Taunton, briefly back to Alvechurch, Avalon Marshes & Salisbury

Taunton town centre 

Taunton didn’t have much to offer it’s true, but it wasn’t a bad day out, we had a lovely Indian meal at the Mattancherry and a good walk (Relive video of route with photos: click here). Wednesday we suddenly found ourselves third in line to have Ted looked at, at Vanbitz, didn’t bode well. Phew, the other two were handovers from yesterday’s installations and Ted was soon in the workshop. It was as Brian suspected, a hungry mouse had chewed a wire, so rewire it all or just bypass the gas locker? Just bypass the gas locker and we’ll be on our way. That’ll be £72 then, they pretended they’d done it within the hour, and were actually pleasant people. We even managed to sell them the pipe holding magnet we’d bought for testing the contacts for £5, which meant the large magnet cost us something like 32p!

Two Roe deer potter past at Avalon Marshes

Whizz up the motorway, and into Redditch for my glasses. I so wanted to put them on and see clearly, but sadly not. Back in on Thursday then, re-measured, back to the first set of measurements, which I’m not particularly happy about, but she has also changed the sort of varifocal to the sort I currently have. So, fingers crossed, tomorrow will be third time lucky.... Mum and I then pottered happily about Redditch for the gifts to go into two charity shoeboxes. Our financial advisor had sent round an email saying that for every shoebox donated by clients or staff, they would match with another. Mum has been knitting hats and scarves for just such boxes so it seemed the perfect opportunity to do something good for Christmas.

Fabulous lunch at The Packhorse

We whipped the boxes over to Leamington on Friday morning before getting back into Ted and heading south again. Not far from where we came from, Mark, near Burnham on sea. Strange campsite, all seasonal caravans, except for two touring pitchers, so we did feel a bit outnumbered, not that many of them were occupied as the site actually closes after this weekend (Coombe Cider Farm location: 51°13'29.5"N 2°54'46.5"W). We had a nice enough stay, but I’m not sure why you’d want your caravan there all the time. Saturday was the milder but greyer of the two days, so we cycled, instead of walking, off to the Avalon nature reserves (see Relive video with photos: click here). We went and hid in the hides, and disturbed serious people with binoculars. The first hide was looking at lots of widgeon, lots of duck like things. They were all having a good time, making lots of silly noises, so we liked them. We were recommended the next hide for possible otter sightings, so off we went. Apparently he’d just seen one in the water when we arrived, but no more sign. Oh well, the roe deer that pottered by did their best to make up for it. We decided, at this point, if we were quick we could make it back to the Packhorse in Mark a pub with an interesting looking menu and good reviews. It was well worth the effort, my crab stuffed fish fillets on a bed of samphire with crayfish and asparagus in a cream sauce was absolutely delicious!

Burnham-on-Sea seafront

Sunday it was cold, as expected, but clear blue sky so we couldn’t stay in. We again headed off on the bikes towards some more nature reserves, until we passed a sign to Burnham on sea. I suggested a change of plan, so off we went to the seaside. Not that we saw the sea, it was out. A long way out, but the mud was very attractive....not. We chained the bikes up outside the tourist information who kindly said they’d put our helmets in the office and suggested a walk along the promenade, through the park and back via the town. Sounded like a plan (see Relive video with photos: click here).

Our campsite in Salisbury with Old Sarum beyond

Monday we finally got to Salisbury. The site is just by Old Sarum, an historic hill fort, and site of the original cathedral (campsite location: 51°05'07.7"N 1°48'05.5"W). Perfect little outing having just arrived (see Relive video with photos: click here). Tuesday, pleasant two mile walk along the river into Salisbury where it was market day. Early Thai lunch at the Giggling Squid before heading to the Cathedral where we were just in time for a free tour, though we’d had to pay to get in. Worth it though, good tour, amazing font, and interesting chat with two of the stonemasons repairing the building. At this point it was getting really cold so we headed back just in time to go back up to Old Sarum for sunset. I declined, and Brian decided tea and cake was more attractive, and we didn’t miss much! See Relive video with photos: click here

View of Salisbury from Old Sarum

Back into Salisbury today for a demonstration of the oldest working church clock in the country, dating from 1386. No face or hands, but it does ring the bells on the hour, when they let it. All levers and pulleys and very interesting. Well worth the effort, and our tickets from yesterday last a year! A walk around Salisbury to see the cathedral from afar, and interesting buildings in the city. We like Salisbury. See Relive video with photos: click here

So third time lucky on the glasses tomorrow? Keep everything crossed!

