Road to Bath... UK
The Grove Hotel provided a free traditional breakfast… it was quite filling. Check out was simple and by 10am, we were in the car driving. And by driving, I mean stressing on narrow, two lane roads… driving on the “proper” side of the road. I do pretty well, even in the roundabouts. It’s the right hand turns onto a highway that get me! We almost had a big collision today! Watching for a break in the traffic, I pulled out and went to the lane that felt natural… which happened to be the wrong one! Safely reaching our destination in Salisbury, we parked our car at Old George Mall. This is a close car park for visiting this cathedral town. We walked down the street, passing quaint churches and old buildings.
A closer look at the small spire and a general idea of the streets we walked… well established foliage. Salisbury is a quiet town, very old buildings…cobbled streets and everyone was dressed nicely. i mention this because we passed by so many young men dressed like they were going to a social event. It was just after noon when we arrived so I doubt that was the situation.
We passed through this arch because so many others, including a tour group, went that way. It was a good guess…Walking about a block down the road, we turned the corner and stood in awe…
Standing before us… the regal Salisbury Cathedral! Surrounded by neighborhood homes and other church buildings, this massive architectural beauty stood in the middle of a grassy area. The lawns created a contrast and complimented the rock structure. Reading about the tallest spire in England did not prepare us for the site before us. We stopped in our tracks and just stared… then starting taking pictures!
The photos don’t do justice to this beauty! It seems to stand proudly in the wide open space. We’ve visited many cathedrals over the years… never tiring of the masterpieces. Solid structures built so many years ago. So much detail. This particular cathedral struck me because of its surroundings. Most are in a busy city. Most are the centerpiece in an otherwise busy area. This one was different… very peaceful and standing alone.
Our timing was good on this day. As we walked toward the entrance, we noticed large groups of very nicely dressed people. Carrying programs in their hands, we figured out it was a funeral. We guessed it would be impossible to enter during a funeral. When we approached an attendant, she told us the funeral had just ended and we could go inside… just WOW!
With camera in hand, hubby snapped away. Every corner of the room had interesting pieces. The floors were tile with names of people buried. Names and dates etched into the stone. Some so old they had worn down but were still readable.
As is common, the stained glass is very impressive! All four walls had large, colorful windows. Light shines through them with reflections of blue, red and green. Scriptures were etched into many of them.
Another interesting aspect to this cathedral… the above ground tombs with statues of the person or people buried there. One had a man with his dog at his feet. Another had a man’s cement sculpture so skinny, his emaciated rib cage stood out. The display of the bible was beautiful…
This was actually the first one I noticed… it’s when I realized what was on the tiles. A family lost their young daughter. She was five years old. Next to her notice of death, showed the same family lost another child five years later. This young girl was only ten months old. Unbelieve…losing two daughters at such young ages!
In the center of the sanctuary, stood this fountain. Silky smooth water on top, scripture on four sides… one of them was what we relied on and gave us hope after the flooding of Hurricane Harvey.
One last look before we headed to the coffee shop for a cappuccino. Not sure if the flowers were from the funeral or a standard addition to this special room.
Grabbing a table in the coffee shop, we realized that it was also perfectly planned. With glass ceilings, the shop was built with a perfect view of the spire. Great place to relax and enjoy a cup of java! Right outside the cafe was a cute souvenir shop. Happily, I was able to purchase my second ornament of the trip… Not only did I get the Salisbury Cathedral ornament, but I got a special one for the 2023 coronation!
Still inside the interior cathedral grounds was this beautiful courtyard. Very peaceful. The cement architecture surrounding the lawn area was solid despite being built centuries ago…
Just outside the doors of the Salisbury Cathedral was the “the empty tomb”… a sign of hope, promise and eternal life. There are many trees lining one part of the entrance… flowering nicely this time of year. We got very lucky on the timing of this visit. We have been in England for several days and they have all been sunny!
One last photo before we head back to the car and onto our next destination. If you’ve read any of our travels posts, you will know that I am allowed one selfie a day… so here it is! Hmmm… I am now wondering if a self timer falls under the category of “selfie”…
Down the two lane road we went… the very narrow two lane road. Mostly rolling hills, we would pass through small towns occasionally. At one point, we crossed over a bluff and a valley of yellow opened up before us! As far as we could see, on both sides of the road… yellow flowers. Described as the flowers that signify an end to winter, these flowers are called rapeseed. There was no way I could drive past it. Fortunately, we found a little turn off area…
Fifty-five minutes later, we arrived at our next “tourist” spot. Our first view… sheep. We could only imagine what our Border Collies would do with this field of sheep! The length of their hair was surprising… very shaggy.
First sight of this iconic UNESCO site! Stonehenge… it was not knocked over by the Griswold, as shown in European Vacation. It was actually bigger than the replica used by Spinal Tap… This is actually something I never thought I’d see! It was more impressive the closer I got.
Circling the area, it was interesting to see this from all different sides. Considering it started as a complete circle and more so… considering the weight of these huge rocks… how on earth were they stacked this way. Standing up the stones is impressive enough, but the caps? virtually impossible!
On the grounds around Stonehenge, there are recreations of the neolithic huts. Well built, single room and open air, these are quite efficient living spaces.
Back on the road, we ended up at our hotel in Bath. I kind of messed up because I put “free parking” as one of my parameters. As we left Stonehenge, I looked up the address for our accommodations to find out how to get to the parking. Upon a closer look, I found there wasn’t any parking. I was able to find a car park right around the corner. With our backpacks in hand, we walked to our hotel and found the address was a pub. Turns out the pub has the reception desk… and the door to the hotel was just around the corner. Our room is small but cute! Very bright… I actually like the minimalist style so this is perfect!
Simple room with cute amenities… and free breakfast in the morning! There were only two slots left open for reservations… 8:15am or 10am… guess which one we chose. Ha! Definitely 10am! We are on vacation, after all. We can begin our day with coffee in our room and then go face the public.
After dropping our thing off in the room, we headed back to our “lobby” for a beer and glass of wine. Considering our friend made all the suggestions on places to visit… and he is originally from Bristol, hubby decided to try the Bristol Lager. I had a Chilean wine. Not too bad.
The biggest shock of the day…. my picky eater of a husband agreed to Thai food. I reminded him that he discovered a liking for green curry. He likes fried rice. He likes chicken. We could make it work! It was a restaurant called Yum Yum Thai Food. It was definitely “yum yum”! It was awesome not to search out places that serve gluten-free pasta or pizza. I was ready for something different.
So… we got the first of our order delivered. On the left is Tom Kha soup. Fantastic! On the right, hubby had Satay chicken skewers. We had quite a bit more but my stomach was so excited about the tastes, that I didn’t stop to take photos! Time to walk back to the hotel and prepare for another day. Jet lag got the best of me and I got very little sleep last nigh so hopefully, tonight is better…
