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In an attempt to avoid crowds we got up fairly early on Monday. I was a bit worried when

cosmicirony didn’t answer his phone, or knocks on his hotel room door. Turned out I was late for breakfast and he was wondering where I was.
Either way, we set off to get to Stonehenge by 9:30.

Driving through the sheep field had give us some mud on the car.

But, it didn’t slow us down before, so we didn’t let it bother us then.

I guess there is a traffic problem near Stonehenge. Because it can be seen so clearly from the road, people who don’t expect it come over the hill and say "Look! Stonehenge!" As they slow down, the people behind them drive into them.
So there is a perpetual traffic jam along the road.

I will admit, the first thing I did was say "Look! Stonehenge!" But, we did not hit anyone or get hit.

As it was only 5 miles from the hotel to the visitor center, we got there with plenty of time to space.

In the parking lot for Stonehenge is a memorial to the first two British pilots killed in a plane crash. As near as I can tell, they said "Look! Stonehenge!" and crashed into the ground.

Military flights still go over there fairly often.

The visitor center has a nice exhibit on the history of the area, and other things found in the area. They also have a nice collection of some historical books that reference Stonehenge.

They also have some big rocks on sleds and are building an old style village.

One of the things you discover is that the Stonehenge visitor center isn’t really very close to Stonehenge. Stonehenge is off to the right past those trees. It’s about as far past those trees as the trees are from the visitor center.

You’ve got to take a tram out there. It is faster than walking, but not much.
We were in a tram where we were the only people not speaking Spanish.

When we got there and got off the tram, we left the Spanish folks and got surrounded by a group of French students.

"What is this?" I asked. "Failed invasion of England day?"

Then, off to the monument.

You can’t really get as close as I had hoped.

They have a rope around it that keeps you a good ways back.

This is the closest they let you get to it.

Most of the time, you’re even farther away.

But, still, it’s Stonehenge, right?

(No mater what was said about this photo on Facebook, I maintain I am smiling. It’s just that the sun was in my eyes.)

The sheep are very impressed by it.

This was sitting there by Stonehenge.
"It must be something important,"

cosmicirony said. "Why else would they rope it off?"

Well, I’ve got pictures of it if it turns out to be "ropehenge" or something.

We were there first thing Monday morning. People still outnumbered stones.

The only one there who seemed happy was that was the crow looking for handouts.

After making our circle around Stonehenge, we decided to look at some of the other things around it.

There were some other barrows not too far away.

So, we followed the path over to them.

They are mounds of chalk with grass on them.

There are flint nodules sticking out of them too.

You do get a good view from them.

cosmicirony’s family is from about two miles past the visitor center, this is his ancestral homeland.

And, of course, we went to the shop.
I’m not sure about some of these items.

But, I did buy a paperweight for my office.

Then off to Winterbourne Stoke.

This is the main road of Winterbourne Stoke.

It ends at the church yard.

These gates may well be the ones made by

cosmicirony’s great grandfather.

Sadly the church was closed with dire warnings about what happens to people who ignore the wrath of the police in Winterbourne Stoke.

So, we walked around the outside instead.

It is a nice old church.

The crows and gargoyles watched us.

Under the spreading chestnut tree the blacksmith stands…

He did examine the stones and find some of his family too.

That accomplished, we set off for Salisbury, about twenty minutes south.

Parking in Salisbury was not easy to come by. There was some discussion about how much space I left between cars when I parked.

But, it was declared good enough and we headed off into town.

We crossed the river Avon. This would become a habit.

It is a nice town, but narrow streets.

The cathedral is very impressive.

They have what may well be the oldest working clock there.

I like their baptismal font.

This guy buried there has the same middle name as I do. Don’t know if that makes him family or not…

They have the best persevered remaining copy of the Magna Carta there.

But, they don’t allow photos. Sad.
It was cool to see it before it turns 800 next year.

Then, we met one of

cosmicirony’s friends and set off looking for lunch.

We did NOT eat at Burger King.
Instead we ate at Pasty Presto’s.

Cornish Pasties of several kinds and sizes.

As we sat there pondering the best way to eat them, a man came up to us, told us he was Cornish and instructed us on how to eat them.
That’s a full service restaurant to have Cornish help for Cornish Pasties…

After lunch we set off to get out sword sent home. First, we had to get them out of the car, crossing the Avon twice more.

I followed my phone to the DHl office.

But, we found there that DHL would charge us 145 pounds to send them home because they only took pre-sized boxes. We were just to big for the middle one and would have to pay for the big one. So, we went to the Royal Mail instead. That was 60 pounds. Still a lot, but a lot less too.

Then, back across the Avon to the car.

We took the road out of town towards Bristol. It follows the Avon and crosses it about every five miles.

Don’t know what this is carved into the hill…

There are random castles along the road.

We followed this truck for a long way…

We went through the city of Bath.

And, of course, over the Avon one more time.

We finally came to the M4 and headed west back to Wales.

We crossed the bridge shown in so many Torchwood episodes and paid the toll for it.

Once in Wales there was a massive traffic jam that went on and on.

It finally ended at a short tunnel.

As there was no other cause visible, I can only assume the tunnel caused it. It was a very short tunnel with wide lanes and plenty of space. Maybe they were afraid of the dark?

We continued on to the Cardiff airport right on the coast.