Well here I am again with my sister Karin instead of Jill. We bailed from the Netherlands and took an early morning direct flight to Southampton in England where we had a few cruises booked. But to avoid stress we came in a couple of days early to poke about. As we would return to Southampton twice more (between sailings) we decided to boycott the town on round one and focus on the surrounding areas instead.

So we jumped off the plane, hired a car (at exorbitant rates) and set off into the countryside. As it turned out, Stonehenge was a mere 50 miles away.

Stonehenge

So obviously our first stop was to see Stonehenge. It was a cold, wet, grey and gloomy day (a typical English), but we did the best with what the weather would allow.

Stonehenge Again

Given that our first foray was so grey and gloomy, on the way back from our monster road trip, we decided to do another drive-by in the hope it might actually be OK. As it turned out, blue(ish) skies and a setting sun make the photos considerably better.

Salisbury

Our next stop was to the town of Salisbury and the incredibly impressive Cathedral. While the Catholic church may have locked us out (in Alkmaar) the Anglican church had their doors open for us. We both clicked away furiously but Karin may have had a particular interest in the stained glass and windows.

Karin tells me that the stained glass here was particularly good for a bunch of reasons that made my eyes roll back into my head. so because other people may have greater interest in such things…the next explanation is courtesy of Karin.

All the windows in Salisbury Cathedral contain extraordinarily detailed stained glass. Over the centuries, the cathedral has contained several different styles of stained glass. The original was Grisaille glass dating from the 13th century, a particular dark grey geometric style of window. There is one remaining Grisaille window in the cathedral that was dug up and reconstructed.

In addition to the Church bit, the Cathedral was also home to one of the copies of the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta is a 1215 English charter that guaranteed rights to “free men” and is considered a foundational document for individual liberties and the rule of law. There are only four surviving copies of the 1215 Magna Carta, with two held by the British Library, one at Lincoln Cathedral, and one at Salisbury Cathedral.

Having blitzed the Cathedral we took a recommendation (from my mate Jimmy) to have lunch at the Rose and Crown Hotel. It was apparently once owned by one of his relatives. Either way, it was a lovely little place, right on a stream that served a pretty good lunch for a reasonable price.

After lunch it was up the hill to visit the Old Sarum Castle which is the ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. The settlement appears in some of the earliest records in the country. There is evidence that early hunters and, later, farming communities occupied the site and a protective hill fort was constructed around 400 BC. The hillfort is broadly oval shaped, measuring 400 m in length and 360 m in width. 

On a cold, wet and windy day, it is safe to say that we were somewhat exposed high on the hill.

Our last call for the day was to be Stourhead which is a 1,072-hectare (2,650-acre) estate at the source of the River Stour in the southwest of the English county of Wiltshire. We arrived in the late afternoon and quickly found out that this was not something that you could quickly zip around. So we took a few happy snaps on the fringes and decided that time was just to tight to explore fully.

So from here we just headed back to Southampton for a (very dodgy) meal and a sleep before we set off again the next day on what would turn out to be a pretty epic road trip.

The next morning we were up and on the road by 7am. As our day evolved, we ended up totally freaking out the locals at our propensity to drive and see things. The first note that must be made is that in almost every UK town there is no such thing as parking.

This fact meant that at almost no point during our day could we stop, get out of the car and amble about. So we found ourselves in the pattern of getting to a sight, Karin jumping out and madly taking photos while I tried not to get parking, speeding or eco tax fines.

Oxford

This pattern first came to light in Oxford (a bit over 100km north of Southampton) where it became apparent that there was absolutely nowhere to stop. Founded in the 8th century the city sits at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Cherwell rivers. It has a population of a bit over 150,000 and is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

As for me I got to see them out of a windscreen while trying not to create too much of a traffic nightmare. Thankfully whist driving around exploring, Karin spotted a tiny little sign advising us that we had driven through a zero emissions zone. Had she missed this (because I certainly did) we would have copped the emissions toll and the various fines associated with it, all billed back to our hire car and we would have come home to massive bills.

But instead, Karin hopped on the website, transferred the 4 pound fee and logged the receipt so that we were covered. We did make it to the Oxford University but you could only enter the courtyard after 2pm on a Sunday and we were there at about 8am.

The town was fantastic, the day was miserable, and the logistics were almost unmanageable. The key to coming here is to set up in a hotel near town and just walk about everywhere. From our quickfire visit it was clear that you could easily spend a day or two exploring.

From Oxford we may have gone a little silly in heading south and then west for a further 200km to get to Wales.

Cardiff, Wales

Being a rugby boy (way back when) and trying to get my country and territory count up, the idea of being so close to Wales and not popping in seemed silly. So on leaving Oxford we set the GPS to take us to Cardiff Arms Park, the spiritual home of Welsh Rugby.

Built at the narrowest part of the river, the span still required a mile long motorway suspension bridge.

While the Severn Bridge was 1 mile long, the Prince of Wales Bridge was built closer to the mouth of the river and was over 5 kilometres long.

Our next impression was at some of the road signage. The Welsh language is a truly unique thing and the concept of pronouncing or comprehending them was too much for us.

