Day 33: The Last Post

Today dawned bright and sunny as we bade a fond farewell to the Marlborough Downs and our cosy cubby, Buckerfield Barn.  A glorious part of England and yes, we have said that about everywhere we've stayed.  This is because it is all fabulous!  Oh, except Peterborough. We have also heard bad reports about Birmingham and Southend. But everywhere else is great! 

Having washed, blow-dried and fluffed up Renee the Renault Captur yesterday, we were anxious to drop it off at Hertz Heathrow this morning without any dramas.   And we did!  It was quite a relief to be shot of it.  Svetlana (the highly efficient, no-nonsense Hertz inspector) pronounced our cleaning and maintenance effort satisfactory and conceded that yes, indeed, Geoff would get his security deposit back.  Good work, Geoffy. 3000 miles and nary a scratch, although we did have some close calls, especially with combine harvesters hurtling along country lanes in the opposite direction. 

After walking away from Renee, we got a shuttle bus to our terminal, dumped our bags at a bag-dumping place (40 pounds! but when one has 12 hours to kill, who wants to lug their bags all round London?) and then had a very pleasant meander around the Tower Bridge area, where we saw this sign:

Crutched Friars is adjacent to Seething Lane,
where Samuel Pepys used to live. It was a short, brisk walk down to the Tower of London where Sam often spent an absorbing afternoon watching those convicted of treason being hung, drawn and quartered.  

Geoffy will talk at more length about being hung, drawn and quartered in just a mo.


       
                                                                          

Who remembers that the 1666 Great Fire of London began in Pudding Lane?  Only Australians over 55 I suspect. Everyone younger participated in a more relevant history curriculum.  Anyway, this is Pudding Lane today.  I wasn't expecting still-smouldering buildings, but gee, not a skerrick of musty age remains.  And in the background, but not obvious, is That Most Putrescent Vominess, The Shard!  Scourge of good taste, monument to unbridled capitalism.  Everywhere we looked today it was there, leering and sneering and glittering at us. Shudder!

This afternoon we had another catch-up with my old school pal Cathy Shepherd, who we met today at Sloane Square.  Neither Geoff nor I had been there before and it was fascinating to see where the young, rich, braying, upper classes congregate on weekends.  We had a lovely wander around Chelsea and an excellent cup of tea and a bun in a local patisserie.  We also saw the teeming hordes spilling out of the Chelsea Flower Show - all looking tired and grumpy and carrying heaps of petunias.  It was just like Children's Day at Sydney's Royal Easter Show - except everyone was grown up and carrying plants instead of show bags.  A very London way to spend our last afternoon in the old dart.  Thanks Cathy. xxx

Handing over to Geoff imminently.  Will just finish by saying I adore this country. But its shower/bathtub thang is non-intuitive and stupid, and both the tap water and bottled water taste so bad there must be a dead pigeon somewhere in the upper reaches of the water table.  Otherwise excellent. Four and half stars from me.  xxxxx

Anne's reference to Pepys is a generous segue into our visit to the Hung Drawn and Quartered.

 

We originally headed for the Liberty Bounds, a most convivial hostelry that we remembered from the Tower Bridge area two years ago.  Alas, it was full to overflowing, with no chance at all of anything resembling a table.  And worse still, I was convinced that most of the patrons were heading to a soccer game involving Southend United, otherwise known as the pride of Essex.  Hence our decision to head instead over the road to the Hung etc.  A plaque on the side makes reference to a quotation from Pepys that dates from 1660 that included 'hung, drawn and quartered'.  We'll have to take their word for it.  Bu the point needs to be made that, despite the antiquity of the quote, the building itself has only been a pub since 1996!  A bit of a come down, huh?  We intended to lunch there, but our waitress, for whom English was about her fifth language, managed to convey that there was a problem with the kitchen.  So the decision was made to abandon the Hung after one drink, and head elsewhere.  But not before meeting yet more Southend supporters, who were only too happy to take over our table.

 

Anyway, moving right along (looking at the clock, and the looming boarding time), we did enjoy our afternoon in Chelsea.  Here is a sample of the thousands of Chelsea Flower Show patrons heading home with their mementos of the big day ...

 

 

... to be specific, on Sloane Square station, all very happy with themselves.  This doesn't really do the scene justice, but you'll just have to take our word for it - never seen anything like so many grown adults lugging huge bunches and pots of pelargoniums and agapanthus in all me born days.  Only in London!