The outline of the old cathedral in the old iron age hill fort at Old Sarum. It was once part of a thriving community, but was abandoned and demolished in the 1200's once the new cathedral was started. Lack of water supply was one of the main reasons, the River Avon runs through the 'new' Salisbury 

Jackie on the edge of an excavated section of the old cathedral

This shows the inner bank and trench that protected the castle built by William the Conqueror in about 1089. The bridge is modern but was the original access to the inner castle

This was one of the noticeboards and shows an artists impression of what the inner castle may have looked like. The inset shows an impression of local land-owners paying tribute to the new Norman king, William the Conqueror, who had the castle built on the old iron age fort as his new Royal Castle

We were on our way to the Cathedral but stopped off here, at St Thomas' Church and here, above the arch, known as the Chancel Arch, is the Doom painting. It's the largest in England and was painted in about 1475. It was whitewashed over during the Reformation and remained hidden until the 19th century.

Finally we arrived at the amazing Salisbury Cathedral with a spire the highest in England and the third highest in Europe

It's beautifully constructed and was originally highly decorated, much like many Roman Catholic churches we have seen in Europe, but at the Reformation everything was whitewashed over as the power of the church diminished and it's riches were removed and sold off by Henry VIII

This is a modern addition, it's the font and has four small waterfalls at each corner. Perfectly aligned so they all fall at the same volume

And this is an original bit, it's the original clock mechanism that operated the bell that told the town folk the time of day. It is believed to be the oldest working clock in the country, having been dated to 1386, but it never had a clock. In those days people couldn't read a clock and had no use for minutes and seconds, they were only interested in the number of chimes which told them the time of day: seven bells was the time they started work, five bells the time they finished (for example). The right hand side is controlled by a horizontally moving pendulum moving back and forth that engages with a toothed wheel and rotates one full revolution per hour. A pin in the toothed wheel eventually lifts a lever once per hour, the lever  is connected to a shat at the back that has another lever on the left and releases a separate drum with a rope and weight, which starts to revolve. Pins in that wheel operate another lever which pulls on a rope leading up to the bell chime. The wheel on the extreme left has notches in it at increasing gaps that a lever engages in to stop the wheel. The different spacings allow an increased number of chimes to occur before stopping, so we get one chime through to twelve. It's simple yet very clever. It worked from 1386 until about 1880 when it was taken out of service and replaced with a Victorian mechanism. It was refurbished 40 or so years ago and brought back into service, but it isn't left running permanently now, only for demonstrations like we saw today

This is the outside of the cathedral at the base of the tower and you can see these flying buttresses. The tower and spire were built nearly 100 years after the original construction of the cathedral, but the original construction wasn't designed to support such a massive weight. When construction of the tower was under way the pillars inside started to deform, so these buttresses were added to give sufficient strength. Inside you can still see the deformed pillars, but we are told it is safe! It has been here for seven hundred years, so we suppose it's OK!

We then took a walk across fields to this Old Mill as we'd been told you get an excellent view of the cathedral across field and one John Constable painted. I decided to try to recreate his famous painting...

Here's our effort...

And here's John Constables. I guess I didn't do a very good job! Here's the credit for this photo: By John Constable - The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149396  

Stonehenge to Glastonbury Tor

Iconic Stonehenge and the summer solstice stone

Stonehenge, perhaps 4 to 5000 years old and Glastonbury Tor believed by some to be the legendary Isle of Avalon, a possible location of the Holy Grail and links to King Arthur and Guinevere are two places we've explored in the last week.

It's my second visit to Stonehenge, the first, probably nearly sixty years ago was very different from today. The same stones, but now they are fenced off (except for the summer solstice) and English Heritage want you to pay £19.50 per adult, £17.50 seniors (off season rate, more in the summer). For that you can visit a museum at the visitor centre 1.5 miles away and get a free shuttle bus to the stones. We didn't do that, we got our bikes out at the Stonehenge Touring Park (grid ref: 51°12'27.1"N 1°54'54.5"W), 3.5 miles away and, taking our route from the campsite owner (nice bit of local knowledge) headed firstly north on a bridleway, fine for our full suspension mountain bikes, and then east on a tarmac path adjacent to a military base on Salisbury Plain for a couple of miles, then south to the visitors centre and the along the old A303 road (now gated and restricted to walkers, cyclists and the shuttle bus) to Stonehenge (grid ref: 51°10'42.6"N 1°49'34.1"W).

