Salisbury and Winchester

Winchester and Salisbury, Monday 30/6/14

This may look "different" to you.  This post replaces the original which somehow disappeared during an editing mishap. 

On Monday morning we left Portsmouth and drove to Winchester which had been, at various times, the chief city of England. It was the King Alfred's capitol and the deaf of government of manh of the early Norman kings. The Great Hall contains an enormous circular wooden table which legend says was King Arthur's Round Table. 

From Winchester we drove to the pre-historic site of Stonehenge. The site is very well described and managed. I had mixed feelings whilst there. On the one hand it was an unusual and unique experience; on the other hand there was a sense of disappointment at the way many of the visitors trivialised the experience in ways such as posing for ridiculous posed "selfie" pictures with the Stonehenge monoliths as backdrops. 

The next stop was at Old Sarum to see the remains of an early Norman fort and palace built on an Iron Age hill fort with wall and ditch. 

Our last big site was Salisbury Cathedral which has the highest spire in Britain. In the Chapter House is one of the original copies of the Magna Carta.  

It was quite a day during which we saw the monumental works of local people across the millennia. During the day we had refreshments in "the Old Ale House" (1411) and ate dinner in the courtyard of a hotel built in 1220 to house the draftsmen working on the plans for the cathedral being built less than a kilometre away. It was a humbling feeling to be in the midst of such history. 

And now a lighter moment:  whilst walking around the "old" part is Salisbury we saw this street sign: "Endless Street".   I hope our directions never say "at the end of the road ..."