…..but it went much better than I had dared hope for. I got up early and left Southampton and intentionally took a small off-road north just to get used to open road driving on the left side. The road turned out to be REALLY off-road—a narrow 1 ½-lane blacktop that required pulling off to the side every time I met another vehicle but it sent me through small South England villages that literally looked like postcards. I came across old buildings with thatched roofs, the white stucco buildings with the dark wooden timbers like you see in places like Stratford-upon-Avon, and little 
traffic circles with the old village wells and hand pumps in the center. Unfortunately I’m driving a Volkswagen mini-bus and almost never had an opportunity to pull over and take pictures but today, at least, the sun was out, the sky was baby blue and the countryside picture perfect.
I made it up to Andover in about an hour and caught a larger 4-lane motorway east towards Amesbury and made great time until the motorway closed down and then it was 45 minutes of stop-and-go driving until I reached the exit for Stonehenge.
I arrived at Stonehenge about 45 minutes after it opened but the crowds were growing already. By the time I left the parking lot was overflowing. The weather was beautiful while I was there and I got some great photos. For a World Heritage Site it is not very developed but also, not very commercialized. I guess since they don’t really know what it was there’s not a lot they can tell visitors but I got an audio headset and walked around the site. As they pointed out this site was ancient when the Romans were here—created about 5050 years ago with some of the stones brought in over 240 miles from Wales. It does match up with the sun so we know that it was used as a calendar and is still incredibly accurate today. It’s thought it may also have been used as a sacrificial altar, an observatory for the heavens, and a memorial to something. It is imposing and very impressive.
After leaving Stonehenge, I made a 2 ½ hour drive to Chelmsford which required my driving to the ring road around London and exiting toward the east coast of the island. It went amazingly
well and I found my hotel right off. It’s an old inn—I don’t know how old, but vastly different from the modern hotel I stayed at in Southampton. It’s very quaint, though, and I’m looking forward to spending a week here.
Compared to Southampton, which was destroyed during the war and mostly rebuilt since, Chelmsford is a very old city—the welcome sign says it was authorized as a market town by King John in 1199. It has some old Roman aqueducts and other antiquities and the downtown area looks very “English.” I’m not all that far from Cambridge so if you’re familiar with that area—this is the same architecture.
Tomorrow is Sunday so I’ll get my bearings some more and start my second week of work…..
traffic circles with the old village wells and hand pumps in the center. Unfortunately I’m driving a Volkswagen mini-bus and almost never had an opportunity to pull over and take pictures but today, at least, the sun was out, the sky was baby blue and the countryside picture perfect.I made it up to Andover in about an hour and caught a larger 4-lane motorway east towards Amesbury and made great time until the motorway closed down and then it was 45 minutes of stop-and-go driving until I reached the exit for Stonehenge.
I arrived at Stonehenge about 45 minutes after it opened but the crowds were growing already. By the time I left the parking lot was overflowing. The weather was beautiful while I was there and I got some great photos. For a World Heritage Site it is not very developed but also, not very commercialized. I guess since they don’t really know what it was there’s not a lot they can tell visitors but I got an audio headset and walked around the site. As they pointed out this site was ancient when the Romans were here—created about 5050 years ago with some of the stones brought in over 240 miles from Wales. It does match up with the sun so we know that it was used as a calendar and is still incredibly accurate today. It’s thought it may also have been used as a sacrificial altar, an observatory for the heavens, and a memorial to something. It is imposing and very impressive.
After leaving Stonehenge, I made a 2 ½ hour drive to Chelmsford which required my driving to the ring road around London and exiting toward the east coast of the island. It went amazingly
well and I found my hotel right off. It’s an old inn—I don’t know how old, but vastly different from the modern hotel I stayed at in Southampton. It’s very quaint, though, and I’m looking forward to spending a week here.Compared to Southampton, which was destroyed during the war and mostly rebuilt since, Chelmsford is a very old city—the welcome sign says it was authorized as a market town by King John in 1199. It has some old Roman aqueducts and other antiquities and the downtown area looks very “English.” I’m not all that far from Cambridge so if you’re familiar with that area—this is the same architecture.
Tomorrow is Sunday so I’ll get my bearings some more and start my second week of work…..
1 comment:
People from outer space built Stonehenge, every one knows that!
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