A sign you don't see everyday. We wanted to see a tank!

The cycle alongside the military base was fun, just a huge open plain that the Royal Artillery use for target practice. On the way back we did see some military vehicles towing big guns through the bushes and some military personnel, but we didn't see any action. We really wanted to see at least one tank rumbling by on the gravel track the other side of our tarmaced public bridal way, but despite the frequent signs indicating tanks, the red flag flying, indicating danger, don't trespass, you might get shot and 'don't pick anything up, it might explode', we didn't see anything of real note. A pity, but it did feel mildly exciting, particularly when we weren't entirely sure we should have been there. The man walking his dog that we passed did reassure us it was OK (and also pointed out a track we could use to see some old tank wrecks that are used for target practise. It was when he mentioned the steep hill we'd have to cycle up that Jackie switched off and gave a definite 'no'). Decided not to take any photos, they can get funny and, abroad, you risk getting locked up. Not worth the risk (have a look at our short Relive video showing our route with photos: click here).

The concrete markers at Woodhenge

Back to Stonehenge and, as we arrived we took the public bridleway that leads to a track on the other side of the low wire fence. The track taken by those who have paid lots of money is the other side of the fence, so they are perhaps 2m closer to the stones than those who haven't paid. We'd heard this and decided we'd rather use the money saved for a meal out. It apparently is possible to walk within the stone circle by purchasing VIP passes at even greater expense, but having already done that for free many years ago it was not on our 'must do' list.

What they think Woodhenge may have looked like

Archaeologists believe they were built sometime between 2000 and 3000BC (1000 years is quite a range!) and there is evidence of settlements there up to 8000 years ago. Old they definitely are, intricate for the time they definitely are, the horizontal bits spanning the verticals (they probably have a name but I don't know it) appear to be held in place by a raised blob at the top of a vertical fitting into a corresponding hole in the horizontal. The verticals are estimated to weigh 25 tonnes and the horizontals less, but still considerable. How did they construct them? Was the stone sourced somewhere in South Wales and brought here? Are the central Bluestones from a previous stone circle that were re-used and brought here? How did they get them here and get them upright? But, most of all: why? No-body really knows but the 'experts' put forward their informed ideas, but that's all they are, ideas. Aligned so sunrise on midsummers day falls in an exact spot always means druids and people with pagan beliefs come here in their droves at midsummer, and the reason they open it up for that one day, but according to the security guard we chatted to, midwinter and the equinoxes draw huge crowds too (the midwinter one less so 'cause its cold!). We stopped and chatted to the hippy type lady sitting crosslegged in line with the midsummer marker who she said was praying for peace in the world, a noble gesture, lets hope it does some good. She told us we should go to Woodhenge, about 2 miles away so, getting back on our bikes, off we went.

Our lovely campsite in Glastonbury at the foot of the Tor (on the left in the distance)

The route goes along The Drovers track with views all the way back to Stonehenge. Our Searchforsites app told us there is free motorhome camping to be had there and the many motorhomes and tents there confirmed this. It did look a bit like a gypsy camp, the track was very pot holed and we wouldn't have fancied bringing Big Ted down there, nor have felt that safe. We'd rather pay £17 in a nice campsite with toilets, showers and free wifi. Are we getting old?

Brutus the friendly camp cat

Anyway, we finally arrived at Woodhenge after cycling past many military houses behind barbed wire fences and found it on top of a hill (of course) with great views all around. Woodhenge, the clue's in the name, it was made of wood, long since rotted away. The holes found in the ground now have low concrete pillars installed showing the rough layout and showing that it was aligned to summer solstice sunrise and winter solstice sunset. Free to go in this one and it was quite interesting. The information board told a lot about what they found and had their usual ideas about what it may have looked like, including an artists impression, which may have been correct, or could be completely wrong. No-one knows. So, apart from my 5km run from the campsite towards the military base and back (I have only one run left on the Couch to 5km app now) that was our trip to Stonehenge. 

