Swanage – Thursday, June 13th
Jun 19th, 2019 by rallyadmin
We’re up and out of the Barrel Store into a driving rain. A stop a the Tesco across the parking lot for snacks for breakfast and some water for the drive. Into the car.
It’s not far to the Stone Circle in Avebury. The circle is a ring of stone monoliths that encircles the town of Avebury. The first evidence of activity here is about 6,000 years ago. And as is the case for most of these sites, not much is known about what the purpose of or motivation to build this site.
Its age is known through scientific dating. Theories range about how long the work went on but it’s generally accepted that the site was active for hundreds if not thousands of years. Most theories suppose that the main driving force was religious but no one knows for certain.
It is much larger than Stonehenge and, though the stones are smaller than those at Stonehenge, the work required to build the ditch that surrounds the stones dwarfs the effort for Stonehenge. Whatever the meaning, it is an amazing place to visit. Likely, much more so when the rain isn’t coming down in sheets.
Lunch at Avebury and then into the car for the drive to Swanage where we will spend the night. It’s quite a ways but most of the drive is on dual carriageway and we make good time.
It’s good that we didn’t delay on the drive to Swanage. There is a ferry crossing at Studland just short of Swanage. We drive on to the ferry and as soon as we do, the ferry departs.
It’s a short crossing with a toll on the other side. When we get to the toll booth the toll man asks if we are returning tonight. If we are we only have about 10 minutes before the ferry departs and that departure is the last crossing of the day. If we had missed this crossing we would have had a couple hour detour going the long way around. A close call.
We spend the night at The Rookery in a newly renovated room. The owners of the B&B, Alan and Charlene, are a charming couple and can’t seem to do enough to welcome us. This will be a fun stay.
Swanage is on a bluff overlooking the Channel. The wind is blowing but the rain has stopped. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a nicer day.
We have dinner a few hundred meters away in a very nice pub. It’s Mika’s birthday and the pub provides a brownie with a couple of candles. A great night.
Obi-wan