Thirty Things, Number 1: Visit Stonehenge and Salisbury

Now, people told me things like, don’t pay to go in, you can see it from the highway, and you’ll be done in ten minutes anyway, so its not worth it, and there was also quite a bit of, its not as good now that they put up a fence. But, hey, I’m Australian, and I’m on the other side of the world so I want to be a tourist and see stuff I can’t see in Sydney, like, ancient rocks in the English country side. And I’m glad I did. Not that I learnt much more about them than I knew already, because most of what there is to say about Stonehenge is speculation, but it was great to experience something that is new to me, and to see something that had intrigued me for years. There I was, looking at that famous ring of stones which previously had only existed for me on postcards or in history textbooks. Yes, you can see it from the highway – which is truly bizarre, one minute I’m driving along, reading road signs to places I’ve not heard of, negotiating a strange new clutch and remembering why I don’t like two lane roundabouts, next thing, you turn a corner and – what do you know – there is Stonehenge rising up to meet you.  

Yes, there is a fence, but it meant there was a sense of order and you could stand back and observe the structure without having your view always obscured by the other tourists. And as it turns out, I actually took about forty minutes slowly circling the structure, taking lots of pictures, listening to my audio guide and enjoying the sunshine, being out of the city, seeing something that had been part of the landscape for so many hundreds of years, and wondering again how on earth the little ancient Celts manoeuvred those great pieces of stone, which really did seem much more impressive when you were standing beside them, rather than reading about it in a text book



Leaving Stonehenge behind us, we journeyed into Salisbury, stopping off at Old Sarum to admire some ruins, (again, being Australian instantly makes these things very cool),  were invited to taste some amazing local wines and produce – I bought an amazing raspberry curd, and am still regretting not purchasing a bottle of rather the rather stunning gin I sampled – and then continued on our way, had lunch and took a look around Salisbury Cathedral. It had been a while since I’ve done the touristy thing which I think was good, as I was ready to once again be excited by the creativity, skill, dedication and vision of the people who left us the buildings like Salisbury Cathedral. 


There is some amazingly intricate masonry, beautiful design in the windows and ceiling artwork, and some wonderfully contrasting, yet complementary, modern additions, such as the beautiful dark green baptismal font, with its bold mix of curved and angular lines, which made it a very dramatic feature of the Cathedral. I also stood in awe of a very old piece of paper covered in tiny lines of Latin print, and thought myself very cultured and lucky to be seeing the Magna Carta, though I can’t read it and didn’t have the concentration required to even read the full English translation. But you know, history, meaning, worth. It was there, and I was observing it.

Then I bought some post cards and overly royalist tea towel, and then we drove home. I’m reminded that I like travelling, I like getting out and seeing things; new bits of road; old bits of stone; the sunset from a different location. And I like knowing that I’ve done something I’d set out to do.

 It was also really fun to drive a car for the first time in eleven months. It even made me miss Australia a little bit.