He was the softest cat and made Big Ted his own

Approaching the top of the Tor

We did make a phonecall to Vanbitz, the people in Taunton who fitted the alarm and immobiliser on Big Ted when he was new. It has been working well up until getting him out of storage but now its registering a fault. We went through their self help website, isolating each of the sensors in turn, but couldn't find it (we bet a mouse has chewed through one of the wires!) so rang them up. They won't talk to us as it was still registered to the original owners. If we send them a copy of the V5 (vehicle registration document) and £40 they'll change it to us. I lost my sense of humour at this point and told him what I thought, so I had to leave it to Jackie after that. We paid the £40, Jackie phoned them but they told us nothing more than we knew. They'll have to book it into their workshop at £72 per hour (it could take 2 hours) and, if we want to we can use their campsite at £22, next to their workshop on the edge of Taunton. We booked it in for Tuesday 16th booked the campsite for the nights of 15th and 16th and rearranged our booking at Salisbury for the following week that was now conflicting with that. All good we thought, until John back in Alvechurch emailed our post through, which contained a letter from Vanbitz confirming our appointment for 23rd November! A phone call today to the same man we spoke to confirmed that. We both heard 16th, we wrote it down, but he claims he had said 23rd. No he didn't! However, he has a cancellation on Wednesday 17th so hopefully we should get it sorted. Not very impressed so far with Vanbitz though. Guess I'll have to hold my tongue on Wednesday!   

The the arch of St Michaels church

We left Stonehenge Touring Park and headed for Glastonbury Cottage Camping (grid ref: 51°08'30.5"N 2°41'47.9"W) at the bottom of Glastonbury Tor and 1.5 miles outside of Glastonbury itself. Sticking straight out of relatively flat landscape the Tor is quite a sight and rightly takes it's place in legend and mythology. The flat land around is at or below sealevel and used to be one huge bog, so it's quite possible the Tor did indeed look like a little Isle in the middle of a lake. It's from this that people have the idea that it is the legendary Isle of Avalon and linked to King Arthur and Guinevere and, on top are the ruins of St Michaels church, partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1275. Some believe King Arthur was brought up here after being injured in battle, others believe the Holy Grail is buried somewhere here. Legend also has it that the bodies of King Arthur and Guinevere we discovered in a grave in the grounds of the Abbey after it was destroyed by a fire in the 1100's. The skeletons were entwined with one another apparently and other things were found to support this theory. The monks who discovered them reburied them inside the Abbey. As word spread money rolled into the town which helped to rebuild the Abbey. Good marketing by the monks? Perish the thought! Anyway, on the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII the remains disappeared, never to be seen again, so all we are left with now is the outline of a grave inside the ruined Abbey with a placard explaining this. It's a nice story anyway, whether or not it's true!

Fabulous views from the summit of the Tor

Views on the way down from the Tor

We saw the Abbey and grave during a tour of the ruins and grounds of the once massive Abbey, it's very peaceful and we felt our visit was worthwhile and it's nice to submerge yourself in these myths and legends, a nice escape! We wanted to see the thorn tree that apparently sprouted from the staff of one of the abbots, now considered holy and we located it, a fairly small tree in the corner of the grounds and a bit of an anti climax. Was it really the original tree? I must stop doubting these things!

The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury does seem to be the hippy centre of the world, ley lines apparently converge here to add to the mysticism and every other shop appears to be offering hippy clothes, crystals or offering readings. The smell of joss sticks is almost overpowering. It's actually a fun place to be and people smile and are kind. Jackie thought she could become a hippy!

The plaque there says this was the place the monks found the remains of King Arthur and Guenevieve

And this was their reburial site, now empty

We went in twice, the first day after walking over Glastonbury Tor and then into town for that meal from the money saved from Stonehenge. The Crown, as recommended by the campsite owner had fabulous Thai and Vietnamese food which was so tasty, the beer was good and the atmosphere great. Everyone was kind! The second time we went in via another cross country walk to see Gog and Magog, two very old oak trees thought to be over 1000 years old (grid ref: 51°09'03.1"N 2°41'08.0"W). Gog had been damaged in a fire in 2017 and was definitely dead, but Magog still had living branches on a thick, gnarly old trunk. I took photos and I believe that they are over 1000 years old. I'm being kind!

And this is said to be the thorn tree that sprouted from an abbots staff. Looks a bit young to me, but what do |I know?

Gog and Magog 1000 year old oak trees

We stayed on Glastonbury Cottage Campsite for Sunday night, our third day and we were there completely on our own. Friday and Saturday nights were very busy, the five pitches all occupied but, by Sunday lunchtime everyone had packed up and gone home so we stayed on watching the sunset (just about) and watched the crowds of people on top of the Tor also watching the sunset. Should we have joined them? No, it was barely a sunset, just cracks in the cloud through which the setting sun poked through, the sky did go a nice shade of orange but nothing dramatic, but it was quite cool. Glad we stayed in and watched it through the window with a nice GnT with crisps!

