From Stonehenge to Thornbury Castle

 

We had a super early morning, a cab was to pick us up at 5:20 am as we had to be at Stonehenge at 6:30 am. Normally, it is a 45-minute ride, but at 5:20 a.m. it was only a 20-minute ride. So, we arrived a little early.

The reason for our early arrival was because we had tickets to enter the circle of stones before the site opened to the public. The circle was open to 15 people with a guide from the park service. We did not have to stay with the guide, it was just optional.

A Blue Stone

We took the visitor’s bus to the circle and a portion of the fence had been removed. We were free to move about the stones, but not touch the stones. The guide pointed out that if one stood between 2 particular blue stones and put their hands close to the stones one could feel a vibration. This was true with one stone but not both for Zaya and I. Another large stone was warmer than others, probably because of its content.

We were able to walk among the stones for close to an hour.

The guide pointed out a blue stone that still had a blueish color. It had fallen down some time ago. I tried to capture the blue in the stone in a photo. These stones came from Wales about 150 miles away and likely by boat. Because of new technology the point of origination has been narrowed down.

We saw what looked like a peg on top of one stone, and looking close up at other stones, holes to fit the pegs were visible. Some stones had been smoothed and others not.

From Stonehenge we went back to the hotel, ate breakfast and went on our way, this time a train to Bristol where we took at taxi to Thornbury Castle. Here we would stay for 2-days.

Thornbury was owned by King Henry VIII and he and Anne Boleyn stayed here during a plague outbreak in 1535. We were fortunate in that we got to stay in the room they stayed in and used the stairway they used to the dining room. This portion of the trip we booked for last Dec when we had to cancel due to Covid. It was supposed to be for our anniversary but no matter.

King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's Bedroom

The castle has quite a history which made it really fun.