It was another foggy, murky day today. So foggy I decided to drive through town to take TG to school, but then regretted it because of the traffic. Taking yesterday morning off for a walk was definitely the right call. M went for a short walk this afternoon but I opted out because it looked so miserable, and in any case I had work to finish and was very tired. I haven't slept well this week - I have been going to sleep far too late and then been woken too early by the alarm - and it caught up on me today. My brain was in the same foggy state as the weather. I have decided I need to find a better night time routine so that I go to sleep earlier.
I have organised a pre-Christmas day out for myself. Reading about neolithic Britain gave me a yearning to visit Stonehenge. It must be nearly 40 years since I last went there. We used to visit quite often when I was a child, because we had relatives in Cornwall and the route passed nearby, making a it a good stopping off point. In those days the site was pretty much unrestricted. I have a feeling there wasn't even an entrance fee. The stones were not fenced off and visitors could wander around freely. These days a combination of its popularity with tourists and awareness of the need for conservation mean that the stones themselves are fenced off and it is only possible to walk round the outside - though still with a good view, I think. There is also a large visitor centre which is new since I last went, over a mile away from the stones so that it doesn't spoil the open aspect of the site.
So, once I got Stonehenge in my mind, I decided I should organise myself to visit. M really isn't interested, and although he would have come with me as company, we both decided I would enjoy it more on my own so I can potter at my own pace and not worry about him getting bored. Last night I booked myself a ticket, for the afternoon of December 21st - the winter solstice. From the reading I have been doing it seems that the latest thinking on Stonehenge is that it was deliberately built to align with the setting sun on the winter solstice (it also aligns from the other direction with the rising sun on the summer solstice and it used to be thought this was the point, but other evidence now suggests the winter alignment was more important), so I will actually get to see the henge at the very time it was designed for.
I was slightly surprised that there were tickets available. I know Druids, pagans and so on gather to see the summer solstice sunrise at Stonehenge, and I assumed that the winter solstice sunset would also be popular, but it seems that what interests them is the sunrise rather than the sunset. The usual winter solstice morning event can't be held because of the pandemic, so the sunrise is being live streamed and people asked not to visit, but there was no probably getting a ticket for the afternoon. Whether there will be many people there, I don't know, but ticket numbers will be limited anyway because of Covid. My plan is to drive down to Wiltshire in the morning (it is about 2 hours away) and visit the stone circle at Avebury in the morning, then to stop somewhere to get some lunch and a bit of electrical juice for the car before getting to Stonehenge for my 2pm entry slot. Sunset is just before 4pm, so the timing should work out perfectly As a bonus, when I went to buy a ticket, I discovered that although the site is run by English Heritage, of which I am not a member, it is owned by the National Trust, and I could get a free ticket using my National Trust membership.
No photos today, so I have added some from Mayburgh Henge near Penrith, another Neolithic site we visited when we were in Cumbria last month. I am feeling very excited about Neolithic things!
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