Stonehenge: Summer Solstice 2012

I finally got to go to the solstice.

I drove down on the Tuesday after doing a morning at work. I only stopped twice: once for a petro/loo/brew stop on the M5, & then on the A303 at a cherry stall.

I'd seen a programme on the telly about the A303 & how it afforded a good first glimpse. He wasn't wrong. Once on the A344 I pulled up & took a few pics over & through the fencing. I was glad it was a good day & the weather showed it at it's best.

I noticed a lot of people 'doing the tour' were outside of an area fencing in the stones. I wasn't sure how close I'd be able to get the night following, but they were pretty impressive in the afternoon sunshine.

After a wander up & down to get these pics, I got back in & headed for Shrewton down the road west.

Here are some Shrewton trees. Shame one is sideways, but I can't figure out how to turn it on blogger.

The Manor House at Shrewton was full of cats. Not terrifically hygienic, but hey! I survived ;-)




I wanted to take the apricot kitten home, but when I came back from my trip to Salisbury on the Wednesday, someone else had taken her. Perhaps a good job, given Kuni's aversion to new folk in the house!

The apricot with Pteppic-like ears

See what I mean about hygiene!

I  had a wander round the village after tea & found a Zumba class for Thursday morning!

After a long day & a long drive I hit the sack ~ complete with cat ;-p

I was up early to go & see Salisbury, taking the direct route down the A360, a picture of a nice little weir & trees.


I managed to find free parking for the day just out of the town centre, & did a bit of charity shop shopping. 
It appears there is a better class of charity shop down there ;-)

I also checked out the restaurants for the meal with Kim & Opkar later.



The Cathedral is lovely & has an awesome font. It's like an infinity swimming pool. 



There were some great trees there, too.

This is one of the cottages in Cathedral Sq.

I bought myself some goodies & a drink & sat down with a book in the little park near the car.

I got company after a while, but he/she didin't fancy the bit of banana I threw.
As you can see from the foot, he/she was quite close.


I wasn't meeting Kim & Opkar until after tea, so I took the scenic rout home around 4, washed & changed & back down for a lovely meal in sight of the spire.
I tried to persuade them to join me for the Solstice, but they had no wets with them, & rain was forecast.


Once back at Shrewton, on advice of the owners, I left the car & hitched in, getting picked up by 4 guys in a Transit.
The car park was already pretty full - by about 9.30pm, & not taking the car proved to be a good idea.

I'd packed a bottle in my little ruckie - wrapped in my wets, & managed to get it thru 'customs' at the gate. They had sniffer dogs, but they took no notice of me.


By the time I'd wandered past all the food & drink stalls it was much darker, & over by the stones there was a lot of music.




Inside the circle it was heaving & I did a couple of revolutions, getting nearer & nearer the middle.

Eventually I was there, & found a stone to climb on so I could see. There was a girl already up there ~ Sarah

I hung out with her for a bit, & then, at about half 12, went to find somewhere to lay my head.

Eventually I lay down in the lee of a fallen stone ~ having donned my quilted waterproof pants & an extra hoodie. I'd packed a waterproof picnic blanket which I wrapped round me & settled down for a few hours sleep in the rain.

Unfortunately, nothing was very waterproof at all, & by 0230 I gave up trying to sleep in the rain (nice idea, tho, eh?), & went for a wander.

This is me between 2 of the stones at about 0245

There were some peeps spinning light wands, & even with just 'night landscape' on, the camera managed a reasonable job :-)

Big stones!

As dawn wasn't too far off, I made a quick loo stop & got a hot drink (very expensive coffee in a small plastic cup), before heading out east to where Arthur Pendragon was officiating.
There were a few hand-fasts, some singing and poetry, and some new appointments of officials before Arthur got down to welcoming the new day / year.

Apologies for the blurry pics, but my hands were freezing (even tho it was midsummer's night) &  I was shivering a bit, & it was actually still pretty dark/not light at this point, despite it there being an apparently blue sky!

Once Arthur had done his stuff, I exited near the east end & walked west up a deserted A344 towards Shrewton. 

Just after the junction with the A360, a bloke from Warminster answered my thumb & dropped me off at Shrewton at about 10 to 6.


I put my head down for a few hours (Complete with cat!), then headed off to the village Zumba class. It was pretty staid, but woke me up a bit, at least.

Immediately afterwards I drove right over Salisbury Plain, following the white horse signs on my atlas, & suddenly found myself at Silbury Hill.
So I parked up & had a wander round, having remembered a prog on the telly about it being a man-made mound, & the excavations they did inside to try & find out what it was for.

As I had at Moeraki etc., I took pics of the info.
Unfortunately they're not very readable.

Maybe they would be if copied & pasted? ? ?

Anyway, anyone who's interested can google.

After about 1/2 hr I made my way to Avebury, & the pic is of Kennet Avenue with joins Avebury with the Sanctuary, a couple of miles away. There is also a big mid-summer celebration at Avebury, & all the roads leading in were coned-off. 

As I was pretty hungry I found a gateway into a field & parked up there while I ate I got some pics. Duly fed, it was back in the car to Marlborough where (according to colleague, Gill) there was a good cake shop :-q. More charity shops & a couple of cake shops later, I headed home for some proper food & more cats. Plus, as you can see - Sudoku too.

