Mission Swindon:Part One Avebury

kirk13 · **on:** August 19, 2013, 10:17:53 PM

I tried posting this earlier,but the iPad Wasnt paying ball

So,last week I headed of to Swindon for a couple of days.It Wasnt so much that I particularly wanted to visit Swindon,but it was the handy base for where I wanted to go:The Avebury World Hetitage Site,plus there was the bonus of STEAM,the GWR museum!

This is part one,Avebury.Part two will cover the trains

AVEBURY

Avebury is a Neolithic stone circle and henge that predates Stonehenge by a considerable margin.Its also the Apparent centre point of a whole complex of sacred sites dating back over 3500BCE. Pretty heavy stuff

Thing is,while visiting Avebury itself,and then at the West Kennet Long Barrow,I just felt I couldn't ,shouldn't take photos,as if it would be sacrilege! I'll post some links that will show these sights as well as give better information than I can offer.

From Avebury,I headed off down the West Kennet avenue,before climbing over Wadon Hill,to get my first sight of Silbury Hill.If the pics don't look impressive,have a look for the cars on the road for scale,and remember,this was man made,essentially a covered pyramid,at least as old as the oldest in Egypt!

From there it was off to the Long Barrow...After visiting West Kennet,I hiked up to the Sanctuary,site of a vandalised stone circle,where I did take some pictures from there...

kirk13 · **Reply #1 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:20:23 PM

Silbury hill,as seen from Wadon Hill

kirk13 · **Reply #2 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:24:11 PM

The following pixs were taken from the Sanctuary

The feature just below the horizon is the Long Barrow. To be able to walk into this,stand in a building raised five millennia ago,was humbling! Words just can describe what it felt like to be there!

Zed · **Reply #3 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:30:20 PM

Great pics john

sidbury hill looks a bit like the teletubies house

kirk13 · **Reply #4 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:31:53 PM

Silbury Hill again...

From the Sanctuary,I joined the Ridgeway,which just in itself, is somewhere I've wanted to walk for the, longest time

From the Ridgeway,you could look down on the Avebury Henge

Wiltshire is part of the bread basket of England,

I was glad I'd stuck a snood into my pocket!

kirk13 · **Reply #5 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:36:04 PM

At the end of the walk,I had to have a pint at the Red Lion,the only pub inside a Neolithic monument!

From there I snapped this

And in case anybody thinks I'm going new age hippy

The local Land Rover posse showed up. The light weight was the pick of the crop

Mike, Lord of the Spammers! · **Reply #6 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:38:07 PM

Great pictures mate!

I bet it would be quite eerie in winter!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

kirk13 · **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2013, 10:41:12 PM

For those interested,learn more about Avebury here
http://www.avebury-web.co.uk/avebury_now.html

And West Kennet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Kennet_Long_Barrow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Kennet_Avenue

If your ever going to visit,make sure to do it early! I got there about half nine,so had about half an hour to explore the Stones in peace before people started arriving.