PAUL and LISA

Our journey from London to Salisbury in the South West of England, began at Waterloo train station early on Saturday morning to the Abba tune "Waterloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to…" Having arrived in Salisbury, we hiked through the town centre and up a hill to our YHA accommodation in a 200 year old house, testing out the built in rain coat for our packs along the way. With our packs left behind, we were free to explore the beautiful and historic town area with its market square complete with poultry cross (see photos), old buildings including a 15th Century wooden framed house and the picturesque River Avon. The Salisbury Cathedral is the town's greatest (possibly only) tourist attraction and has a number significant points of interest including Britain's tallest spire (123m), Europe's oldest working clock (1386) and "the finest" of only four surviving original Magna Carta (1215). On our way out we overheard a tour guide explaining that the spire is actually on a lean with the top being about 2ft off centre, apparently it's perfectly stable though (oh good!).

We started Easter Sunday with what is still the best hostel breakfast we've had (buffet!!!). Then it was off to Stonehenge along with a French Canadian friend we'd met at the hostel. The audio guide on the bus gave us some interesting information on the area around the site as we made the 20 minute trip, which is just as well because the newly introduced tourist bus replacing the old public transport cost more than double the original price. The site itself was truly impressive. Unfortunately, the weather was horrid and along with being the coldest Easter Sunday in England for a long time it took our limbs from cold to hurting to numb to a new kind of hurt and, I have to admit, the smiles in the photos were only very brief pauses in the chattering of teeth.

Back on the bus, we stopped again at Old Sarum, the original site of the church and town of Salisbury on top of a hill before it moved to its present location further south closer to the rivers. Then with one minute to spare, we managed to get ourselves onto a public transport bus to the town and stone circle of Avebury. It took us a little while to realise it at first, but the whole town is in fact in the middle of a very large circle of stones. With the weather fining up to give a beautiful, but still cold, day, we took our time exploring the site and enjoyed watching the locals performing their Easter gathering rituals complete with drums, chanting and the rolling (and chasing) of chocolate eggs down the hills beside the stone circle.

Then it was back to the hostel to collect our packs and on the train to Bath and more adventures (the crazy dude who followed us from Avebury was just the start).