Thursday, August 7, 2003 (Near Bath – Somerset/England)
The familiar sounds of a campsite. Pancakes for
breakfast. Not all henges are made from stone. So many castles but they can be
so difficult to reach with the
brick.
And now for a Bath.
Day 148. We awoke this morning to the familiar
sounds of a campsite as the rest of the campers stirred around us. Kids were
running around playing and people were waking up and going about their regular
morning rituals. It was all very reminiscent of the camping we used to do when
we lived in Holland years ago. We are starting to feel like we are on holiday
again.
After a very nice pancake
breakfast, we packed up and set off again. Having studied the English Heritage
literature that we received yesterday at Stonehenge, we had a better idea of
what we wanted to see today and left the campsite with a clear plan of where to
go. The first stop would be just up the road at Woodhenge. It was just as
enigmatic as Stonehenge if only a little less impressive. Several concentric
rings of stones mark the locations of wooden embers from long ago. As is the
case with Stonehenge, nobody is too sure about what the exact meaning of the
baffling concentric circles is. Yet another unsolved mystery continues to remain
unsolved in the middle of the British
countryside.
We left Woodhenge and
turned South. Just a few miles down the road lay the ruins of Old Sarum castle
– another English Heritage site. Not much of the castle remains save for a
few eroded walls and the outline of a cathedral. We wandered around for a while
and tried to imagine what it must have been like living in another time several
hundred years ago. English Heritage does a good job of maintaining dozens of
ruins such as this one up and down the
country.
Next up was another castle
ruin, but this time a much more intact one that still has much of its structure
in place. We took the scenic route and did our best to stick to the winding
country lanes. The British countryside is so much more enjoyable compared to the
dull and boring motorway system that provides little in the way of anything
worthwhile to look at as you drive along. Old Wardour Castle is accessible only
to the very persistent of tourists as it is extremely far removed from the main
road arteries. We travelled along a number of winding country lanes which became
progressively narrower and narrower. During the last couple of miles of the
journey the brick was scrapping the trees and bushes on either side of the road
simultaneously. We had several interesting encounters with oncoming traffic that
had to either back up or wedge themselves far enough off the road to allow up to
pass. The journey was worth it, however, as we were rewarded with an absolutely
stunning castle ruin that we explored for the remainder of the afternoon. As was
the case with Stonehenge, we were provided with audio listening devices that
explained the history of the castle in great detail as we walked in and around
the ruin.
Having explored every last
nook and cranny of Old Wardour Castle, we slowly made our way towards Bath. We
stopped just a few miles short of the ancient city to set up camp at a very nice
campground set in the grounds of a very old yet still functioning farm. The
remarkably well-preserved old farm buildings together with a freshwater creek
that drives a water mill all combine to make this an idyllic setting to spend
the remainder of the day and night. At just £8 for the night it is also
very good value.
Tomorrow we will
take on the historic city of Bath. After that, who knows?
Posted: Thu - August 7, 2003 at 01:09 PM