The day started bright and early with a trip to Stonehenge, near Amesbury, from Morton-in-Marsh. We stopped in Bibury for some quick pictures of the babbling brooks in this little town. On the way was some of the most beautiful British countryside I’ve ever seen, not that I’ve seen a lot. I even was able to snap a picture of a male pheasant dawdling alongside the road. In typical form, he didn’t want me to take his picture, so the shot is not the best, but better than no picture at all.
The little country lanes into Bibury were intensely small, allowing only one vehicle to go through at a time. Once in town, I saw the old Swan Hotel. Across from the hotel is a wonderful little lake that had several swans swimming about. Along the brook were many different ducks who were not shy at all about having their pictures taken. I even saw several large fish swimming in the shallow brook. Back in route to Stonehenge I snapped a couple of pictures of some thatched-roofed cottages.
Stonehenge was amazing. I greatly respect the British for keeping everything from building up in this area. All one can see for miles and miles in every direction is countryside with grazing sheep. Even the “car park” is below ground level so as not to be seen. The mystery of the Stonehenge is so profound as to touch some deep part of every person that sees it.
Here, in complete isolation, is a 5,000 year old “thing” (older than the oldest pyramid) whose meaning and significance has long been lost to civilization. Actually comprised of three circles of stones, some of which weigh 45 tons and are a third buried under the ground, the mystique of the display was magnificently accentuated by the weather, at times gloriously sunny, then suddenly shadowed by dark low-hanging, fast-moving clouds, sometimes sleeting, sometimes raining, and always so windy and so painfully cold as to take my breath.
This is an experience I will never forget. I regret that I do not know what I actually saw, but that very mystery made the experience solemn and reverent.
Tonight I begin to bring my experience in this wonderful country to a close by returning to the hotel in London via a British Taxi. They are cute and pragmatically functional. The 20-minute ride from the Italian restaurant between Trafalgar and Leicester Squares kept me dry from a typically rainy night in London. Tomorrow, I head back to the USA. But tonight, having internet access for the first time in the UK, I post of my journeys to my blog.