Sadly, upon entering Cardiff, the parking situation in Wales was no better than in Oxford, so we continued our quick sniper runs in and out of tourist areas for Karin to get happy snaps. The first of which was Cardiff Arms Park.

The most prominent thing that you come across is the Cardiff Castle. Believed to have originally been built by the Romans n about 50AD it sits in the centre of town. We managed to lap it about 4 times while hunting for a car park but unfortunately never made it inside. Karin got some great wall photos.

But the insides remained foreign to us. The tourist blurb provides a raft of information about the castle and its various iterations over the centuries, but sadly the battlements will remain un-walked by me.

We did however get to find a place to park and poke about in the area that contained the law courts, the town hall and the National Museum.

All very impressive buildings, set in a beautiful parkland type environment. Having had the chance to stop and do some googling of what was good to see the next stop became pretty obvious, however driving to it and parking there was not as simple as it may have seemed.

Llandaff Cathedral it was…officially the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter & Paul. It stands on one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain amid the ancient “City of Llandaff”. Despite being surrounded on all sides by modern Cardiff, the Llandaff conservation area remains comparatively unspoilt and surprisingly tranquil.

The present cathedral dates from 1107, the arch behind the High Altar was built at that time. The Cathedral was extended and widened and a new West front built about 1220. This West front is judged by many to be one of the two or three most notable medieval works of art in Wales. Because Karin went inside, there are lots of photos of stained glass windows.

From here we were off again with an almost 100km drive to the town of Bath.

Bath

Bath was a dashing visit, primarily to Bath Abbey. We had hoped to get out and wander about…but you guessed it…nowhere to park within cooee of the place. So we lapped the town, hunting high ground to get a nice overview (high) shot of the place. But sadly trees and houses kept getting in the way.

Unsurprisingly, the town of Bath is full of Roman era baths. Being short on both daylight and time, we skipped the Roman baths (however did drive past the remnants of some, as well as some aqueducts.

And on the way Karin did get to dive out and have a quick look at the very funky looking St Mary’s Church.

Bath is a bit like Oxford, you would need to set up at a hotel near the centre and just wander about for a day or two. So on our way out we headed to our next port of call Glastonbury. A relatively short 45km hop down the road.

Glastonbury

To be fair, my only knowledge of Glastonbury was the music festival. It began in 1970 and it the equivalent of Nimbin in Australia. Hippies and weed abound in the town at all times but the crowd swells to 200,000 during the festival. Beyond the music, the festival offers a wide range of performing arts, including comedy, theatre, and circus. As does the town in general.

The town is cool in a hippy, dropout kinda way. Not really a place I would like to set up camp, but I have a feeling that Karin could find herself right at home amongst the arty types.

The main event for us was the Glastonbury Abbey. We arrived late in the day, but still with enough time for Karin to run in and do the tourist thing. I chose to save the entrance fee and steal her photos for the blog.

The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but rebuilt and by the 14th century was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England.

From (at least) the 12th century, the Glastonbury area has been associated with the legend of King Arthur, a connection promoted by medieval monks who asserted that Glastonbury was Avalon. Christian legends have claimed that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea in the 1st century.

While Karin was inside, I peered over the fence, drinking coffee and having an odd conversation with the curator of the place. In general chit chat he asked where we were from etc. When he found out we were staying in Southampton he seemed shocked that we would do the 80 mile trip to come to Glastonbury and have to return again.

At this point the conversation started in earnest. I proceeded to tell him that we had left at about 7am that morning, travelled to Oxford (66 miles), then to Cardiff (116 miles), on to Bath (55 miles), before driving the 25 miles to even get to Glastonbury.

Then I let him know that because we had time and would drive the 51 miles back to Stonehenge, and head to Salisbury (10mi) before heading back to our accommodation in Southampton (25mi).

When our hire car return receipt came I had driven 864 miles (just under 1400 kilometres in the 2 days.

Southampton

While we had stayed in Southampton for our first two days, we actually saw very little of it as we were visiting the broader region. But we were on 3 cruises that all ported there, so we had a day each time to explore the more local aspects.

In doing the googling on what is good to see in Southampton, two of the top 3 things to do is to leave (to go to Salisbury or Stonehenge). So we hopped off the boat between our first 2 cruises and hit the high street (after being sent the long way around by the dude on the dock).

Our first sight was the Bar Gate, a medieval gatehouse about half way up high street. Our biggest challenge here was to get a photo without the junk food vans and tents selling kebabs, pasties and the like.

But once we found our way, the Roman walls and ruins, interesting sights came at us pretty thick and fast. Sadly our day had 37 knot winds, and was grey and overcast. Somehow, the wind managed to be blowing into our faces no matter what direction we turned.

Pheasants

This needs to be talked about. The Common pheasant is bred to be hunted and are shot in great numbers in Europe, especially the UK. In our opinion, pheasants must be the stupidest birds on the planet. We have both driven a lot, in Australia, and the likelihood of seeing a dead bird as roadkill is extremely low. In the UK (in the south at least), you cannot drive a kilometre without seeing one as road kill or at least the remnants on one.

Beware, your phone is paying attention.