10 June ’05, Friday. Ancient Stonehenge
I was told that I had misspelled Stourhead by leaving out the “t” in my last journal…sorry about that, I guess that having only misspelled one word in the last 14 months of writing this journal isn’t too bad…
Leaving Stourhead, we headed again east. Our next stop and campground was going to be in Salisbury. It was a fairly short drive of about 1 ½ hours, and it turned out to be a very nice site and a good nights sleep. We were on our way by 10am and heading back the same way we came in. 7 miles out, and we were pulling into the parking lot to see the great and ancient stone circle of Stonehenge. This is one of the oldest sites we have seen in a long time. The remnants of Stonehenge date back between 3000BC and 1600BC. This monument is a circular structure, that is aligned with the rising of the sun at the solstice. They are still not sure just what purpose this structure was for, but it is impressive. These huge stones had to be carried hundreds of miles over land and water to get them right to the right spot. Then that were shaped and raised into position, as we see some of them today. They tell us, and I’m sure it’s true, it took a very sophisticated society to have had the total design and construction skills to put this together. There is a lot of very interesting things written about Stonehenge, and I’m not going to put them all here, so you are on your own to learn more. Now we are going to take a little detour back northwest. We have heard a lot about the “White Horse” that was carved into the chalk hillside just outside of Westbury. Another amazing site, but maybe not quite up to the hype. There is no doubt, it took a lot of work. The overall look of the horse has been changed a little over the centuries, but it didn’t really hurt anything. There are 2 more different sites we would like to see, but let’s take one day at a time. Now a turn around, and head off for the English version of the “Riviera”…Brighton.
I was told that I had misspelled Stourhead by leaving out the “t” in my last journal…sorry about that, I guess that having only misspelled one word in the last 14 months of writing this journal isn’t too bad…
Leaving Stourhead, we headed again east. Our next stop and campground was going to be in Salisbury. It was a fairly short drive of about 1 ½ hours, and it turned out to be a very nice site and a good nights sleep. We were on our way by 10am and heading back the same way we came in. 7 miles out, and we were pulling into the parking lot to see the great and ancient stone circle of Stonehenge. This is one of the oldest sites we have seen in a long time. The remnants of Stonehenge date back between 3000BC and 1600BC. This monument is a circular structure, that is aligned with the rising of the sun at the solstice. They are still not sure just what purpose this structure was for, but it is impressive. These huge stones had to be carried hundreds of miles over land and water to get them right to the right spot. Then that were shaped and raised into position, as we see some of them today. They tell us, and I’m sure it’s true, it took a very sophisticated society to have had the total design and construction skills to put this together. There is a lot of very interesting things written about Stonehenge, and I’m not going to put them all here, so you are on your own to learn more. Now we are going to take a little detour back northwest. We have heard a lot about the “White Horse” that was carved into the chalk hillside just outside of Westbury. Another amazing site, but maybe not quite up to the hype. There is no doubt, it took a lot of work. The overall look of the horse has been changed a little over the centuries, but it didn’t really hurt anything. There are 2 more different sites we would like to see, but let’s take one day at a time. Now a turn around, and head off for the English version of the “Riviera”…Brighton.