland) I was the nominated driver. I was a little nervous to drive however, as I had learnt to drive and only ever driven in leftt-hand side cars, as I got my license in the US. It was bizarrely disorienting being on the right at the start. However things went without a hitch for the most part - I only went around one roundabout the wrong direction on a housing estate, and only hit the kerb 3 times.

We set off for Stonehenge first. Inevitably, Sailsbury plain (where Stonehenge is situated) was insanely windy, but we managed to fight the British winter and explore the grounds. I had been in the past, but they had erected a new visitor centre and redone the site. Was all nice and new, although a pretty penny to enter!

After Stonehenge we drove to the main attraction, Woodhenge. Woodhenge was built around the same time (or earlier?) than Stonehenge, but it was built out of wood. Consequently, none if it stands today. BUT archaeologists do know where the henge posts used to stand, and today have erected half-metre high concrete posts. It is at the sametime the most underwhelming national landmark, and the most British, being inside a field that you have to open a gate to get into, with a small commemorative plaque. Worth every minute.

We then drove onto Avebury, which is the only village in the world that claims to be 'fully inside a prehistoric stone circle', which is quite a specific claim I guess. Regardless, Avebury is super cool, with huge stones in a giant circle around the village, with random stones in gardens and along the road. We also ate at one of the more delcious pubs I have been to!

Next we drove to Sidbury Hill, an old Bronze Age hill fort. It was insanely windy. 

The Bronze Age must have been freezing.We stayed in a lovely B'n'B, and had a delicious full english the next morning before we set out to explore Salisbury. We also climbed up to Old Sarum, a beautiful ruined castle just outside the town centre. This was during the terrible flooding in the south they had that year, and much of Sailsbury was underwater, which offered some strangely surreal views of footpaths inaccessible or compeltely underwater. Anyway, was a great getaway, and a good intro to southern english country life for Jason!