Heading out early we drove to
Maiden Castle - a huge Iron Age hill fort, built about in stages between 3000 BC (so started about 500 years before Stonehenge) and 450 BC. The enclosed area was easily the size of central Boonah - about 800m by 400m. We wandered along the paths, chatting to the many sheep, and marvelling at the manpower it would have taken to build fortification to the extent that Maiden Castle obviously had.
 |
| Walking up to Maiden Castle. You can see the outer bank at the top. Hard work to assail, I bet! |
 |
| The castle guards, ready to repel invaders. |
 |
| The maze of ramps leading up to the "gateway" of the "castle", the only alternative for ingress being ... |
 |
| ... trying to run up, over, down, and back up these banks (which this photo makes look small, but they are actually about 6m height from bottom of the ditch to the top of the bank). |
We drove to
Lulworth Cove for some time at the beach and to admire the chalky, sheer cliffs. After dipping our feet in the freezing cold water of the cove, we walked to Durdle Door - a steep walk of about 45 min - to be rewarded with views across the Channel to France, and again of the sheer cliff and magnificent arch carved rocks, erosion at its finest.
The walk, and our picnic lunch on the rocks, gave us plenty of time to people watch. The area was packed as it was Fathers' Day here, and everyone was out to celebrate and make the most of the 30 degree day. Remember it was a steep walk? Well these tourists were carrying their dogs, barbeques, tents, beach chairs (the big wooden kind!) and much other assorted paraphernalia. Most of the Polish people were wearing very little and sporting lobster red skin. It was an interesting afternoon indeed.
 |
| A beautiful day at the Cove |
 |
| Stone-ben-ge |
 |
| Oh, the bear went over the mountain ... |
 |
| the bear went over the mountain ... |
 |
| the bear went over the mountain ... |
 |
the bear went over the mountain,
to see what he could see. |
 |
| And here is what he saw ... |
 |
| Those cliffs! |
 |
| Oli was desperate to go for a swim, but was not overly keen on the idea of having to climb back up the steep staircase to where this photo was taken from. |
 |
| Costa del Pom (and Pole too, from the amount of Slavic words I could hear!) |
 |
| The wonder of erosion: Durdle Door. |
After a well earned ice cream we drove to
Old Sarum to stand where Salisbury Cathedral was first built. It too was an Iron Age hill fort like Maiden Castle, but with a bit more remaining to walk through. Unlike Maiden Castle, the Normans converted the hill fort into a true castle. The views from the Castle, built in 1070 by William the Conqueror, were certainly magnificent. The outline of the original Cathedral still exists - it was very much a large cathedral even back then. Despite only having a population of only 10 after the cathedral, then the castle, were abandoned in the 1300s, and no residents at all by 1400, it was never de-registered as a borough, so continued to send two representatives to Parliament until the 1830s. Apparently the landowner would turn up under a tree on the hill top on election day, and point to two of his employees - election done!
 |
| Crossing the bridge to enter Old Sarum |
 |
| Looking down over the original Salisbury Cathedral from the inner, higher, hill fort, over the ditch, to the lower "town" part of Old Sarum. The trees mark the outer bank, beyond which is another drop to the level of the surrounding countryside. |
 |
| Looking back from the cathedral to the inner fort. |
We finished our day with Evensong in
Salisbury Cathedral. The choir's voices certainly transported me to an otherworldly place and lifted my thoughts and prayers to heaven - I felt so at peace and so in awe of the world in which we live. It was a wonderful hour to just be grateful for all the 'receiving' I have been part of since we left home. The interior of the Cathedral was just beautiful. Stained glass, vaulted ceilings, tombs, well worn pavers under our feet. We were so wrapped up in the Evensong that we didn't take photos.
 |
| Always time for tea and Victoria Sponge cake |
