After we left the narrow boat, we moved in with Tracy, Judy's daughter, and Phillip who are in the process of packing up to move in two weeks. They were both most generous with their time with us and even gave up their bedroom so we would be more comfortable. Judy stayed behind four days later as the rest of us flew home. In those four days, Joan went riding with Tracy's friend, Joan, Judy, and Tracy did some local shopping, sightseeing and laughter followed them everywhere. Len and I drove a little further afield and visited Avebury and the Roman Villa, both over twenty miles away from Calne [where Tracy and Philip live].
In Calne, we investigated around an old house where my good friend Wayne lived for a brief time. Across the street from that house was this peaceful space of tall oaks with grass, just feet away from the main road out of Calne.
To the left of the view above was a church and cemetery. This next shot is of a small section of the cemetery that is deliberately left to grow naturally, except for spring and fall maintenance. It is a fairly small area, maybe 40 feet by 60, or so, in the corner of the cemetery. I thought the natural growth added serenity, anonymity, and peace to these very old headstones.
We drove towards Avebury and saw this horse carved into the hillside. The ground here consists of the same chalk soil that make up the White Hills of Dover along the English Channel, many miles away. The horse was 'carved' by removing the earth overlay and uncovering the chalk subsoil. Quite spectacular!
This shot was made just to the right of the one above; a very pastoral scene that seems quite typical in the UK.
About a half hour later, we arrived at Avebury where there are Stonehenge-like boulders arranged in large circles around more circles. As opposed to Stonehenge, Len and I were able to walk among the stones that were in three very large fields.
Before we get to that, Avebury also has some very interesting architecture such as these rooflines of mixed styles.
There's the usual conjecture about the whys and wherefores of these stones by all sorts of 'experts' which all boils down to being very old and placed there by our ancestors. Hope you enjoy them as we did.
The two pictures above only show less than 10% of the stones! This is a very big site and should be far more well known, in my not so humble opinion.
Of course, a thatched roof house should be white and have a garden, right? This one is right up against the road yet looks like it belongs in your memory.
Avebury also has the distinction of being the home of St James' Avebury, a great old church with history dating back to before the year 1000. Of course, the first construction was much smaller and added to over the centuries, next is the result as of now.
This little Lancet window was built in the 12th century and restored in the mid 1800s. What a neat small space to pray.
This oak chest and an oak chair elsewhere in the church, were both built in 1634, and are still in use! Len opened the chest to find extra pamphlets and touristy things. I'm sure the builder of this chest never thought it might contain pamphlets, advertising, and promotional materials. He probably never considered that I would come along and share this picture with you wirelessly almost 400 years later!
Still in Avebury, this round building is now being used as a small theatre to show videos of the area.
The next picture was made inside the theatre showing the inside roof and walls. Interesting way to build things.
As we've noticed in many public spaces, an English garden is never far away.
And in the grander places, you can find majestic Manor Houses, like this one.
Above and below are a few more stones! The last one on the right below weighing in at 28 tons!
Next are two pastoral scenes spotted on our way back to Calne.
Len did all the driving during this holiday making the trip much more pleasant and safe for the rest of us. English drivers are fast, and very alert. Many roads, make that most roads, are narrow, have narrower bridges, culverts etc. and require quick and precise action to avoid head-on collisions. Add parking just about anywhere on either or both sides of the road and driving becomes a threading the needle exercise, and Len mastered this quickly. Sitting on the left side, without a steering wheel or brake pedal, I wasn't always comfortable as mirrors on parked cars were within six inches of 'my' mirror. Well done Len! ... and many thanks.
We didn't see much activity in the fields but here's a quick peek at the harvest going on.
The next day, Len and I drove to see the Roman Villa, a place that Len had visited during the mid-eighties when they lived in the UK.
These ruins had been buried and were re-discovered when the farmer was working in his fields. Further excavations uncovered what had been a quite large villa. I was very impressed with these surviving tiled floors. You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.
The next picture shows what was uncovered when they excavated below the tiled floor: this room has a floor that was heated from below by a fire at the end of the house where the smoke exited through a chimney at the other end of the room [or house].
In an earlier post that included the roman baths, they were going to use excess hot water from the roman baths to heat the neighbouring church. Under floor heating seemed quite popular during Roman times!
This little stream is still working from roman days. Note the lead 'pipe', also from roman times, and possibly a reason for the lead poisoning that likely occurred.
Here's is a detail between where the tiled floor is and the circular wall at the end of the room. The missing floor was obviously raised so that it too could be heated from below.
I wonder why heating in the UK is still such a problem?
And lastly, here's an overview of the villa. The peaked coverings on the walls are modern and installed to protect the original walls from further deterioration. Nice to see old buildings protected so all can come and visit.
All in all, our UK adventure was superb. We all enjoyed each others' company and built many memories to share in the future. We had a few hiccups with the boat at the start but they were set right by the rental company. The canalboat experience lived up to, and in some ways exceeded, expectations.
The amount of work involved exceeded expectations but we all survived, just... Actually, the paddles that let the water in or out as required, are centuries-old cast-iron devices that still work well, they're just very difficult to crank up. Many of the boaters we encountered were 'of a certain age' and managed the paddles OK, so you don't have to buff-up in preparation of a trip like ours, you just have to work harder than usual during the time you're going through the locks.
Our original plan was to complete the Warwickshire Ring, we eventually decided that a fixed schedule or a race was not what we had come for. We chose a much less ambitious route that meant some doubling back, but left us with more time to enjoy the canal and surroundings.
The canal system is centuries old and had major work done as a make-work project after the crash of 1929. Governments everywhere are scrounging for money these days and the UK is no different. The canals were the responsibility of the central government but were 'divested' to a crown corporation, and more recently to a charity trust. Now the charity trust is responsible for 'finding' the money to finance canal operations...
Over the years, canals get silted, plants get a foot-hold, and increased maintenance is required to keep the canal navigable. Some of the canals we used are in desperate need of water plant material that is now threatening canal walls and is starting to hamper navigation. If this is neglected much longer, very serious repair work will be needed, and not likely to be affordable.
If you've ever thought of doing a narrowboat trip on the English canals, go for it! We certainly don't regret doing it at all, we should have done it years ago, and repeated the experience on different canals in the area. Hope you enjoyed the blog. It will start up again on our next adventure 'away'.