As I was due in work that afternoon, the next morning (Friday) I was on the road for 8ish, & went via Bath during rush hour ~ bad move :-(  However,the rest was fine, & me & my little blue car pulled into Warbreck House drive at just before 1215. Not bad for about 250 miles.

Not proofed this as off to Zumba in 10 min, so

OAO & apologies for typos

Polo. Possibly the most fun I've had fully dressed

In April 2012 I got a Groupon for a Polo Day down at JF Polo Academy in Cheshire, so on the 29th I donned the jodhs, & set off just after 8 from sunny Blackpool.
By the time I hit the M56 it was piddling, & by the time I found the stables in Gt Barrow, raining pretty hard.
There was no sign of life, so I called the mobno I'd been given by Groupon. The posh sounding bloke (at this late stage [Oct 14!] I can't recall his name) said he'd sent an E the previous evening to say it was postponed as the field was waterlogged. 
You don't say!  There was a puddle so big in one bit you could've trained dolphins in it :-/
So, after a brief stop for some goodies, I went back to Blackpool.

It had been reconvened for the following Sunday, so off I went again, this time it was a lovely May morning all the way.
There were 3 of us with a Groupon, but the chap only had a 1/2 day voucher. There was another girl whose family was there. Apparently it was a birthday present.
Posh Bloke asked us about our experience, & sorted me out with a hat. As usual I was given an adult one, & when I explained about needing a kiddy one coz of my kiddy sized head, I got the smallest 1 they had. I also got offered a pair of long boots as I was only in jodhpur boots, but I declined.
Initially we had to show PB our skills & I got a bay mare. She was fine at walk, but very stiff at trot & always felt disunited at canter (for those readers who don't get that bit, google 'disunited canter'). Not a comfy ride :-(  Apparently she had arthritis & was always stiff at first. I felt a bit sorry for her, actually.
Stirrups were pretty short, & we had to ride in half-seat all the time (google half-seat ;-q ). The reins were always in the left, too. Pretty obvious that one ;-p
btw - there are no left-handed polo players.
We were taught to stop & go using the legs, seat & reins, & turn by neck-reining. This wasn't a prob for me having done a Lot of gymkhana comps as a kid. Plus, I'd spent a week on a ranch in Colorado a few years back. A real ranch, not a dude one.
We also got taught how to ride-off. This is (sort-of) the equivalent of tackling in rugby, but doesn't involve anyone hitting the deck (hopefully ;-p ). Basically, you use your legs & reins to make your pony travel in a diagonal line, & use the inner knee to shove the opposing pony over so you can get at the ball. As with tackling, good fun :-D
After about an 40 min of riding we had a break, & I got a new pony. He was much better & really knew his stuff :-)

Once PB had checked us all out as safe, we put the nags back & went to learn how to hit the ball with our mallet. To do this we sat on a wooden horse - it had a saddle on, but no head or neck. I was last to go which meant I had a slight advantage having watched the other 2.  PB seemed pretty impressed with my follow through. I think all those years of karate & kobubo helped ~ striking through the target & all that? He also said girls picked it up better than boys. Apparently they are more relaxed & don't try to rely on strength to whack it. Anyway, having tried it sitting on a lump of wood, we got aboard again & had a go mounted.
Wot a larf ;-)
Fortunately, Pony knew what I was trying to do & was very patient with me.
Then it was lunch & the bloke left.

Lunch was a mega BBQ with massive burgers & yummy sausages. Salad, juice, tea & choccy biscs were also on offer. Having not ridden since NZ (with Suzy, Dylan & Pete in September 11), I was pretty knacked after all that half-seat work, but several burgers/sausages did the trick & revived me. btw - the wooden horse's bottom is on the left of this pic.

Next up was more practice at hitting the ball while moving, & I slowly got better & faster. My new pony seemed to be a mind reader, & was turning as I was thinking about it, but I guess that was his job! He was also very good at following the ball I had just hit, & picked it out of any others in the vicinity. Clever chap :-)  

A few other peeps had mounted up over lunch & were tapping the ball all over the field, so once me & the girl were reasonably accurate at trot, PB suggested a 3-on-3 game.

During the game, Pony came into his own again & chased down the ball with little encouragement on my part, & we even managed to score a goal.

However, that wasn't a good as it sounds as the 'real' polo players were running rings round us 2 novices & I'm pretty sure they let me score???
I also lost my stirrups at one point when Pony went haring after the ball & did an emergency stop before turning left on a pin head & bombing it back in the other direction ~ oops!

Me trying to hit it backwards!

 

 .

All too soon it was 4 o'clock & time to stop.
I'd taken a carrot, so I shared it with Pony after I'd un-tacked him and given him a shower with the hose. They were all pretty sweaty, so I helped with a few others, too.
Then it was back in the car & up the road.
I fairly whizzed home, so I wasn't sat still that long. Even so, I stiffened up a Lot & I could barely get out of the car. The following morning I felt like I'd been run over by a rhino - several times :-/ but managed to get into work.
All in all a great day, & one to keep on the back burner for another time :-D
OAO