Avebury RFD

We got a late start (seems to be a theme), so we didn't pick up our rental car until about 1pm. The road to Avebury is a mix of motorways and smaller byways. It's quite possible that we went through 50 roundabouts today. Luckily, Amy had here GPS, so we were able to move forward the entire day; as opposed to Ireland, where we double backed a multitude of times.

We arrived in Avebury about 4:30. With a light mist, the area was magical. Large stones emerge from the earth in flat meadows where there appears to be no rock. Concentric rock circles engulf you, making one realize how terribly insignificant we are and how briefly we appear in the history of the world. The earthen embankment, which I've seen called fosses, also create a circle and were actually constructed first. The embankments run around the outside of the largest circle. The builders dug a ditch thirty feet down, then piled the dirt thirty feet high at the edge of the ditch, creating a hill of sixty feet. These "structures" we're built in 4,000-3,500 BC. It wasn't until 2,600 BC that the stones were placed.

We walked the interior of the large circle, after Kim and Amy did some serious purchasing at The Henge Store. The NE quadrant is filled with sheep, grazing obliviously around the stones. The other three quadrants were sheep-free during our visit, but there was evidence they had been there.

Just beyond the henge is Silbury Hill, the largest man made structure in prehistoric Europe. Basically, it's a huge pile of chalk, dug up from the local area. The landscape here is just a few inches of top soil, sitting on top of solid, white chalk.

We left the henge to eat dinner and drive to Glastonbury. We ate at The Waggon & Horses, a site built in 1669. The food was amazing, giving me the energy to finish off the drive to Glastonbury; home to hippies, crystals, goddesses, and incense. Just like Boulder, just older!Read more