Ridgeway Day 3

[purplecat]

14.5 miles (somewhat to our surprise since it was the shortest section - but we carried on to Avebury at the end and we weren't suicidal enough to take the shortest route via the main road so there was a bit of a detour through East and West Kennet before we ended up at one of the avenues leading into Avebury).









An "archless" railway bridge.


B. on the ramparts of Barbary Castle.


We passed another white horse and so went to look at it. This one was slightly easier to photograph than the famous one, though still difficult to get it all into one shot. The above is its head. Later in the day we saw it from the bus to Swindon and it looked much like a horsey drawn by a three year-old - which is debatably an improvement on the famous one which doesn't look much like any particular animal.


We began seeing more Sarsen stones in fields. According to the guidebook they often get mistaken for sheep.


B. claimed every single standing stone at Avebury and its environs had its own wikipedia page (accessible as an object of interest from the map on his phone), but these two didn't so I felt the need to record two uninteresting standing stones.


The avenue approaching Avebury.






Our B&Bs Last Night and Tonight have been Fun


The Well at the Inn with the Well in Ogbourne St. George.


The Inn with the Well.


Most of the trip was arranged around staying at a B&B within the stone circle at Avebury


Said B&B is a bit over-the-top - though at least it is over-the-top in a medieval way rather than a crystal skulls way. I'm not sure I could have coped with a bedroom full of crystal skulls and the shop over the road has a whole room devoted to the things.


Details that may not be immediately obvious in the above, are the USB sockets in the plugs behind the tea try and the notice forbidding Smoking, Incense and Candles.


Even the TV has a little carving on top of it

Comments

[fififolle]

Amazing! All of it!!

[louisedennis.livejournal.com]

The walk definitely got more interesting the further west we got!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I clicked through to see the TV Decorative Carving, I didn't get a sense of its true magnificence on Facebook!

That first pic with the path, clouds and cloud-shadows is magnificent!

[louisedennis.livejournal.com]

We had much more interesting skies on Day 3 and even some rain once we were comfortably ensconced in our B&B.

[liadtbunny]

Ha! Love the decorative TV carving.

[louisedennis.livejournal.com]

The whole B&B was great really!

[cordeliadelayne.livejournal.com]

Heh, those B&Bs are certainly something.

[louisedennis.livejournal.com]

About the right level of eccentricity really. We were a little concerned that any B&B within the ring at Avebury would be totally barking, but in the event it was just piled high with stuff - turned out one of the owners has an antiques business on the side.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

What an excellent TV carving!

We did that segment of the Ridgeway a few years ago, although in reverse order, as half of a circular walk starting and finishing at Marlborough. We entirely failed to notice the Other Horse. I remember all the "grey wethers" on Marlborough Down, though, which I genuinely kept mistaking for sheep. I always look suspiciously now at distant scattered sheep, half suspecting them on being sarsens in disguise.

[louisedennis.livejournal.com]

The other horse was on the OS map, but not really highlighted in the guidebook so we spent a while debating about whether we were about to walk into the right field to find it. I did later find a passing mention to it in the guidebook and no doubt if we had been going from West to East (as assumed by the guidebook) I'd have spotted it more easily.

[bigtitch.livejournal.com]

I did a bit of that walk last year doing the avenue from Avebury and then looping back over the ridgeway via a couple of tumuli back into Avebury. It was a lovely day and the skylarks were singing. The B&B in Avebury looks properly bonkers though!

[louisedennis.livejournal.com]

Ooh! We may have done that walk on Thursday - we went South from Avebury past Silbury Hill and West Kennet Longbarrow and then West to the Sanctury, back up the Ridgeway a bit past some Iron Age round barrows and then back towards Avebury.