England Pilgrimage Day Five

As promised...  England. Day 5.  Where did I leave off?  Ah... that’s right - another mishap with our morning alarm.  This was our last morning in London before we set off across the countryside and since we needed to be ready to catch the coach in the morning, we asked for a wake up call - which didn’t happen!  So here we were - rushing again!  I think it was after this that I figured out that for the alarm that I brought to go off in the morning - you have to set it to AM - not PM!  We didn’t have any other wake up problems after this!

So we board the coach for our first stop at the Avebury Stone Circles.  The cool people, of course, filling up the back of the bus!  It was neat to be out of the city and seeing some of the countryside - which we would be seeing a lot of for the rest of the trip.  I kept trying to take pictures out of the bus while it was moving that inspired the phrase, ‘Maybe you should leave that to the professionals!’  So the Avebury Stone Circles were fascinating - to see all of these stones so methodically placed in a circle - my favorite, though, were the SHEEP!  Our first sheep siting - and the location of my best sheep picture of the entire trip.

After Avebury, it was off to Stonehenge - and it still fascinates me that I saw this - I don’t know why I have such a fascination with Stonehenge - maybe because it’s so famous and I keep thinking - I was there - whenever I see the pictures.  Anyway - it was cool.

After Stonehenge, we headed off to the Salisbury Cathedral - only to get there and end up driving back to Stonehenge to look for a lost camera - which was eventually found.  This left very little time for lunch - but enough time to walk down and get pasties - mmmm... yummy!  

The Salisbury Cathedral was beautiful!  We got a tour and I was glad that I had done my homework and read up about British history - it really paid off, listening to the stories the docent was telling.  After Salisbury, it was on to Glastonbury - but not before we lost one of the pilgrims and had to spend some extra time looking for him.  Delayed seemed to be the name of the game for this day!  We did finally find him and were on our way to see the Abbey at Glastonbury.

At the Abbey - we only had about 1/2 hour before it closed, but one of the docents (dressed in his monk outfit) was nice enough to give us a quick tour of the ruins.  Again, another place that I was glad that I knew the history.  And, a place that, looking back, I didn’t appreciate as much when I was actually there and would love to go back to see and spend more time there.

It was then on to our hotel - the George and Pilgrim Hotel (built in the early 15th century).  Great little hotel that we filled up completely with our group.  Check in was a bit of a nightmare and Kris and I ended up switching rooms - but as Craig said - blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken!  The hotel had some of the best food of the trip and the nicest managers and I would stay there again in a heartbeat!

That night we wandered down to the grocery store - only to find out that it was closed - got some cool pictures of signs on the way, though.  Kris and I did a little more searching for a food store - which we didn’t find - but did find the United Methodist church in the city.  As we were walking back to the hotel, we also found Jim and Gay sitting on a bench just enjoying the night - next to some crazy woman, who had to announce to the guys across the street that we were from America!  I got the impression  that she was one of the local odd balls!  After that we enjoyed a half pint with Jim and Gay at the hotel and then headed off to bed to get some sleep for another full day of touring and the search for a Fluff and Fold.

More on that later - but for now - enjoy the pictures from Day Five.