May 19, 2003

May 19, 2003

Before leaving Salisbury, UK I convinced Aimee to let us stop at Old Sarum, a red dot I saw on the map just north of Salisbury. I am glad we did. Old Sarum (Old Salisbury) is a large double-ringed earthwork fortress atop a hill dating back to prehistoric times. It has been the site of a fortress for 5000 years. Even the Romans had a fort here. In medieval times, a stone castle was built atop the inner ring but the stone was torn down and reused to build new Salisbury in the valley below. Outside the inner fortress is the foundation of a medieval cathedral.

From Old Sarum we drive north to a more famous prehistoric site, Stonehenge. The history of this Bronze Age stone circle landmark is shrouded in mystery. Ancient circles are scattered throughout northern Europe. It probably had a religious or astronomical purpose. But what is known is the huge stones were quarried a long way off in Wales and painstakingly dragged here. We give ourselves the self-guided audio tour. This is truly a unique site.

We next backtrack to the west of Salisbury to see another castle marked on the map. Old Wardour Castle, down a country road in the middle of nowhere, is a very small baronial castle, more like a large fortified house, built in the 14th century. It is unique with six sides. One side was badly damaged during the English Civil War. We again pay for the self-guided audio walking tour.

Afterwards we continue on to the town of Bath. The city is named after a large Roman bath that was located here. Thinking it can’t be big, we make a quick run thru the ruins. They turn out to be huge. We will have to come back again tomorrow, so we spend the night in town at the Radnor B&B.

Knowing that the best food in Britain is not English, we eat a short walk away at a nice Thai restaurant called Mai Thai.