The River Avon

While I was in Bath I also took a tour down the River Avon to the town of Bathhampton. I took the Pulteney Princess that aptly started at the Pulteney bridge (shown above). On the way up the river I didn't get many good pictures because I was stuck in a bad seat, but on the way back I got to sit at the front of the boat and got a bunch of pictures.

I would have stayed at Bathhampton, but the next ride back was already full which meant I would have had to wait 2 hours before I could get a boat back.



When we got to Bathhampton there were a bunch of people on the pier making a fuss. It turns out that we had blocked in a swan and her goslings. They were pretty cute, and got out without any problems.



This was the weir at Bathhampton with a bridge in the background.



Turns out I could have taken a smaller electric boat, but the boat I was on wasn't that loud, so everything turned out okay. Although it looks like the ducks liked their boat better.



These are just some photos I took off the bow of the ship as we were headed back to Bath.









It turns out that you can even rent boats to ride down the river. You can see the place to rent boats back on the left. There are both row boats and punting boats. Either one needed two people, along with most of an afternoon, so I didn't take any of them.



There is also a weir at Bath proper. The seagulls are having fun now that the guy and his Labrador have left.



And here is a picture of Bath and it's surrounding country side as seen from the boat.

Stonehenge

So last Saturday I took a trip to Bath, and from Bath took a tour of Stonehenge.



The entrance fee to Stonehenge includes an audio tour. I'd always been of the opinion that Stonehenge was one of the most mysterious sites on Earth. Shrouded in the mists of time (as the audio tour said). But after listening, it sounds like it's well known when parts of Stonehenge were built. The original henge didn't even have any rocks in it, just wooden spikes surrounding a type of empty moat. Although, interestingly, the moat had been dug by hand using deer antlers as pick axes and cow shoulder blades as shovels. It turns out the original site without rocks was created five thousand years ago, whereas the small rocks in the middle showed up a thousand years after that. The larger rocks were put in a few hundred years after.

They didn't know how or why they moved the stones into their positions, but it was kind of interesting to see. I don't know if I totally believe Craig's idea that once you've seen one set of rocks you've seen them all, but Stonehenge was less mysterious and captivating than I had been hoping.



Most pictures you see of Stonehenge are like the first few in this post, with no one wandering in among the stones. I'd always figured that was due to the fact that they were professionally taken after hours or something. Turns out that's not the case. When you come to see the stones they don't actually let the public in among the stones. There's a path around the outside that you're supposed to follow. I talked to the workers there and it turns out that anyone can set up an appointment to go walk amongst the stones, but I think you can't do it during normal operating hours. I didn't ask, but I wouldn't be surprised if it cost money to do so.



The rock there on the floor is called the sacrifice stone. Apparently, when it's wet, that stone turns a reddish color. It turns out that these stones have a lot of iron in them. When it rains, the iron rusts and since this stone is lying flat, the rust collects and causes red pools that look similar to blood. All the big stones have the same iron content and would do the same thing if they were laid on their sides.



Around Stonehenge there are a bunch of burial mounds. I had a few minutes before the tour went back to Bath so I took a quick walk over to see them. It turns out that now they're sitting in someone's cow pasture. Luckily the cows weren't angered by me entering their paddock.



I took a walk up to the top of one of the burial mounds, which it seems had been done many times before. And if you look closely, you can see a few others have decided to take a picnic lunch at the top.