Wednesday 10 September

Wednesday, 10 September

We set of at 10 for Avebury. For some reason the Tom Tom app on theiPad sent us on a bunch of back roads – 4 digit numbers. No center line and about 1.5 cars wide. Very nerve-wracking for the driver – Michael.  It may be the fastest route for a British driver. Not so sure about us.

Avebury is the home of another stone circle (two) and henge. No where near as crowded as Stonehenge. You can walk among the stones, which are in a natural state rather than shaped. The circle is huge, compared with Stonhenge and the henge (“moat”) is much deeper. You can walk on top of the barrow most of the way around. The town of Avebury is partly within the circle.

At one point the good Christians of Avebury were concerned about the pagan stones in their midst and knocked them down and buried them. Most have been dug up and reset. There are concrete markers where the stones are missing. As you can see, these stones are shorter than the sarcens at Stonehenge and do not have lintels. They are set about 30’ apart.

Stone circle at Avebury

Henge at Avebury

Second stone circle at Avebury

After lunch at the Red Lion (we need to eat at a Swan and a Lamb somewhere on this trip), we made our way to Glastonbury, home of the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. The Abbey was the victim of Henry VIII’s vendetta against the Catholic Church. Wells Cathedral, 6 miles down the road, was built at the same time and still stands. But the Wells Cathedral was not owned by the Church.

Glastonbury is an interesting town. Like Yellow springs on steroids and then some. Lots of small shops selling everything from crystals to ice cream. The Abbey was interesting. They are still doing restoration work. Based on the archaeology, they have determined that this was the earliest Christian church in England. Parts of the structure date to 580. There is also the legend that King Arthur and Guinevere are buried here. Three early English kings are definitely buried here. This picture is of the Lady Chapel at the west end. The whole church was huge.

Lady Chapel Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey 

Having chatted with a couple of the docents, we headed off to Wells and another cathedral. Wells is where the bishop went from Bath, which is why Wells has a cathedral and Bath has an abbey. No bishop – it’s not a cathedral.

The Wells Cathedral is huge. Unfortunately, the eastern end is no longer open to the public. But you can still see the scissor vaulting at the transept – very unusual.

Wells Cathedral facing east - note the "scissors" supports 

Scissors Supports

Wells Cathedral West Face

At the end of a long day, we headed back to Bath – on wider roads than this morning. Tomorrow we are off to the Cotswolds (Chipping Campden) by way of south Wales. I did get to see some sheep today. English roads have no shoulders and the laybys are not in the most scenic places. You need some scenic overlooks, people.