 

I was going to close with some final observations of England, but I fear time has beaten me.  So here we are at Heathrow's finest all-you-can-eat buffet, [and all you can drink - hic! Ed.] bidding a fond farewell.  Thanks for listening; we've had a ball!

 

Day 32: Pleasant surprises in charming Devizes

Today we did manage a return visit to Devizes whose charming museum we briefly inspected yesterday.  It was good to return to the museum and see the bits we missed - the Anglo-Saxon exhibition and the more contemporary history of Wiltshire.  It's a delightful place, small and a bit understated, but fascinating. 






You know that expression 'like chalk and cheese'? Well, I could explain it, but I feel this museum signage does it so much better.   >>>











                                        
I was also pleased to see this old sketch of some soldiers from the Wiltshire Regiment.
<<<<
My great-great great-great grandfather Isaac Newton (not the gravity chap) was in the Wiltshire Regiment for over 20 years.  After that he was a fishmonger at 103 High St Marlborough.  That premises is now a Boots chemist.  Hard to say if the chemist shop is housed in the same building where Isaac jellied his eels - I did ask about the building's history yesterday when I was buying an ankle support, but all I got was a giggle and an "I dunno" from the young missy behind the counter. Ah well, I guess it's a bit of an ask to expect a pharmacy assistant to have this information to hand.  [Susie: perhaps you should know the history of your Terry White branch at Belconnen Mall for just such an occasion.]



I was also charmed by this excellent iron cello, made by a blacksmith in nearby Milton Lilbourne and used in the parish church there for 70 years until an organ was purchased in the 1890s. 

Apparently many village church organs were destroyed during the English Civil War and so for over 200 years in those parishes, music was provided by cellos, flutes and clarinets.  When moves were afoot in the 1800s to reinstate organs, there was considerable resistance from the string and wind crowd.   

The pewter tankard at the bottom left was for communion wine. It looks to be quite a handy size for my late afternoon/evening refreshment!            

In other church news, John and Charles Wesley caused ructions in Devizes in the mid to late 1700s, when they tried to convert the Anglicans to their more austere form of Protestantism.  A few Methodists in my family cupboard, so clearly the Wesleys had some wins.





We saw some gorgeous old Georgian buildings and some that were older.  (Further pics to come but first I need to fill this space with some prattle.)

When we were in York, we saw an ancient and crooked alley called 'The Shambles' which we assumed was unique to York. The name seemed appropriate but actually related to its early origins as a market for various types of meat.  Since then we have been in several towns that have had their own "The Shambles", including Devizes.  Sadly the Devizes one seemed poorly patronised and a bit down at heel.  It mainly sold cheap socks and dodgy watches.

We thought these two buildings were beautiful. I had to work hard not to get their TV aerials in! They were next door to the Norman church, pictured yesterday.








This building is described as a "medieval hall".  Not very informative I'm afraid. It's just behind the buildings in the pic above. 

The only downer of the day was the lunch we had in a really bomby café.  I ordered a chicken sandwich and a cup of tea. Geoffy ordered soup, tea and a piece of cake for us to share. The tea and the cake arrived immediately. After 15 minutes, we decided we should drink the tea, as it was not getting any hotter. In fact it was barely luke-warm by then. Then, starving, we ate the cake. Which would have been quite nice, if we had had it with a cup of hot tea, or even cold tea. Or any liquid really.  After another 20 minutes, (and 40 minutes after we walked into the shop) our sandwich and soup arrived. My sandwich was drowning in mayonnaise so I left half of it.  I expected Geoff to go out in sympathy but he said his soup was rather nice.  Traitor.

Jist one more thing before I go.  As with their showers over bathtubs, the poms are big on front-loader washing machines. Usually in kitchens.  (Gee, why not the bath-tub, where showers are apparently so eminently suited?)  We have managed them fairly successfully thus far but have been most perplexed that the 'economy' cycle on our Buckerfield Barn washing machine goes for FOUR hours.  How could that possibly be an economy cycle?  Not to mention what it must do to one's smalls and other delicates.  We have since found a one-hour cycle.  But we zoomed in on the economy cycle because we foolishly assumed it meant 'economy' and not "world's-longest-and-most- damaging-to-your-delicates-wash-cycle".  In high but affectionate dudgeon, AA xxx

Once again, the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes proved to be an understated gem.  The worthy locals who have created and maintained it should take a bow.  We said so to our helpful front-of-house person, who today did not mistake us for New Zealanders, somewhat disappointingly.  Still, she was very helpful, and recognised us from yesterday and so allowed us free admission.  Of course, we gave a generous donation, having graciously accepted her kind offer.

