Today we hooked up with fellow nomad Michael to visit Stonehenge and the town of Bath.
We picked up our hire car from Avis, which we booked the day before using the fore-mentioned free and abused wifi, and felt well and truly screwed by the time we were handed the keys. What was meant to cost 125p (p = pound..I haven't figured out where the pound key is on my laptop :p) ended up costing 275p.. So...we are feeling a little sore. Rice cakes for a month will help recover the budget hopefully.
We decided to make sure that we used every drop of fuel that Avis charged us 100p for before dropping the car back. We took a leisurely drive through the English countryside and decided to stop on the way to see the Avebury stone circle, which is the biggest stone circle in the UK (I think). While we were trying to find it, we saw a sign for Barbury Castle. So, obviously, we stopped to see what we hoped was a castle full of castley might and glory. The castle, was actually a non-castle.
Barbury non-castle
After walking through many live cattle yards (lots of sheep whom someone had played paintball with) and watching our feet the entire time to avoid the sheep poo, we missed everything on the way. Once we got to the wonderful sign that proclaimed 'Barbury Castle!' we were just left confused, as it was in front of nothing but some green, poo covered hills.
Ah, i get it. There used to be a wonderful castle here, and now you get to use your imagination to imagine what it was like. Cool. So we trekked the hazardous sheep lands to see something that was no longer there. Cool.
The mission was not a complete failure however. There was a neat little snail on the sign which was worth checking out.
Avebury Stone Circle
We continued on to the stone circle which was pretty cool. A little mystifying how there was this amazing, super super old, mysterious rock formation, and right through the middle of the circle of ancient rocks is several roads and shops, a pub, cafe, etc. Like, historical conservation anyone? I didn't get it. Anyway, we walked around the enjoyable hills and groovy rocks, went to the pub for apple cider and lunch (which was really delicious), and called it a day.
We kept driving to Bath and hit heaps of traffic in the town, which gave us the opportunity to look out the window and realise that the city is just beautiful. We parked the car, checked in to our hostel and met our two roomies (a nerd playing games on his laptop and a dude who was possibly quite sick and under a pile of blankets trying to sleep).
We have just come back from the pub which was advertised as the cheapest drinks in Bath. The cider was so bad that the boys didn't really touch them and went and bought proper ones, and my red wine had that lovely burn that cheap wines do.
Ahhh backpacking life :)
Tomorrow, either Stonehenge or driving to Cardiff to see The Doctor Who Experience... decisions.
