Saturday, September 24 Marie, JD and I went on an all day Mad Max Tour of Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock and Castle Combe. Why didn’t Jim go? There were only 3 tickets available and he didn’t care that much about it. Bonus for him was that he ended up having the time of his life with his own adventure.

The tour departed at 8:30 and the first stop was Stonehenge. We arrived shortly after it opened and I was thankful for that because it got very crowded by the time we left. Stonehenge is a World Heritage site that is over 4500 years old, though it did change over time. There is a rope around the stones to keep people out due to damage over the years. The visitors center had very good exhibits explaining the history of those who were here before. Near the visitors center is a group of Neolithic houses.

On the drive from Stonehenge to Avebury we stopped for a photo op of the Cherhill White Horse, which is carved out of the chalk hills and is dramatic against the green landscape. It is almost 300 years old and is one of 13 in the area. The stop came with real horses that we got to feed.

The Avebury Stone Circles and the village are side by side. People can wander amongst the stones and it is such a different feel than Stonehenge. Two days before we were there was the Autumnal Equinox and there was a large gathering of people there celebrating. Was it that or something else? We’re they Druids or something else. I’ll never know, but it was interesting to watch.

Our next stop was the charming town of Lalock. Our driver/guide told us that he would show us around the town if anyone was interested, but we had 45 minutes or so to explore on our own first. We came across a church that had a sign saying no one was allowed in. We poked around the attached cemetery and listened to the singers inside. We later discovered why the church was closed to visitors.

We saw people streaming into this small town from the car park and they were overdressed for tourists and locals. The women were all in their fancy dresses and the men all wore tails. A wedding! That’s why the church was closed.

Here are a few more pictures from this stop…

This town has been used for a variety of movies and TV shows and it’s easy to see why. If the road is covered with dirt and some signs are removed or obscured it can be transported to other centuries.

Our last stop was the beautiful little village of Castle Combe. We didn’t have much time here, but it’s so small that didn’t matter.

This was such a special day, our last in Bath and the last day with Marie and JD. They fly home tomorrow and we go to London. We had a delicious dinner with them and toasted to our trip together.

What did Jim do that made his day so special? We didn’t get to do the one day trip on the narrowboat for our anniversary that we had planned, but we did do a one hour boat trip to try to make up for it. While the rest of us did the one day tour to Stonehenge, etc. Jim took a long walk along the canal and watched the locks at work and assisted an elderly man by operating a lock for him. He then walked down the canal and operated the next lock for him. It was the next best thing to doing it for himself. A very good day indeed!