Breakfast at 76 Duke Street was fabulous. Delicious fruit compote followed scrambled eggs (done perfectly), hash browns, English bacon, and fried bread (yum!) for me. Elaine had the fruit followed by salmon and scrambled eggs. There’s an art to making scrambled eggs, and Julia has it down pat.
Then we headed out under overcast skies. Our first stop, after about 30 minutes, was at the old English landmark pictured below:
We both bought under sweaters for wearing under our rain gear as it appears it might be a bit colder than we anticipated. Elaine bought some socks, and I picked up four bottles of wine. While there are some different items, it looks remarkably like Costco Scottsdale.
Another hour or so and we really were at an English landmark and World Heritage Site: Stonehenge. You can’t go right among the stones, but rather you follow a path that totally surrounds them. Some have said it’s not worth it as you can see them from the road just as well. They are wrong. There is an interesting and informative audio commentary, and the opportunity for pictures is outstanding. And the weather cooperated – mostly overcast with occasional sunny breaks.
We joined the Royal Oak Foundation, the American branch of the UK’s National Trust, before we left home. So admission to Stonehenge was free with our membership cards.
Then it was on to Salisbury, just down the road a bit, our overnight destination. We were way to early to check in, so we parked downtown. For lunch we bought sandwiches and drinks from a little shop and ate on a bench overlooking the Avon River.
Then we visited another National Trust site just near Salisbury Cathedral, Mompesson House. (Free again for us, yea!) It was the typical old house tour but strangely intriguing. It rained a bit while we were in the house, but it stopped just as we were leaving. Then it was over to Salisbury Cathedral, an imposing structure with just a little bit of the seemingly always present scaffolding. Inside is the usual impressive cathedral but also a room that contains one of the four remaining copies of the 1215 version of the original Magna Carta. It was, so they say, the model for our own Declaration of Independence.
There was time before leaving downtown for a stop at a pub. We chose the Ox Row Inn. We both had a beer sitting outside and watched the world pass by.
Then we used the GPS to find Rokeby Guest House, our home for the night. It’s larger than the usual B&B and located a ten minute walk from downtown. Then after a bit of a rest we walked back into town for dinner without reservations. Our first choice was closed on Monday and our second (the Ox Row Inn) offered a “limited” menu because of “a problem” in the kitchen. That didn’t sound promising, so we opted out. We finally decided on the oldest pub in town, the Coach and Horses. Elaine had two appetizers, mushroom & thyme soup followed by chicken & apricot terrine. I had pate for my starter followed by grilled sardines. What were the pre-trip odds of me having sardines two nights in a row. They seem to be on every menu here. Dinner was fine. Elaine accompanied hers with wine while I enjoyed beer.
And home to bed.
