Monday, 18 November 2019
The alarm went off at 7 AM because we plan on being at Salisbury Cathedral by 9 AM and wanted to eat breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast and just happens to be where we stayed last night...Wetherspoon. After breakfast, we headed straight to the Cathedral.
Salisbury Cathedral was completed in 1258. It is a beautiful place that holds one of the original copies of the Magna Carta.
Salisbury Cathedral was completed in 1258. It is a beautiful place that holds one of the original copies of the Magna Carta.
The cloister is beautiful.
The Magna Carta is inside that booth. The Magna Carta, dating to 1215, is to England what the Constitution is to the United States. This is one of four orignal Magna Carta's that exist. The one here is know to be the best preserved. Of the other three, one is in Lincoln Castle and two are in the British Library in London.
No photographs are allowed of the Magna Carta, but here is what it looks like:
After this live history show we walked back to the car via another historic site. I am standing in the exact location where on 4 March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the UK's intelligence services, and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Both survived, but this led to the British government accusing Russia of attempted murder and announced a series of punitive measures against Russia, including the expulsion of diplomats, on the 14 March.
The poisoning occurred here.
We returned to the car and headed to a bucket list location...Stonehenge. We arrived around 11 AM, skipped the museum for now, and headed straight to the stones. From the visitor center you can walk the 1.25 miles, or take the bus. We decided to take the bus since we are trying to beat the afternoon crowd.
Stonehenge is believed to have been built between 3000 and 1500 BCE and used as a cremation cemetary, and functions as a celestial calendar.
When you arrive at the formation, you walk clockwise around the stones while listening to an audio tour. We took over 50 photos but here are a few of the better ones.
Stonehenge is believed to have been built between 3000 and 1500 BCE and used as a cremation cemetary, and functions as a celestial calendar.
When you arrive at the formation, you walk clockwise around the stones while listening to an audio tour. We took over 50 photos but here are a few of the better ones.
Stonehenge with audio tour.
This is the "heel stone" which lines up the sun and the alter in the center of the stone formation.
Heel Stone
This is a Station Stone. There used to be 4 of these stones marking the corners of a rectangle. Now 2 of these survive.
Station Stone
After spending about 50 minutes walking around and contemplating Stonehenge, we headed back to the bus. We decided to get off at the halfway point and walk around some more of the standing stones in the area. It took us about 30 minutes to walk back to the museum and took a walk around. At this point there were bunches of children, so we quickly checked out the exhibit.
Here is a skeleton they found on the grounds. He was excavated in 1864 and is believed to have died between 3630 and 3360 BCE. I love when they extrapolate a face on the skull.
Here is a skeleton they found on the grounds. He was excavated in 1864 and is believed to have died between 3630 and 3360 BCE. I love when they extrapolate a face on the skull.
We went to the cafeteria and had pasties for lunch which were pretty good. We then headed to Chagford, 2 hours east, where we are spending the next 2 nights. It took us a bit to find the house since the road is under construction, but we finally found it. Tim loved that it had a wood burning fireplace.
Tomorrow we are doing a driving tour around Darmoor National Park. It is a pretty long drive with some hiking so we want to get an early start. Until then...
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