Could this be from a local pub that served hand-pumped ales?

 

This is from a local pub that served hand pumped ales.  No surprises there, except that it was in use until 1987!  If only we had visited some 28 years earlier, we could have been there on the night it was given its send off.  I'm sure it was quite an occasion.

 

We had been told to keep a look out for St Johns Alley, which reputedly features some of Devizes's oldest architecture.  We would have missed it, but our generous museum hostess set us straight, and here is what we found.                    

 

 

The old(est) part is the medieval building on the right.  Astoundingly, it's now a hat shop.  I would have said a milliners, just to show I know what it means, but it just said 'hats'.  Anyway, next time you're in Wiltshire and need a hat, you know where to go.  You heard it here first.

 

 

But we're told that this one is in fact the oldest house in Devizes, dating from the 1450s.  We're not sure about our facts here, but having finally found it, we felt compelled to show the photo.  Devizes is typical of any number of English towns that is brimming over with history. 

 

 

While looking for St Johns Alley, we found this in a side street.  We think it looks like a miniature viaduct.  We'd like to be able to tell you what it is, but to be perfectly frank, we don't have a fookin clue.  But it's worth a look anyway.

 

 

The point is, you just wander around aimlessly, and this is the sort of thing you see.  Note the cobble-stoned street.  Devizes is also adjacent to a canal, where you can take a cruise on a canal boat.  It's only open on certain days, that didn't suit us, but if you're here for any length of time, and fancy a canal cruise (and why wouldn't you?), this is for you.  A highlight would be the Caen Locks, just upstream.  There are 29 of them, that rise 237 feet in 2 miles.  I won't go into any more detail, particularly as we didn't actually go there, but I'm sure it's very impressive. 

 

En route home from Devizes, we did the ritual cleaning of the car inside and out (this being the day before the Renault Captur is returned).  Not sure how successful we were (the vacuum feature wouldn't even hold a ping pong ball against the nozzle), but we can tell the Hertz person at Heathrow tomorrow that we tried our best.

 

More tomorrow.  We're thinking that our last post (so to speak) might feature some of our own personal highlights and lowlights of England.  There'll be plenty, and that's both a threat and a promise.

 

 

 

Day 31: Sunshine, ankle sprains and rainbows...

Although unrecorded in our previous blogpost, yesterday I went splat on White Horse Hill and sprained my ankle.  Still had to limp back to the car a kilometre away, and despite Geoff's willingness to carry my tiny, sylph-like frame in his arms, I managed to get there unaided, albeit with much whinging and snivelling.

Geoffus Aurelius Skillenius

As I now have both a gammy left leg and a gammy right leg, I walk like a demented penguin, although sadly without the cuteness.  Consequently, today's activities were a tad light-on compared with our usual action-packed, often rugged, exploration schedule....                               

This morning we drove to Devizes to see the small but splendid Wiltshire Museum.  On arrival, Geoff made a bee-line for the dress-up box, and spent a happy hour walking round all the displays wearing this Roman soldier's helmet.

There was quite an extensive collection of artifacts and re-creations relating to the Avebury area. This included the actual finds interred with the bodies in the West Kennett Long Barrow - mostly chunky animal bone necklaces, flint tools and bits of pottery. Some burial goods found in other excavated Wiltshire tombs have been far more elaborate.


         

This is Devizes's magnificent Norman church, built in 1166.
The town is quite ancient and has a medieval trail for visitors to follow.  I am hoping we might be able to hobble around it tomorrow.  Or perhaps I can be carried in a sedan chair. 

Must mention while I think of it that I'm sorry several bloganistas (as the Guardian's Katherine Murphy calls her blog readers) have been unable to comment on various posts when they wanted to.  I have no idea why it is such a complicated and long-winded process, or why some people can do it and not others. Anyway, I hope it has been an enjoyable ride, for the end is nigh - Saturday!






