Our first excursion this morning is Stonehenge. Most of the bus is quite excited. As we approach the site, the driver says he is going the back way. When we get to the next roundabout, he turns right; the left side has traffic banking up already. We have to walk down to the new visitor's centre and catch a shuttle bus there to get to the stones. The centre is only a few year's old. The road that directly passes the stones is no longer open to general use. You can either get the shuttle bus, walk up the road or through the fields along a designated path. Both walks would be a good couple of miles.
We walk up the path to the stones - not far. So many people around sort of spoils the ambience but they are still awe inspiring. You can't get close to them - there is a small chain around the perimeter. Didn't seem to be any staff around but I'm betting if you stepped over that there would be flashing lights and sirens, and spike would stab up from the ground and pin you to the spot. One set of stones has one balanced on two others. They look carved to be so close a fit. Most are quite rough. They are big and the effort to place them would have been huge. From the ground, it is not easy to see the design of the formation but you can see it would have been circular. The other thing I was not expecting was how high the ground is where they are. Salisbury Plain always made me think of a flat low area.
We caught the shuttle bus back to the centre and check out the huts they have made depicting how the former residents lived. The car park is now almost full and there is a long line of cars up the adjacent road. If you go there, go early and go in a bus.
The next stop is Plymouth where we are based for the next two nights. We are going on one of the optionals, a cruise of Plymouth Harbour. This proves to be entertaining and informative, and cold! Plymouth has a large area of docks where boats are repaired. There is a US navy boat, a French submarine, a few UK frigates and an ice breaker there. The trip takes about an hour and we arrive back close to the Mayflower Steps.
Tonight, there are no optionals with dinner, so we have an included meal. It is a buffet in the hotel with roast pork, chicken or fish. Very nice and we leave stuffed full.
Tomorrow we have breakfast and bags out at 7 and leave at 8 for a trip around Cornwall.
We walk up the path to the stones - not far. So many people around sort of spoils the ambience but they are still awe inspiring. You can't get close to them - there is a small chain around the perimeter. Didn't seem to be any staff around but I'm betting if you stepped over that there would be flashing lights and sirens, and spike would stab up from the ground and pin you to the spot. One set of stones has one balanced on two others. They look carved to be so close a fit. Most are quite rough. They are big and the effort to place them would have been huge. From the ground, it is not easy to see the design of the formation but you can see it would have been circular. The other thing I was not expecting was how high the ground is where they are. Salisbury Plain always made me think of a flat low area.
We caught the shuttle bus back to the centre and check out the huts they have made depicting how the former residents lived. The car park is now almost full and there is a long line of cars up the adjacent road. If you go there, go early and go in a bus.
The next stop is Plymouth where we are based for the next two nights. We are going on one of the optionals, a cruise of Plymouth Harbour. This proves to be entertaining and informative, and cold! Plymouth has a large area of docks where boats are repaired. There is a US navy boat, a French submarine, a few UK frigates and an ice breaker there. The trip takes about an hour and we arrive back close to the Mayflower Steps.
Tonight, there are no optionals with dinner, so we have an included meal. It is a buffet in the hotel with roast pork, chicken or fish. Very nice and we leave stuffed full.
Tomorrow we have breakfast and bags out at 7 and leave at 8 for a trip around Cornwall.
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