WEEK 1

DAY 1

So this is England... as we swooped into Heathrow from the west. Green fields punctuated by trees and lazy rivers (perhaps the upper reaches of the Thames or Avon? Couldn't find the map in my bag to check).

Queue for Immigration. The Aliens Queue?? Us?? - with a thousand years of family ancestry in this island. There were Froggatts in Derbyshire before William arrived at Hastings. There are Froggatts buried in European fields who were desperate to keep those Europeans out of Britain. And now when we return those Europeans are finally getting their revenge - keeping us out. But we are of tenacious stock, and an hour later we are through the sheep race, getting a sympathetic ear from the Immigration official, then out into the early morning chaos of Heathrow, where English is a minority language. Lovely fine, sun-drenched morning, assume the infamous rain is lurking somewhere just behind Terminal 3.

Ah, the Budget Rental Car counter - yes, we do have a booking. Well in that case you will need to go to our depot - about 5 miles across the other side of the terminal complex, no you cannot walk, but you can use our free bus that will arrive just outside. Yes, indeed, there was a bus and some time later we arrived at the car yard complete with security fence and guard. Signed the car lease, signed the extra insurance, signed the waiver, got lots of good karma for having a cell phone. Uplifted the keys and headed out to row 9 space 215, and there was a nice new Citroen with 19 miles on the clock. A French car on our English holiday..... oh well, this is the EU now. 

Loaded bags (x3) day packs (x3), camera bag etc. Unpackaged drink and food provisions, sunglasses, cell phones, other cameras etc, and then we saw IT - - - - - - - - the smashed rear taillight assembly - broken light, indicator and reversing light. No we cannot drive that around Britain for four weeks - "suit yourself" says the yard attendant. "Pop back inside and they will assign you a new car." So pop back we did after unloading 10 bags, cameras etc, then returning to the car for the sunglasses.

"Yes sir you can have a replacement, just join the queue and we will fix you up." Of course time was advancing and it was now after 9.00am and the queue was growing by the busload.  After some time we were at the head of the queue - again! Signed the car lease (again), signed the extra insurance (again), signed the waiver (again), got even more karma for a valid cell phone number. Uplifted the keys (again) and headed out to row 10 space 249, and there was a nice new FORD with 75 miles on the clock. A good solid English car for our English holiday. Our anger at the broken light subsided. Loaded bags and people and we were off - now what was that road number we were looking for again?

Go west on the M4. Motorways are the same in every country, straight, multi-laned, full of trucks and fast cars, and most quite boring. After 20 miles we turned off onto the A4, a much more sedate and attractive route. Hunger caught us at Newbury, satisfied by the local bakery. Looked suspiciously at their "Kiwi Buns" - never seen anything like it at home. Then on through Hungerford, Froxfield and Marlborough.

Silbury Hill and Avebury

Silbury Hill is an impressive circular mound attributed to the work of Neolithic people about 4600 years ago. It is reputed to be the largest artificial hill in Europe (More info....). We climbed to the top, admired the view then drove north a mile or so to Avebury and the famous Stone Circle. This is an impressive circle of large upright stones together with bank and ditch. We walked around the circle and passed through the village now built in the centre. (More info....)

Silbury Hill from the SW	Avebury Stone Circle	Avebury stones
Avebury inside the circle	Thatched house at Avebury	Click on a photo for a larger version. Use the Back button on your browser to return to this page

For the first time, and not the last, we met present day England living unconcerned and apparently unnoticing, beside, around and amongst extremely ancient monuments. (Remember, in New Zealand our total human history is less than 700 years old and most recognisable remains are less than 250 years old.)

Stonehenge

From Avebury we drove south on the A361 and A360, through Devizes to the A344 and Stonehenge which we came on rather suddenly. As usual there were crowds of people, but we paid our £6 each and walked under the A344 and up close to this most famous of all Neolithic sites. For all the history, photography, study  and hype, Stonehenge at 6.7m high is remarkably small. (More info....)

Stonehenge

Mere

And on to Kingsteignton & Newton Abbott

From Stonehenge we followed the A303 SW towards Exeter and the timeshare unit we had booked for the first week. The road travels through classical Wiltshire/Somerset/Dorset rolling countryside - farmland scattered with small villages. In hindsight this is typical of much of England (Wales and Scotland have more hills) but it was all new to us. The town of Mere is typical.

Our timeshare was on the north bank of the River Teign at Kingsteignton, a few miles south of Exeter in Devon. By late afternoon our energy and concentration were flagging after a long day and even longer flight, so road signs, roundabouts and directions were losing their real meanings. However we did manage to find Newton Abbot, but had to drive around it twice to find Sainsburys, stocked up on groceries, bread, milk and wine and mostly by luck found the Passage House Club and our lodgings.  The Hotel, timeshare and inn/restaurant faces the River Teign and has superb views across the river and downstream to the mouth at Teignmouth. The river flows east, as we discovered at sunrise the next morning...

The Teign looking East