On the way back from Devizes and just near Avebury, we stopped for lunch at the Waggon and Horses, a thatch-roofed pub built in 1669.  It gets a mention in Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers, and he is believed to have had a few ales there. Then again, I'm pretty sure the old toss-pot sank a few in every pub in England - they all seem to lay claim to him.

Will hand over now to Geoff who took himself on a solo botany ramble this afternoon and has the pics to prove it.                   

The Devizes museum was indeed a gem.  I'm sure there are equally worthy places all over England, but they are so low-profile compared to other attractions they don't get a look in.  A pity.  The museum was empty when we arrived and when we left mine hostess told us that a few fellow New Zealanders who were on an organised tour had just arrived.  She obviously thinks the accents are as indistinguishable as those of Yorkshire and Lancashire.  We never did get to meet them, which was a shame because I was hanging out for a haka.

The stop at the Waggon and Horses was, I confess, my idea.  We had passed it several times on the road between Marlborough and Avebury and I think it's one of the best looking buildings I've seen.  If you were doing up a 2016 calendar of quaint English pubs, wouldn't this have to be a contender?  The fact that we now know it was one of Dickens's 5,716 locals is just another bonus.

 

The brew by the way is a Wadsworth's, the pride of Devizes.  They still transport the kegs through the town on horse drawn carriages - we saw one this morning.  And a damn fine drop it is too.  Back in Devizes, we had to park about 10 - 15 minutes away from the museum, and passed about 4 pubs on the way, including The Lamb, which I thought was most appropriate.  I wonder if we'll be able to stop by tomorrow?

 

My ramble this afternoon will be used as research for my forthcoming publication 'A colonial's guide to walking The Ridgeway; 2015'.  I already have interest from several major publishers, and am banking the royalties as we speak.  Here's a couple of highlights.

 

 

Some of my new found friends.  I thanked them profusely for their hospitality, and I think they appreciated it.  And a vista of Ogbourne St George from half way up the hill, just above the cow paddock.

 

 

This is all about an hour from the western outskirts of London.  It's all too easy to forget how small this place is, and how much you can see within such a small area.  'Til tomorrow, pip pip and tally ho.

 

Day 30: My kingdom for the Uffington White Horse!

Another early start and a 20-minute drive to the quite extraordinary Uffington White Horse, on the slopes of White Horse Hill (what a coincidence!) in nearby Oxfordshire.

It's always been considered Iron Age, but latest thinking is that it might be an earlier Bronze Age work.

It is a truly magnificent thing and the best vantage point is from the air, so Geoffy chartered a hang-glider and flung himself off a precipice to take this superlative pic.  Either that or he pinched it off the internet.  Mind you, the horse is still pretty impressive without the aerial view, as our own pics that follow will attest.  It's over 112 metres long and can be seen from miles around.

 




A good view of the horse's eye and ear in this pic - this was taken close to the top of White Horse Hill.  Note the old hillfort in the centre-left of the pic.  Not to mention the breath-taking backdrop!











This pic >>>>> was taken from a lower slope, near where we parked. You can also see a bit of Uffington Castle (a major Iron Age hillfort) on the right of the pic.

If the White Horse is in fact Bronze Age, then it pre-dates the hillfort by a thousand or more years.





Yesterday Geoffy mentioned the Ridgeway, considered the oldest road in Britain and a section of which runs near our digs.  The Uffington White Horse and another monument that we visited today (coming up!) are also on or near the Ridgeway, as is fabulous Avebury, visited yesterday.              

           



The Ridgeway is the reddish line running diagonally across the map. If you click on this pic to enlarge it you might be able to see some detail.  But then again, why would you bother? I wouldn't.





Our other ancient site for today took forever to get to - as the crow flies it's not that far from the White Horse and Uffington Castle hillfort but it was quite a hike, as these timeless and beautiful things often are.  Our destination was Wayland's Smithy. 


Like West Kennett yesterday, Wayland's Smithy is a chambered long barrow, believed to be at least 5000 years old.  Its unusual name is because the Saxons incorporated it into their own folklore - claiming that if a traveller left his horse overnight at the barrow, with a coin on the capstone, a ghostly blacksmith would shoe the horse and take the coin, so travel could resume in the morning. Wayland was the Saxon god of metalworking.    

