Avebury

Hi dear reader! So much has happened since I was last able to post. Currently, Mark and I are lying in bed in our hotel room in Aberytswyth, Wales watching the world cup final. We’re both really tired. Our hotel is seaside, and the coast is dramatic, but I won’t say more about that now. Instead, I’m backing up to where I left off, and if I remember correctly we were in Brighton just back from Amsterdam.

Monday morning bright and early we repacked our suitcases and walked once again to the Brighton bus station. We took about a 40 minute bus ride to Gatwick airport and picked up the car we had hired (that’s how they say it over here), a little Renault Cleo. The next 30 minutes were scary. Basically, we had no idea how to drive here. All the road signs are different, so what looks to me like a do not enter sign is actually a speed limit indicator and so on from there. I didn't know roundabouts, which seemed only a complicated traffic light where nobody actually stops. Oh, sure, now they make a lot of sense, but I had to learn. And, of course, driving on the left side of the road here which made everything backward. I felt like I was trying to braid hair in the mirror, confused. I took the first driving shift. After 30 minutes of the above nail-biting conditions plus Mark in the passenger seat, more nervous than me (did i mention I hit the curb 4 times in those 30 minutes and that the roads are REALLY narrow?) I managed to pull over in a parking lot and have a cry. My hands were shaking. After that it started to get better. We’ve been driving for a week now and are practically pros.

We also had to figure out how to navigate and made many wrong turns the first day, eventually winding our way up to Avebury. On the way, we stopped at silbury hill, the largest ancient mound in this country. It is a mysterious man-made hill near stonehenge, avebury and hundreds of other ancient and/or mysterious sights in the area called wiltshire. Many of the mounds are burial mounds, but silbury hill is not. It’s purpose is a mystery, long lost, since it was made around 4,500 years ago.

We arrived in Avebury in the late afternoon and on Sally’s recommendation booked a room in the Red Lion Inn. Avebury consists of only a few houses, a church, a little store and a gift store. The town is in the middle of a 5,000 year-old ring of standing stones (think stonehenge). The inn has only a few rooms, and our second story windows looked out on two sides at the amazing giant stones..

This circle is much larger than stonehenge, although the stones themselves are smaller. It isn’t very crowded. In fact, when we arrived we went out and walked amongst all of the stones and were the only ones there. I couldn’t believe it. The stones were noticably warm to the touch, warmer than it seemed they should be. We later learned in a tour of stonehenge that this is a special property of the type of rock used at these sights. If you notice in the pictures there are huge rocks and then there are these little oblisks. Those are marking the places where standing stoned have gone missing over the millenia. Some were used in buildings, others hauled off to who knows where. All of the big stones are in their original places although some have been re-erected after having once been toppled. I don’t know how to describe how cool it was to be in this place, thinking and wondering about all the others who have also stood there in awe. We walked through dusk and sunset and then went back to the inn where guests and locals were visiting outside. We visted with a family of local gypsies, who looked just like regular people, but lived apparently outside. They invited us to spend the night with them, but we had already made accomodations at the inn. The father read my palm, and told me that I would never be rich, would never have any serious illness and would have at least 3 children. He also said that he could tell just by looking at Mark and me that we would get on just fine. Any fortune teller who tells me what I want to hear is obviously gifted in my book, so I found the experience totally satistfying. The people were boisterous and fun, their laughter was contagious. They were from the area and were able to give us stories and insights into the stones and some of the other mysteries.

That’s all for now. I’ve much more to catch you up on, but that will have to wait till I’ve had some sleep. Poor Mark is trying to sleep now, but keeps waking confusedly when he hears me typing. This is all saved and ready to go, so as soon as I can find internet access I will post it. I hope you are all well!!!!! Much love!!!!!! -Asenath