England 22- hiking at Fyfield Down on the Last Day

Or, as we kept saying, the, “sniff..sniff…last day…WAAAHHHH!!!!”

How is it possible for time to go so fast?? None of us was ready for it to be The Last Day. But, sadly, there The Last Day was, before we knew it. We made the most of our Last Day, though. We took a long hike to Fyfield Down , where you can see the largest assemblage of sarsen stones in England. And it is a gorgeous, gorgeous hike. You’re up on a ridge for much of it, and can see for miles and miles. And it was a beautiful day. Sunny skies, nice and warm without being too hot for a hike. We started at Avebury, although we could have also started from our lodgings, in the opposite direction. I think the stones are about halfway between the two.

The beginning:

Tumulus hill in the distance. There are tumuli, also known as barrows or burial grounds, everywhere.

A folly on the hill near Avebury:

There are apparently a gazillion follies in England; this is Landsdowne Monument, aka Cherhill Monument. Kim even had a book of follies that she brought. We were going to go visit some of them…. hahahahaha! No time!! At least we could view this one from a distance. Naturally, though, Baker B hiked up to it before we got there. Baker B saw everything. I’m a little jealous. This was a great navigational tool, though – it was visible from pretty much everywhere.

This is it from a distance. Ignore that annoying lens spot. Despite having my camera cleaned before we went, I STILL had lens spot. I removed some with an editor, but now I’m confused over which ones I removed and which I didn’t since I managed to not just replace the spotty ones on Flickr with non-spotty ones, but added non-spotty ones. I’ve decided that before our next trip it is probably time to buy a new camera. I looooove this camera, but it is very old. And apparently beyond cleaning.

There were cows and sheep everywhere:

And poppies:

Baker B presenting the view:

Signage:

We were impressed with how polite the signs are there:

We crossed this track, which is used to train racehorses on. I was hoping we’d see some, but sadly we didn’t. This track went across the hill above the cottage where we stayed too.

Stones!

Interesting abandoned house that was behind a chain-length fence:

Baker B holding the gate:

Thoughtful Kim:

And views:

And then, as we walked back through Avebury and down the path to the carpark:

Cricket! I had never seen cricket being played.

And then… we went to Marlbough and had our… last pints. Sadly. We sat outside the Castle and Ball, and watched the town go by. (The Castle and Ball, oddly, was who found Kim’s purse and turned it into the police station. Well, people who worked there, not the inn itself.) Ginger beer for Kim, the house Cask Ale for me, and the Stella for Mark.