Will hand over to Geoffy now, who is anxious to tell blog readers about our exciting trip to the Marlborough recycling centre with all our empties this arvo.  Nah - just joshin!  He's got a story to tell about Wayland's Smithy and it ain't pretty!                                       

The White Horse is truly magnificent.  The fact that you can only see it properly from the air somehow makes it even more special. I'm sure we were not the only first time visitors who looked in vain for the perfect vantage point.  In fact, we thought our best vantage point was from immediately above, as shown in the photo taken from the top of the hill. Even if you are then looking at it upside down. You just need a good imagination, that's all.  Here's a super close up of the horse's eye.

                                                       

 

And here's a vista of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds from the top of the hill.

 

 

With Wayland's Smithy, there's the good news and the bad news.  The good is, of course, that it's a monument to several thousand years of history, situated in a beautiful wooded copse, or maybe it's thicket.  Anyway, it's a glorious spot.  

 

 

I would also include in the good news the fact that you need to walk for over 2 km through verdant fields to get there.  Oh, and some canola fields too.  As Anne has said, we're becoming quite familiar with parts of the Ridgeway, having spent well over an hour on it this morning.  In fact, once you get to Wayland's Smithy, you'd be hard pressed to find a more idyllic spot, and would want to settle down and spend quite a bit of time there, to reward yourself for your exertions in getting there.

 

At any time other than today, unfortunately for us (bad news now imminent).  The area immediately surrounding the monument does take some maintenance, to ensure it doesn't get completely overgrown.  So it's understandable that from time to time the local rangers would feel the need to get out there in the Toyota HiLux 4 wheel drive, fire up the Victa 2 stroke, the whipper snipper and the leaf blower and let rip.  Tragically for us, today was such a day. 

 

Whippin' and snippin' and mowin' and leaf-blowin' on top of Wayland's Smithy.

 

There they are in full cry.  We suspected trouble when we heard what sounded like typical activity in a Canberra suburb on a Sunday morning from about half a mile away.  Instantaneous ruination of the tranquillity. 

 

Regardless, today was another successful sojourn to some more of the wonderful ancient historical sites that abound in this part of England.  And only about half an hour across the county line into Oxfordshire.  And we didn't get lost once.  Alright, maybe a little bit just once, but we recovered quickly.  We think we've travelled through about 10 counties in our travels so far, with a couple of more to come as we head back to London.

 

Day 29: We found our thrill on Silbury Hill (and elsewhere..)

Freshly fed and laundered by 8am this morning, we scuttled off for a big explore of the massive and ancient ceremonial landscape that is Avebury and its environs.  The entire region has World Heritage status and is simply fabulous. 


First stop was Silbury Hill (about 2kms from Avebury) a man-made, 40-metre-high hill of soil and chalk, built over a long period from about 2,500 BC.  There have been very few archaeological finds that might provide theories as to its purpose.  The best guess is that some-one started a pile of dirt, others started adding to it and it went on for centuries.   It's certainly an imposing edifice, perched as it is alongside the A4 road to Devizes!



         
                  

                                                           Next up, a couple of hundred metres back along the A4 (where we should have gone first but we blinked and missed the sign) was a small parking area for the West Kennett Long Barrow.  An extraordinary place - a massive burial mound that has been dated to 3500 BC.  When excavated it was found to contain 50 skeletons. Those interments actually took place over a couple of generations, but descendants could enter and pay homage for a thousand years before it was eventually sealed.




To get to West Kennett Long Barrow, you have negotiate with a barky Springer Spaniel, a herd of Brown's cows and close to a kilometre of canola.




Once you get to the top of the hill, there it is. I cannot get over how such ancient monuments are still part of the landscape, with life going on around them, as it has done for thousands of years.  Quite a number of finds have been excavated on the West Kennett site and we plan to visit the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes to see them.




                                                                                         
                     
                                                             A couple more shots at West Kennett Long Barrow - this one is inside.  There were five burial chambers - this is the 'hallway'.  



                                                            


Pic below is a better shot of the entrance to the burial chambers.  West Kennett Long Barrow is linked to Avebury Stone Circle, Silbury Hill and other ancient sites in the area by a series of avenues, often marked out by sarsen stones, but only a few of the stones survive .   

