Day 27...Ave some tea and a stone circle then? - 23rd July

Woke up early completely buggered and wanting to die. Headed off really early and got out of the city fairly quickly. Everyone says that England is urban sprawl but I liked it very much and thought there was plenty of countryside. Now by that (in hindsight now that I'm writing this out of the country) I mean farmland country. There are no forests left. You can't wander around and get lost without walking onto a road or into a house or something. But it's still nice. When in the country in England you feel like your are way out deep in the boondocks but only a few minutes from the highway!

Anyways, we headed to Amesbury, as nearby was Woodhenge and Stonehenge. We went to Woodhenge first and I'm glad we did as it was kinda crap. Woodhenge is like Stonehenge but it was a structure made of wood. (as your can probably surmise). The wood was all gone but they have replaced it with concrete so it was pretty bad. But there was farmland surrounding it and sheep and stuff so it was ok. Oh, and another thing- there was another group with a dog and staffy's are the dog of choice here. New York was pugs and French Bulldogs, england is staffys along with the Yorkshire terrier.

But I digress. Stonehenge was next! Apparently there was woodland all around Stonehenge back in the day but is now all grassy and flat. So we saw it from a distance driving in and it was so huge and surrounded by heaps of people. There was a Y intersection on either side of it but the roads weren't that big and were pretty far away than what we expected. (From what we heard, Stonehenge was sitting ON the highway surrounded by chainlink fence). We got in for free again due to our National Trust membership and went underneath the road and through to the site (inside the fence). As we came up and out through the tunnel- there it was! After all the pondering over photos and yearning and daydreaming about it, it was standing right in front of us. They let you get much closer than we anticipated, so it was definately a nice surprise. Stonehenge looked different from every angle and as we walked around it, the challenge was not getting any other gawkers in the shot. I'm sure we were doing it to everyone else on the other side, but it was frustrating lining up a great shot, then having some doofus walk into your lense scratching his balls and pointing at it. I was so excited to be there and hugged Nate a lot. In the usual English way, the interior barrier was simply a rope about 1 foot off the ground and not to be walked over. But that was it. It was so tempting to throw your clothes off and run screaming through it just once, much to the bemusent of all the onlookers (and Nate). However the Heritage authorities were there, and the fuzz as well so it was best not to be attempted.
The sky was a mittled grey and added to the ambience of the whole experience (complete with rabbit hopping along in the grass at one point). It was fun trying to imagine the people there thousands of years ago building that thing and worshipping there. After that, we drove off and gave each other a high five - too right! We were both really pleased with that experience.

After Amesbury we headed north thorugh pretty English countryside (our photos just didn't do it justice) up to Avebury to the Avebury stone circle. As Avebury is not as photogenic as Stonehenge it is not as famous, but it is 500 years older and the largest stone circle in England or the UK or some such thing. A town has built intself actually in the circle (town being 5 houses, a pub and a church) so we ate the best ham sandwich and beef &ale pie ever whilst overlooking the stones. Again it was free parking due to our Trust Membership (this thing rocks, I recommend you sign up before going to england) and we headed off into the stones. The stones were lengthways up, jutting up towards the sky in sheep covered farmland. On the outside of that was a small man-made valley all the way around to keep the circle elevated and separate. How they managed that 6000 years ago I don't know. I would have given up without a tractor.
So we walked around the village, trying to get shots without the other tourists in them. However there was one old biddy who had set up a deckchair next to one (but not in the shade) and was just sitting there with a white hat on. I fell in love with her and took heaps of shots of her. hee hee. I thought she was fantastic.

At one point, I wasn't looking where i was going (I was looking all doe eyed at a stone probably) and stepped full footed into a pile of fresh poo (we were walking around in some guys farmland. They're pretty good about it, tourists were everywhere). Nathan was very pleased watching it moosh out of the holes in my shoe. I aim to please.

The surrounding area of Avesbury had other prehistoric stuff like a massive stone hill and tombs and stuff. It was so impressive to see what they made with only rudimentary tools and by hand no less! It was hard to imagine that we were looking at sites almost, or as old, as the pyramids. Nathan said it was quite impressive. We also ducked into the local museum for a quick look at the artefacts they had found there (you guessed it - free again) At some point in the 1300's the Christian villagers tried to destroy the stones by burying some of them. When they were re-erected they found a body of a man from the 1300's under one. He was most likely a doctor who was helping the villagers and got crushed to death under one. Sucked in. His surgical instruments in the museum were cool - very precise for that time when you think of it. They also had the body of a child from 4000 years ago, discovered in one of the wedge tombs in the area.

After that we dashed oto the ferry port which was at the port of Pemsbroke, in Wales. Wales was the same as England with its countryside but its signs and info now all had Welsh writing under it. It was a weird language with lots of letters without vowels breaking it up. EG: Dunnllroggbll or Fyroddlyrdd. Hah!

We also did a quick stop at a Roman arena. I couldn't comprehend it was from that era, it looked like normal stones and concrete, not laid by Roman hands. I also couldn't believe they had gotten this far north. Not a bad effort eh lads.

The ferry wasn't scheduled till 2.45am (we thought we were smart by saving cash and would get some sleep in the car) and arriving at 6.45am. We waited at the terminal and tried to catch some sleep but couldn't. Then I had to drive us onto the ferry anyway. Once on, everyone disappeared upstairs and we couldn't figure out what they were up to! So we tried to curl up in the car and couldn't find a comfy position no matter what! After much huffing and wriggling, I finally managed a position when there was a knock on the car door. "No passengers allowed in the holding area". Crap! We were so tired we decided to fork out the extra cash for a cabin so we trudged upstairs only to find out that it was booked out. I had to laugh though, it was such a nightmare and we were so tired, but what can you do? Nate was like me as well. Other people were sleeping in the lounge and restaurant areas and had already taken the booth lounges and other good spots (so that was where they were disappearing to!) Nate and I lay on the floor with the lights blasting in our faces, hearing a pokie machine on one side of our head, and some kids arcade game whooping and boinging on the other. We grinned at each other, by now it was prolly around 4am and what could we do eh? So we tried to catch some sleep and I think I got about 1/2 an hour which is better than nothing I guess...