One of the many murals in Glastonbury

Today we packed up and headed to the Vanbitz campsite on the edge of Taunton. It's called the Cornish Farm Touring Park (grid ref: 50°59'29.6"N 3°05'30.1"W) and, actually it's very pleasant. Very well laid out with spotless facilities, it really is very, very nice. I think I was secretly hoping it was going to be horrible to confirm my negative feelings towards Vanbitz! We have a day tomorrow in Taunton, which doesn't seem to have anything major going for it, it doesn't even get a mention in our Lonely Planet guide, but I'm sure there will be things to entertain us. Wednesday morning is the day we take Big Ted into the workshop just across the way from the campsite. I think I'll have to sit on my hands and say nothing, at least until they've fixed it. Who knows, they might be nice people, I just have to put my negative feelings to the back of my mind and smile!

Our lovely campsite in Taunton

After that, briefly back to Alvechurch to pick up new glasses for Jackie that are now ready and then back down to Salisbury. 

Off travelling again!

Jenny & Abbie, Brian's youngest and Eldest granddaughters

It’s been all go since the last blog. My new glasses arrived at the opticians, hurrah. I put them on and thought hmmm. “Take them away” she said. I did but actually went back that same afternoon as they just didn’t feel right. Book for a retest, soonest in 11 days time! The retest came out pretty much the same, but they have agreed perhaps the positioning is wrong. They are remaking the first pair, but won’t remake the second pair until I’ve worn and am happy with the first pair. So 10-14 days to make, a week or so to try, and then 10-14 days for the second pair probably means I won’t get them in time for ferry crossing to Spain on the 9th December. There are later ferry crossings, but they get even more expensive, and have no cabins left for a sailing with two overnights!

Up with the kitchen floor at Abi's

We went over to Abi on the Thursday to see her and Sooty (who hasn’t been completely well) and to take up the kitchen floor. This has been a long brewing problem we’ve tried to ignore. The concrete under the Lino has swollen and cracked. My fear was they’d damaged a pipe or something when they knocked through the wall to make the doorway into the conservatory. Abi’s worry was that the marine plywood and joists were going to be rotted away and the underfloor was going to be full of mushrooms! In the end, a combination of the two, it was damaged concrete, but due to the freezer that had regularly defrosted itself, one rotten joist and some bits of floorboard. We took as much up as was needed, cleared away a good chunk, before making it safe for her builder friend to come in and fix, at some point! It could have been so much worse!

Friday mum had her Covid booster before we met up with Jan (who we saw a few weeks ago in Daventry) and her daughter-in-law Kelly, both of whom mum used to work with at Hanbury Hall. Lovely of them to come and visit.

Three of the many Alvechurch scarecrows on display

Saturday I had my flu jab. Only Brian to go on that then, who knew there was a different flu jab for under and over 65’s? He has managed to book his though, for the 3rd December, as I have managed to book my Covid booster. Mum and I then spent an enjoyable hour and a half wandering Alvechurch looking at all the fabulous scarecrows  constructed for the Alvechurch scarecrow festival.

Sunday was John’s 60th birthday, which was why we were back in the Midlands rather than travelling in Ted. 25 of us descended on The Old Crown pub in Digbeth for a very good Sunday lunch. We’d been invited by Helen and Richard and told it was a surprise, which I thought was horrible. Fortunately he had been told the week before as it was an emotional enough day without that too. By the end of the afternoon there was just Brian and I, Helen and Richard and John left to get the 18.15 train back after what had been an enjoyable but difficult day.

John blowing out his 60th birthday candles flanked by Sarah's parent's Richard and Helen at his Old Crown Inn party

Brian's daughter Fiona with Oscar cat and Jenny

Monday as we had a ‘free’ day Brian thought he’d see if Fiona was available. Surprisingly she was, after a very busy weekend with all 5 of her bridesmaids in attendance, they’d been to the wedding fair at the NEC, then to a bridal shop in town for bridesmaids dresses, followed by another bridal shop on the Sunday for Fiona’s dress. A busy but successful weekend left her with a day off to chill so we popped over for lunch. And left 7 hours later!

