Our next trip was to Salisbury. Well we eventually set off about two hours later than I wanted as usual! Paul couldn’t find the National Trust parking sticker……we turned the house upside down to no avail.
We had a good trip down with no major hold ups and only one short petrol ’n’ pee stop halfway. We missed the turning for the site so had to find somewhere to turn around. It’s a good job I’d looked the area up on google maps and street view. We arrived at the site about tea time and started to pitch up. Once again we needed to chock the caravan. This seems to be the theme this year! Then time to tackle the awning. Not easy in a howling gale……it kept blowing away and the poles kept falling apart! After struggling for what seemed like hours and we had nearly succeeded, a little old guy pottered across and offered to help us!! I bet he’d been sat laughing his ass off for the last half hour!!! Once we were all pitched and pegged down I decided to set up the table ready for dinner taking the end of my finger off in the process when the table leg snapped back and trapped it in the spring mechanism! There was blood everywhere! I tried not to get it on the awning as I jumped around, howling in pain. Paul bandaged it up and I carried on getting supper ready. Before long it was time to bed down for an unsettled night with the wind and rain persisting all night long. I know as the throbbing in my hand kept me awake until I got up and took some painkillers.
The next morning I was still in pain, it was still windy and wet but the sun was trying to shine through. We decided that after brekkie we’d find a caravan shop for some new steps as the old ones were very wobbly and I have been expecting to find Paul in a heap when they eventually collapse! Our Sat Nav and Google both said there was a sales place near us at Sarum so off we went to find it. We must have driven up and down the same bit of road half a dozen times before we found it……..on the local industrial estate, exactly where I said it would be…….but when does Paul listen to me??
We picked up a really sturdy step. Which cost us £42! Whilst there we also had a look at the caravans for sale. There were a couple of really nice ones and if it wasn’t for the fact that we’d only just swapped to our new one I think we might have been tempted. We went for a pub lunch, which was very nice, so no washing up today.
Since the weather had brightened up and it was only across the road from the pub we went to have a look at Old Sarum and then go for a walk. It is an English Heritage place so, as usual, the castle was a little disappointing and not, in my opinion, worth the entrance fee, We got round it in about 10 minutes, and that included photography stops. Conisborough is more interesting. We set off on our walk but ended up having to adapt it as it was all on the main roads. Not very enjoyable at all especially with Fudgie in tow. The guy who submitted it can’t be a proper walker. We found a different way back along some pleasant footpaths which ended up skirting the base of Old Sarum.
We spent a very pleasant evening by the caravan until the rain came. Then we had the wind and rain again. It was so bad that it forced it’s way in the back window and I woke up in the middle of the night to a soaking wet bed and rain running down the wall!! Paul found the problem; some old leaves had become trapped and packed down under the window seals causing a gap. So at gone midnight we had the window wide open clearing it all out and hoping that it would now seal.
Got up to a dull morning with the occasional showers so had a slow start. As it was market day in Salisbury we decided to walk into town along the riverside walk. As did half the campsite! Went straight to the cathedral square where we took a look at Mompesson house (because it was free for us NT members!) and had a nice lunch there before looking around the house which was, again, nice and still lived in up to the 1950s. From there we went over to the cathedral. A bit disappointing for £5.50 each, not as nice as Wells. Had a general wander around since we’d paid. From there we had a wander through the market and picked up some rather nice stuffed olives and found some very nice English wine. After tea I took Fudgie for a walk and found where we had gone wrong the other day. Took him all around Old Sarum and back.
Wardour castle today as it started out dull again. Typical, by the time we got there the sun was out and it was red hot! Good job I prepare for all eventualities and had my shorts in my bag. Mooched around another castle ruin, three floors of it. Rowrow would like it though! Excellent place for playing knights and princesses. And it’s got this sweet little grotto on the grounds. From there we followed one of my walks. It was very pleasant, not too uppy downy for Paul. We did have a bit of an experience when we got followed by a herd of frisky cows. Fudgie got a bit worried when they got close and surrounded us!! They stayed with us all the way across the field. We found a nice little spot for a mini picnic in the next field. The only little glitch we had was when we had to find our way around some very posh apartments. We couldn’t find any footpath signs. I think the stuck up residents had moved them. We got our own back though when we walked down the pristine drive with it’s perfectly manicured laurel hedge. Fudgie decided to have a big poo. And no, I rebelled and left it where it was! Naughty I know but I don’t care. Back to the caravan for some sunbathing and a BBQ.
We awake to another fine and sunny day. I had planned a trip to Avebury stone circle and a walk around all the prehistoric sites. Avebury was a little busy when we got there, we even had to queue for the loos! We went over to the stones, which I didn’t find at all mystical but perhaps that’s because there were so many people there. It was a little different when we set off down The Avenue though as we left most people behind. All you could hear was the birdsong and the grass swishing in the breeze.We picnicked by a burial mound known as a hedgehog as that’s what it looks like now there are trees on it. Our walk then took us down past The Sanctuary and over several fields, where we were again stalked by a herd of cows, and on to the Barrow, which we had to ourselves as a school party was just leaving. From there we continued round Silbury Hill and back to Avebury. And Paul hardly moaned, in fact, I think he quite enjoyed it.
Another day, another stone circle. We had decided we really ought to go and look at Stonehenge. But first we called off at the caravan shop for a rotary washing line as Paul needed some clean clothes. We eventually arrived at Stonehenge and pulled into the car park. We didn’t have to pay thank goodness as we had our NT sticker. We followed the short walk around the “sites of interest” which took us in a big circle with not much of interest to look at. Oh, there were some information boards every so often telling us what used to be there! At some point along the way I lost my RayBans in a field which really, really pissed me off. So by the time we went to go into Stonehenge itself I was NOT in a good mood!! And thank goodness we didn’t have to pay – a lot of money for what amounts to a 10 minute walk around a pile of old rocks! And, like Avebury, not very impressive or mystic either!! I can think of better things to spend my money on!!! But it did have it’s share of loonies and hippie dippie types wafting around trying to be mystical. After retracing my steps across the sheep field to see if I could find my sunnies, with no luck, we went back to the caravan and made use of our new rotary drier.
The weather was a bit changeable and cooler the following. We went to Lacock, a whole village owned by the NT, where we did a very short walk before having to go and find something to eat when Paul went a bit wobbly. After consuming some very expensive soup headed for the abbey and photography museum, which I really enjoyed.
On what turned out to be our final day we drove over to Bovington to see the tank museum. On the way, as he’s a bit of a favourite of mine, we stopped off at T E Lawrences’ house. A tiny cottage really with about three and a half rooms and set in the middle of a woodland garden. It was so small that half a dozen people filled it and we all had to shuffle around in a conga line. I wonder what Mr Lawrence would make of it all. We moved on to the tank museum which turned out to be very interesting. At one point Paul and I were discussing a particular tank when this random bloke came up to and asked Paul if he used to work at the Royal Ordinance Factory in Nottingham as he thought he recognised him. A bit spooky that since that’s where Dad used to work. When we got back to the caravan we decided to go across to the pub for dinner as we couldn’t be bothered to cook.
The following morning Paul decided he DID want to go to watch paint dry after chatting to one of his pinstriping mates, so we packed up early and moved on to the meet.