      All the surviving stone monuments at Avebury and West Kennett were built from sarsen quartzite sandstone, quarried on the Marlborough Downs, where we're staying. 
Unlike Stonehenge, the stone used for Avebury area monuments was not crafted in any way.  But Avebury builders did choose diamond shapes (child-bearing hips!) to represent females and straight up and down stones to represent males.                                                    











Pic below was taken from the top of West Kennett Long Barrow:

That's Silbury Hill in the centre.  About a kilometre behind that is the massive Avebury stone circle, which I will rhapsodise about imminently.  (Or Geoff will, given he reckons I only let him talk about beer and dead badgers on the motorway.)

We also checked out an area called 'The Sanctuary' which at first had us terribly excited, described as it was as being two ancient and concentric stone and timber circles, also just off the A4.  But when we got there, we found that the stone and timber circles had been 'recreated'  using small concrete bricks, as none of the originals had survived.  Ah well. But again, this place was only a spit from West Kennett Long Barrow, two spits from Silbury Hill and three spits from Avebury, and so very much a part of the area's rich tapestry.

I am now going to hand over to Mr Snorkypants to discuss our exploration of the Avebury stone circle(s).  Given he climbed a massive tree to get this aerial shot, I think he deserves his moment in the sun. 








For those of you who believe the massive tree story I'm happy to accept the credit.  For the rest of you unbelievers, we figured that it's just not possible to do Avebury justice via ground level photos.  So, yes we cheated just a little bit and used somebody else's. [NB Just the one. - Ed] Hopefully you can see that there is indeed a huge circular ditch with standing stones immediately inside it.  For an idea of its size I defer to experts who say it's 348 meters in diameter and is the largest stone circle in the world.  Or I could point out that, as the photo indicates, there's an entire village in the middle of it.

 

This one indicates the size of some of the stones, and the fact that there is a village in the middle of it.  It includes a pub (of course), which is advertised as the only place in the world you can get a drink inside the middle of a stone circle.  How about that?  The exact purpose of the stone circle arrangement has been lost in the mists of centuries and is in any case debated, but the popular view is that it was purely ceremonial, or devotional.  And as you can see some of the stones are huge, so the builders needed to try really hard to create it, not to mention the exertions of the poor buggers whose job is was to lug them there and install them. [My relatives! - Ed]

 

We wandered around the circumference of the circle for an hour or more.  Here are some favourite photos from our visit.

 

 

                        

 

See how hard it is to show from ground level that it's circular?  But it is, and you can hopefully see the ditch too.

 

 

We're not the only ones who are impressed by the stones.  These few words and photos don't come close to doing it justice.  A truly wonderful experience, and you're mad if you don't visit if you're in this neck of the woods. 

 

After returning to the metropolis that is Ogbourne St George, we decided to follow the owner's recommendations to explore The Ridgeway, which is billed as England's oldest road.  It's actually 87 miles long, and fortunately for us we can access part of it from near our digs.  So we spent a pleasant hour and a bit exploring it ...

 

 

... and finding quaint thatched roof cottages ...

 

 

 

... magnificent verdant Wiltshire Downs ...

 

 

 

... and a long range view of our palatial abode, the reverse of the photo we showed from our front door, two days ago.

 

 

Just to be clear 'our' palatial abode is the top right hand half of the building, not the whole bloody lot.

 

All in all, a great day out, highlighted by ancient history, beautiful countryside, and finally, a few more of our favourite local residents.

 

 

 

 

 

Night night!  xxxx 

Day 28: In the footsteps of Protestant martyrs....

Congratulations to Buckersfield Barn, Ogbourne St George, Wiltshire, UK on your fabulous shower recess which, most significantly, does not include a bathtub and whose many attributes, including (but not limited to) shower pressure, temperature and ease of operation will feature prominently in our Trip Adviser review.  Take a bow, Buckersfield Barn proprietors, Camp Mum and Camp Dad.  Also your eggs, bread and fresh, creamery butter were excellent.

Today we had planned to visit my ancestral and spiritual home of Avebury (like Stonehenge but bigger and less crowded) but the rain was bucketing down and we chose to postpone.  Instead, we drove for almost an hour to the outskirts of Oxford and then caught the park'n'ride bus into the city.  Away from the retail hub it reminded us a lot of Cambridge that we saw last time we were in the UK - simply gorgeous architecture and heaps of students cycling hither and yon (as we say in these parts).
                                                                                    

We spent a good hour or so in the Old Bodleian
Library precinct, which has a fascinating history involving rich pilchard merchants and royal patronage.

