Stonehenge and the Fields of Gold

This past weekend my course set out on a two day trip to Stonehenge, Winchester and Hindhead (Devil's Punchbowl) to explore the concept of Roads and the Landscape. An Englishman named Jeremy Purseglove (yes, that's his name) a Landscape Architect and funny sorry teller was our tour guide. My theme album for the trip is Sting's "Fields of Gold" because he lives in the Avon Valley, just east of Stonehenge.

We met some Druids at the Henge and they told about their sacred temple where they and the witches worship. They were actually quite jolly druids, not creepy like I would have thought. (One had his cape in his moterhome :)). The stones aren't as impressive as I thought they would be, but it is amazing how they floated them down the river Avon and slide them across the frozen grass before propping them up in alignment with the moon every 60 days (or something like that). Stonehenge is essensially there to tell the seasons, a big sun dial in a way. People still come to celebrate the solstaces with all kinds of schnanaganes. Our job was to figure out a way to re-route the road so it didn't pass so close by the stones and ruin the landscape of the area.

On to Winchester, we had a nice meal at this zoo-themed resturant where we worked on our Stonehenge design, then woke up to hike a hill to overlook the town. The mist parted just in time for us to see the beautiful, quaint little town below. There lies the longest Cathedral in England where Jane Austin is buried. (Ladies, I know you are as interested as I am!) Apparently Jane lived nearby in a small village. :)

The last stop was a place called Hindhead where they are naturalizing a road (making it look like it isn't there) and replacing it with a tunnel. We hiked again out to this lookout point - all the trees are turning yellows, oranges, and bright green, it is amazing.

So my second weekend was a nice mix of touring and learning, I think I'm going to like this. :)