A Day Trip from Bath

From Bath we took a bus tour into the surrounding area. Since it was only an afternoon tour we only had time for two stops: Stonehenge and Lacock. We went with a Mad Max tour. It was on a big van that seats about 15 people. They provided a car seat for Anna and our driver/tour guide was great.

It only took about an hour to get to Stonehenge. Once we got there, we again got audio guides and out tour guide bought all of our tickets (after we gave him the money) so we didn't have to worry about that part. By this point I was pretty audio guided out. Add to that that while we were driving there, we listened to a tape that talked about the place and I realy didn't listen to the audio guide much at all. I mean, how many times can you hear about how hard it was to get the stones there, how we don't know how they got them up and have no idea what it was used for. Maybe they said more than that in the audio guide but I wasn't in the mood to listen enough to find out.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, the National Trust decided that people shouldn't be able to walk right up to the stones anymore. So they put up a rope and we couldn't get too close (Jason did say he would give me 30 pounds if I would run up and touch it ut I couldn't run as I had Anna in the wrap). They did let us walk all the way around it which was nice to be able to see it from all angles. It was kind of a gray day but it wasn't as cold or windy as I had feared. I guess a part of me was a touch disappointed in the way that you always are when something is totally hyped up and then you go there to find it smaller than expected and looks just like the pictures. Looking back I'm glad I went and thought it was pretty cool.

We spent about an hour total there but only about 30-40 minutes actually looking at the rocks. When we were done, we got hot chocolates and I was downright how when we got back in the van to move on. As a side note, I totally burned my mouth on the hot chocolate in fact, it still hurts a little bit. I have no idea how coffee drinkers do it. Someone should tell them that your mouth isn't supposed to feel like this all the time.

The next spot was a town called Lacock which is a National Trust Village. The village is about a thousand years old and has stayed small and cute. In fact, it was used in the six hour Pride and Prejudice as Meryton as well as a couple of houses have been used in Harry Potter movies. It was only about 30 minutes in the car, just enough time for Anna to fall asleep, and were only going to be there for about 30 minutes. Since we didn't want to wake Anna up, I stayed in the car while Jason walked around for about 15 minutes then he stayed with her while I walked around. By this point it was getting dark but it was still fun to walk around.

The inside of a cool old barn.

Then it was back in the van to go back to Bath. Our driver had all kinds of fun anectdotes such as pointing out the hill where Peter Gabriel got his inspiration for the song Salisbury Hill and we even got to listen to it. We talked about thatch roofs for a while. Apparently, if you have one, you can't change it anymore because the houses that still have them are registered. Plus, if you do have one, you have to have a taller than normal chimney so the sparks don't burn down your house. There is a lock system that at one point has 21 locks and it takes something like 9 hours to get to the top because it's all hand pumps and the like. That takes determination.

Near the church, this is where they used to have the market at least once a week. Notice how the step just to the left of the car is completely worn down to nothing. The steps in the BYU library look like newbies next to that.

After getting back to Bath and having dinner, we went to catch our train. The trip was going great, Anna was walking down the aisle and making friends while Jason slept when we hit something then stopped suddenly. After we came to a stop, you could smell brakes. We didn't know what was going on for a while (this is when Jason woke up quite confused). Then we found out that a freight train passing us had something hanging off the side and that was what we hit. It broke two windows in our car and we had to stop at the nearest station to change trains. After we stopped, I looked at the windows and they had actual holes while the whole pane was cracked. I don't think anyone was hurt.

We waited on the platform for a little while until another train came to pick us up. When we were stopped the first time and were still on the train, people started to mob the bar so that while we were waiting, there was a good sized group of drunk people near us. I was not too thrilled with that even though Jason pointed out that at least they were happy drunks and it could have been a lot worse. I guess so but I still didn't want to be near them when the next train came to pick us up. Unfortunately, the first train that came was one that stopped at all the little stations along the way so we waited for the second one which would take us straight to London. We ended up getting home about an hour late at which point we collapsed into bed. It had been a very very busy day.