A Day Along the Avon River - 8/14

We started our tour today.  I got a seat on the bus and Judith sat bedside me. She is also single traveling alone. We started talking and immediately got along.  As we stop throughout the day, we just automatically stayed together.  As we stop for the night, the tour guide informs us we will be roommates. I couldn't have asked for a better roommate.

Stonehenge.   

Our first stop is Stonehenge. There is a lot of speculation on why Stonehenge was created and how it was done. They are able to figure out some things, but much remains a mystery.

So we all know about the rocks of Stonehenge, but there were a few things I was not aware:

1. There are burial mounts (they call them cursus barrows) all over the area around Stonehenge. These remind me of Serpent Mound in southern Ohio, except they are just big, unconnected piles.  They are from the bronze era, many years after Stonehenge was built
2. Nearby is something called the Stonehenge cursus. It was built before Stonehenge, about 3500 BC. A cursus is a man-made trench that forms a geometric shape.  This one can only be totally seen from above (because of its size), and is long and somewhat thin. It reminds me of an airplane runway (not to start any crazy speculation). It is defined by the grooves dug into the ground.

Construction of Stonehenge occurred over 2000  years.  It started 5000 years ago with a circular trench.  500 years later, stones were moved from 250 miles away in Wales. No one really knows how they moved the 5 ton rocks that distance.

Then 3000 years ago the rocks were rearranged and new ones added (these came from closer) to create the remnants of what we have today.  They added an "avenue".

Beaker People Dwelling

On the two equinoxes, the sun would shine up the avenue and into the center of the stones.  They were also able to predict eclipses and star rotations using these rocks.

We went to the Stonehenge museum. Outside was a re-creation of a small indigenous village with houses and tools recreated based on archeological sites.  Many of the tools were similar to the tools the native Americans of Lake County used.

Roman Bathhouse

Next we went to Bath, named for the Roman bathhouse that was once built on the natural springs here. Judith and I toured the bathhouse and museum.  Again, using archaeological information, they recreated much of the structure of the past.  The water in the big pool was green, and to me looked really nasty. I have no idea if the original was like that, but I sure wouldn't want to bath in it today.

The Storm is Restrained

Last we went to the Bath Abbey. The front was beautiful in white and red. The best part was the diptychs. These are artwork of the passion on Christ dinner in needlework.  The woman who made them took 3000 hours over twice month to complete all 35 pieces.

After Bath we headed to Bristol for the night.  Bristol is blue collar meets historical buildings.  Judith and I went for a walk along the Avon River.  The next morning I found that if we had walked further, we would have seen some better areas, but not by much.

Bristol Church

Just outside of Bristol is the Clifton Suspension Bridge built by Isambard Brunel (who names there son Isambard?). Brunel was an engineering genius of the 19th century. Unfortunately, not all his ideas were practical or successful. But he did achieve several engineering firsts.