Day 2 - afternoon- cotswolds, avebury and stonhenge

After our lovely morning in Lacock, we hopped back on the bus.  It was a nice big roomy bus and we drove thru the Cotswolds. All along the narrow road we saw this old chalk carving in the hillside.  This is just one of 13 ancient chalk horses throughout the area.

The Cherhill or Oldbury white horse

This white horse once had an unusual feature, a glass eye. The centre of the eye was formed from upturned bottles pressed into the ground to reflect the sunlight. Thus the eye apparently had a bright gleaming appearance, and was visible from a considerable distance. The bottles were supplied by a Farmer Angell and his wife. By the late nineteenth century, though, they no longer remained, perhaps taken as souvenirs. New bottles were set in position on at least one occasion. In the early nineteen seventies children on a youth centre project put new bottles in place, with their names inside them. Ultimately, however, they suffered the same fate as the originals. The present eye is of stone and concrete.

As we drove through the area the countryside was filled with thatched cottages and rolling green hills.

We arrived at Avebury just in time for lunch.  We only had 1 hour so we pretty much had to choose between eating and looking.  Since Avebury has been on my list for a long time, I wanted to wander among the stones. 

After a short wander around inside the circle I realized that I MUST have some lunch so we power walked to the little deli and grabbed a samdwich.  I really want to return to spend several days here inside the village just wandering amonst the stones.  1 hour is just not enough. 

then we boarded the bus again to race toward the stonehenge.  We only had about 30 minutes to see the Stonehenge.  I would have chosen either to give up something else or not to go at all rather than have just 30. minutes.  as it was, I had to JOG around the stones!  and you know the stones are my favorite thing!

We got back on the bus and headed back to Oxford.