July 5

July 5 – Stonehenge, Avebury, and Bath

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Stonehenge

Today, Lisa was our tour guide as we visited Stonehenge, Avebury, and Bath.

Stonehenge has the reputation for a site whose fame outshines its impression. The narration on the self-guided tour is important to your impressions of Stonehenge since the stones themselves are static the history and speculation surrounding Stonehenge is the principle attraction. The narration is contained on a handheld device containing recordings cued up by to numbers at particular locations. Most of the sites we visited in England offered this self-guided tour for a price that is much higher than expected due to the high exchange rate.

The narration at Stonehenge is important as there are parts of the site that would be missed unless someone pointed them out. For example, there are slight parallel indentations in the ground from the site leading over the hills to the river in the distance. These indentations outline what is believed to be an avenue over which processions came to Stonehenge from the river. In fact, the stones themselves were quarried elsewhere and transported to this site, probably by that river.

Lisa suggested we also visit Avebury where more of these oddly placed stones could be seen. Avebury is a village built in the center of the highest man-made mound in Europe from the Bronze Age. The mound is surrounded by what appears to be a drained moat. Large stones circle the perimeter of the mound.

Our attention to the stones was diverted periodically to the sheep droppings that dotted the ground. Sheep are used here as organic lawn mowers with the natural consequences of wet black globs to be avoided.

We ended our Avebury tour with lunch in the Red Lion Pub. Lisa bought us a novel by Robert Goddard, a popular writer in the UK, that begins its story in this very pub.

Bath, our final destination for the day, is named after the Roman baths in the center of the lower part of town, and, if you do not know where they are, you are unlikely to find them since no signs on the street point the way.

After parking and asking directions from a shop keeper, we at last found the baths. The sign to look for is “The King’s Bath.” Before the Roman baths were discovered, the springs feeding the baths were tapped for royal bathing, which was an infrequent event until the nineteenth century. We learned that Elizabeth I is reported to have taken a bath once a year, so you can imagine how few baths the common man must have taken!

However, unlike the old British royalty, the Romans took pleasure in a daily bath. The English discovered the full extent of the Romans’ bathing delight. Up until then, given that the city of Bath had been built over the top of the collapsed roof of the Roman baths, they had forgotten all about them. It was not until engineers investigating wet basements in that part of town rediscovered them. The government bought up the homes, removed them, and excavated the area.

The central pool was restored and the underground spring feeds it with ninety-degree warm water as it did in the Roman era. Further excavation uncovered chambers where stoves created steam rooms and individual pools for the sick and injured seeking a cure.

Above ground is the “Pump Room” where you can sample a glass of the water taken from the spring. Warm and mildly metallic was my opinion. The room is also a tea room. It was afternoon tea time, so Lisa treated us to high tea. A three-tier tray of sandwiches and sweets was set before us. This is an English tradition I could get in to.

Upon our return, the rain fell in buckets, washing over the low spots in the road. Lisa told us this torrent was unusual. It rains a lot in England, but light and misty, which was our experience for the balance of the trip. Keep rain gear handy