Tuesday mum and I went to Sainsbury’s on the bus to do a ‘proper shop’ to make sure she doesn’t starve when we go away. Bus pass and shopping trolley to the fore it all went well, though I wouldn’t recommend her getting on and off the bus with as much stuff as I did. Then to the library to explore the whole new world of audio books, she’s borrowed a set of CD’s and we’ve worked out how to download eAudiobooks to her phone, and how to get them into the nice little speaker we have waiting for the memory stick with more books onto arrive from the RNIB. Isn’t modern technology wonderful?

Taking the car door to bits to unjam the window

Wednesday, I was taxi service to Redditch for the stroke association meeting before B and I went to see Rob and Alex. Lovely to see them and have a gentle chat.

Thursday the Occupational Health assessor came round to see if there are any modifications to be done to the house. Apart from the rail Brian has already fitted in the bathroom it would appear not, which is good news. She did feel slightly odd with a strange man asking to see her sit on the loo and get into bed... just as well we were there! Then off to Denise and Paul for Brian to put an extra socket in the living room and change the stop tap on the washing machine. He did well, both jobs went remarkably smoothly. Shame the same couldn’t be said of our departure. Driving away, waving out of the window, as is traditional, he went to raise the electric window which made a horrible noise and refused to move! We managed to pull it half way up, and stick a bin bag over it, but that was it for the evening. Thank goodness it wasn’t wet or windy!

Door window fixed (sort of). It'll never open again, it's held up with a piece of wood inside the door and that wire hanging is part of the old winding mechanism that will pull the window up if the wood becomes dislodged. Bodgit and Scarper at their best!

Bid Ted parked up at our first pub stop overnight

Friday was meant to be getting Ted out of storage, but fixing the window took priority. It’s amazing what info you can get from the internet and with John’s help, supplying tools, bits of wood, cable ties... we now have a safe, if non functioning, window. Still time for Ted, so that was Friday and Saturday taken care of, with a quick trip out for Brian to get his Covid booster.

Sunday we were meeting Jonathan and Lucy halfway between them and us, not to swap mother, but to swap her car. The DVLA have said her eyes aren’t good enough for driving so Jonathan has had the car for Charles and Caroline to learn to drive in. Lovely to see them but the closing of a chapter for mum. Back in time to have my eye retest before collecting Helen and Ian to go into town for a Sunday tea club with all the usual suspects, and Manu’s daughter Elizabeth. Great evening, fabulous food, yum.

Second stop and the campsite cat is very friendly

Monday we got our act together and left in Ted for a few days away. A pub stop (Grid Ref: 51°49'19.5"N 2°05'04.6"W) for our first night gave some good food, but also the discovery that the alarm on the van isn’t working. We arrived at our campsite near Stonehenge (Grid ref: 51°12'27.1"N 1°54'54.5"W) ready to do as many diagnostics as we could. We’d stopped en route to buy a big magnet, ( where do you get a big magnet from? Tool station as it turns out, with some very helpful staff) to use to check one half of the alarm sensors on the 7 alarmed doors/lockers. None of those, next step, short the sensors together one by one. Hmm, none of those. Back on the phone to the installer, who wouldn’t talk to us without £40 to transfer the details of ownership from the person who bought the van. Explained what we’d done.

Stonehenge Touring Park - it's very nice!

Looks like next step is to take it to them. By a stroke of good luck, we are currently in Stonehenge, moving on to Glastonbury and they are in Taunton, where our availability fits in with their availability. Could take some time for them to find a broken wire, but fingers crossed..... After spending hours messing with this we then moved on to the new aerial for the TV, spangly new one with powered booster, but still no picture! After much retuning, reinstalling the old aerial, which would be easy except the whole tv has to be removed from its cupboard for access, and cursing and swearing we still have no tv. Perhaps we really are in a black hole?

So today, finally, we have chilled, a little walk this morning, reserving a ferry space and blog writing. Tomorrow we will actually go and look at Stonehenge ......

Orcheston parish church in the village our campsite is in

Saw this on a couple of buildings in Orcheston village. They were built after a great flood on 16th January 1841 to help the losses incurred by the poor of this and five neighbouring villages. What a great thing to have done! We took a walk through this and the neighbouring villages earlier and saw the location of the river Till that caused the flood, it's tiny and, in fact it was a dry ditch at the moment, hardly anything. Amazing that it could have possibly caused such damage. I found the story of it on the internet, you can read the full story here. It was caused by a rapid thaw two days after a heavy snow storm, destroying 36 homes, killing three people and making 200 homeless. Ann Doughty wrote a remarkable account of it on the web page above, it's worth a read

Fabulous autumn colours