We were a bit perplexed that the ticket seller seemed to think we wanted to run riot through the joint - she was very insistent that our 2 pounds 50 pence entry fee entitled us ONLY to access the quadrangle and Divinity Hall, and don't even THINK of going anywhere else within the complex.  She just stopped short of calling us riff-raff and I think was rather surprised when we actually returned our audio thingies after completing our self-guided tour (which involved no trespassing) rather than chucking them in the gutter or selling them to the highest bidder in a pub. 






TheDivinity Hall - where prospective clerics had their exams until last century. It's quite beautiful and was built in 1488 - the uni's earliest purpose-built teaching room.  

It was also used as the Hogwarts infirmary/hospital in the Harry Potter movies!

4,000,3,221 steps from noooow...

I hope you are paying attention, blog readers Ms Melons, John and foxy terrier, Max.  We paid our respects to your martyred forbear/in-law, Bishop Nicholas Ridley today.  Firstly we climbed the 756,000 steps to the top of the Anglo-Saxon St Michaels-at-the-North-Gate tower. (No. don't clap.)   At about the 400,000th step we came across this: >>>>>>

  the cell door through which Bishop Nick and the two other Oxford martyrs (Thomas Cranmer and Hugh Latimer) walked moments before their executions.  They were all held in Bocardo prison (adjacent to St Michaels) and this year marks the 460th anniversary of Nicholas's and Hugh's deaths - Cranmer followed in 1556.  Forgive me if you have already seen this and the other significant Oxford landmarks I am about to share!  This was all new to me and I loved the "three blind mice" story you put in our blog comments.

 

X marks the spot

 
 
                                                                                     The spot where Nick and Hugh were burned at the stake* (and Cranmer the following year). Back in the 1550s, Broad Street was a ditch and had been a horse-monger's alley since the 12th century. Interesting that there's no signage about the events at the actual site of the executions. We had to ask at the Tourist Info Bureau, while being exhorted to buy souvenir tea towels.           * As a small girl, I thought people were "burnt TO the steak". You know - cooked until they became steak. I don't mean to be flippant.  And I do know Bishop Nicholas Ridley died a particularly horrible death because his well-meaning bro-in-law tried to help hasten his death and simply prolonged it. 

 

I hope you are still awake, Melons, because this is the grand finale - the monument to Nick, Hugh and Thomas.  Geoff almost got drowned and hit by a bus taking this pic.  Am sure you and/or family members have done the Oxford pilgrimage thang, but must say we rather enjoyed this diversion while we were in that neck of the woods!

 

The Oxford Martyrs Memorial

       

Am sorry spacing is shite with this blog post.  As we all know, this sort of thing happens when you have a conservative government.  Over now to Geoff for beer and football news! 

 

How come I always get left with the low rent stuff?  For the record, I was mightily impressed with Oxford.  At one point I wondered whether it was as wondrous as Cambridge, which we visited two years ago.  But a bit later we found the truly historic part of town.  'Historic' meaning at least 700 years old, or a bit more than any person-made structure you'd find in Mudgee or Toowoomba.  Only a bit, mind - no more than 600 years or so.  So here's another random sample.

 

 

The roundish building on the right is the Radcliffe Camera.  Camera being the Latin for room, and nothing at all to do with photography.  As I'm sure you all knew.  The Bodleian Library is in fact now known as the Old Bodleian library, as distinct from the New, which dates from the 1930s.  Perhaps not so impressive, until you understand that the Bodleian Library houses a copy of all books published in Britain forever (that's ALL and FOREVER).  So it's not all that surprising that in the 1930s it was decided that they needed a bit more shelving space.  I think the new library now has 173 kilometres of it.  But don't hold me to that.

 

Alright, since my job is to provide bloke-style news ... Upon our return to Ogbourne St George we repaired to the Inn With The Well, the village local.  To be honest, we are a little less than bowled over, particular by the unenthusiastic hospitality.  We did like their dog but.  Here's me and Barley, enjoying a pint of either the Spitting Feathers or the Deer Stalker (can't remember where I was up to at the time).

 

 

Barley's the handsome one with the black coat, not the decrepit looking one half way through his Spitting Feathers or Deer Stalker.  We're sure there are village pubs that offer warm welcomes to visitors, but unfortunately for us we haven't found one yet, and we're running out of time.  Wish us luck for the next few days!

 

Till anon, grasshoppers! xxxx