Post by Kim on Dec 1, 2001 15:04:19 GMT -5
Thursday, 29 November
Penzance, England
Hello all!
Have had a couple of pretty busy days so haven't really had much time to write. It is so darn miserable outside right now that it seemed a good time to hole up in the library for a bit and get a message typed out. And so, here I am.
I have obviously moved on from Bath, but just this morning. Ended up staying an extra night there, well worth it, and in fact could have spent another day or two and been busy. But alas, it was time to move along or I will never get 50
miles from London the entire time. <br>
On Tuesday I booked into a van tour, believe I mentioned that. There were only 7 of us, so in that respect it was quite nice. On the other hand, once we arrived at the first of four stops the weather did a 180 and it began to rain
and turned off quite a bit colder. Add to that, the wind was howling, and my hat and hood were both nestled snugly on the back of my room door! I was so darn cold the whole day which took a bit away from it all, but still a grand day. <br>
We went to a tiny town called Castle Comb...it is in the Cotswald region. All these lovely little stone cottages, about 200 folks in the whole place. It was featured prominently as the 'town' in the Rex Harrision version of Dr. Doolittle. Then we moved on to Avebury....the largest stone circle in UK. <br>
Over a mile around, 800 years older than Stonehenge. But built by the same folks...well not the exact same ones of course. Not nearly so 'refined' as SH, much cruder and older, but very visitor friendly as you can wander at will
among all of the stones. Next to StoneHenge....no matter how often I have seen it in pictures and films it still just wowed me. It is HUGE! How in the world they managed is a mystery even more after seeing it. HOWEVER....it was driving
rain while I was there and even more, it is so sanitized now that most of the effect is tarnished I thought. You can't get anywhere really near it, and the grass planted all around is so perfect it almost spoils it. Looks like a movie set almost. However, I am glad I went to see for myself, but was a little
dissapointed. Also, what you never see in any photos is the fact that probably no more than 200' from the side of it is a magor magor highway running right by.
How odd. After this we went to Salisbury, nice old town, lots of character and one fabulous cathedral indeed! On this trip was another american gal, also traveling alone who was asking about a tour to Glastonbury Abbey. The driver was telling her they did them, but only in the summer. She could however just take a bus there, about an hour. I butted right in to get that info and she and I agreed to go the next day together. Which we did.
So yesterday we bussed down to Glastonbury. It was great fun to have someone to get around with and just chat. We had a grand old day of it and I sure enjoyed the company. Glastonbury Abbey is a ruined 'cathedral' if you will from the 13th century if I recall correctly. Looking at the ruins it is amazing to imagine how gigantic this place was. (And by ruins I don't mean just piles of rubble, quite a bit of the walls are still standing so you can get a good idea of the size.) It was the site of the first Christian order in England and
is considered the first Christian church ever to be built in the country. Were it still intact it would be the largest cathedral in England, by more than 100' in length and 50' in height! It sits in total on 36 acres and was a monastary until Henry VIII had them all destroyed and disbanded. Now...to it's real claim
to fame....it is the purported site of the tomb of King Arthur and Guineivere. And there it is, the grave of them right in front of where the high alter stood.
...continued in next post
Penzance, England
Hello all!
Have had a couple of pretty busy days so haven't really had much time to write. It is so darn miserable outside right now that it seemed a good time to hole up in the library for a bit and get a message typed out. And so, here I am.
I have obviously moved on from Bath, but just this morning. Ended up staying an extra night there, well worth it, and in fact could have spent another day or two and been busy. But alas, it was time to move along or I will never get 50
miles from London the entire time. <br>
On Tuesday I booked into a van tour, believe I mentioned that. There were only 7 of us, so in that respect it was quite nice. On the other hand, once we arrived at the first of four stops the weather did a 180 and it began to rain
and turned off quite a bit colder. Add to that, the wind was howling, and my hat and hood were both nestled snugly on the back of my room door! I was so darn cold the whole day which took a bit away from it all, but still a grand day. <br>
We went to a tiny town called Castle Comb...it is in the Cotswald region. All these lovely little stone cottages, about 200 folks in the whole place. It was featured prominently as the 'town' in the Rex Harrision version of Dr. Doolittle. Then we moved on to Avebury....the largest stone circle in UK. <br>
Over a mile around, 800 years older than Stonehenge. But built by the same folks...well not the exact same ones of course. Not nearly so 'refined' as SH, much cruder and older, but very visitor friendly as you can wander at will
among all of the stones. Next to StoneHenge....no matter how often I have seen it in pictures and films it still just wowed me. It is HUGE! How in the world they managed is a mystery even more after seeing it. HOWEVER....it was driving
rain while I was there and even more, it is so sanitized now that most of the effect is tarnished I thought. You can't get anywhere really near it, and the grass planted all around is so perfect it almost spoils it. Looks like a movie set almost. However, I am glad I went to see for myself, but was a little
dissapointed. Also, what you never see in any photos is the fact that probably no more than 200' from the side of it is a magor magor highway running right by.
How odd. After this we went to Salisbury, nice old town, lots of character and one fabulous cathedral indeed! On this trip was another american gal, also traveling alone who was asking about a tour to Glastonbury Abbey. The driver was telling her they did them, but only in the summer. She could however just take a bus there, about an hour. I butted right in to get that info and she and I agreed to go the next day together. Which we did.
So yesterday we bussed down to Glastonbury. It was great fun to have someone to get around with and just chat. We had a grand old day of it and I sure enjoyed the company. Glastonbury Abbey is a ruined 'cathedral' if you will from the 13th century if I recall correctly. Looking at the ruins it is amazing to imagine how gigantic this place was. (And by ruins I don't mean just piles of rubble, quite a bit of the walls are still standing so you can get a good idea of the size.) It was the site of the first Christian order in England and
is considered the first Christian church ever to be built in the country. Were it still intact it would be the largest cathedral in England, by more than 100' in length and 50' in height! It sits in total on 36 acres and was a monastary until Henry VIII had them all destroyed and disbanded. Now...to it's real claim
to fame....it is the purported site of the tomb of King Arthur and Guineivere. And there it is, the grave of them right in front of where the high alter stood.
...continued in next post