England 2015: Day 5--The Caen Hill Locks, More Churches, and the West Kennet Long Barrow

Are you still with me???  HA!  My head is swimming in images from that one week in England but here we are already at day 5 of 7.  And 8 more days before grandson Nicholas arrives!  You could say I'm running with the wolves right now.  :)

Day 5 was Friday, 19 June, when I was back with Lisl and Michael in Bath and Astrid was with us.  That day we covered a multitude of sins visual delights.

We started the day at the Caen Hill Locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal in Wiltshire.

It's a flight of 29 locks rising 237 feet in 2 miles,
but we were are at the main flight of only 16 locks.

All I can say is that it's one of the wonders of the world!

We started at the top near the café and looked down.

Once at the bottom, we looked back up.

Who dreamed up such a technological feat!

All out in the middle of Mother Nature doing her thing.

Lucky for us, narrowboats we going up and down.

Some people live on these boats while others rent them for vacation.

If you're on such a boat, you're the one who operates the opening and closing of the locks,
along with some willing volunteers, if you're lucky.

Does this look like a fun vacation to you?

You'd never forget it!

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After the locks, we visited 3 parish churches which I will add to my list thus far:

8.  St. Mary the Virgin Church, Bishops Cannings, Devizes, Wiltshire, 13th century.

Right away you can tell this isn't like the other parish churches we've seen thus far.

This one seems quite more grandiose, doesn't it.

 Yes, indeedy.

I wonder if this would have been too big for my preacher dad?

 Or too grandiose?

But he would have loved the the old wood.  The hymnals.  The cushions.

9.  St. Mary the Virgin Church, Alton Barnes,Wiltshire, 10th century.

See how quickly things can change.  This one is from the late Saxon Period (410-1066)!

And it's still in use!

It even has a wee balcony with all kinds of photo ops.  How fun.

10.  All Saints Church, Alton Priors, Wiltshire, 12th century.

Just a hop, skip and a jump away, we walked to this hard-to-find church.

It was declared redundant in 1972 and is no longer used for regular worship.

But it's still open to all and was being set up for the summer solstice celebration in 3 days.

(I wanted to do a brass rubbing at that front door.)

It had a strange presence I still can't explain....

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Between the churches we saw things, of course,

Nature's church.  And English architecture.

And more White Horses.  We've now seen 3 (one from last year).

Lisl wants to walk the White Horse Trail to all 8 (of 13) remaining Wiltshire horses.

Knowing her, she'll do it...all 90 miles!

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By mid-afternoon we were off to the West Kennet Long Barrow in Avebury,

a Neolithic chambered tomb built in (drum roll, please) 3650 BC.

Notice the Druids along the way, for the upcoming summer solstice.

The keepers of the gate told us no secrets.

We had to find them out for ourselves!

It felt like a desecration to see picnickers on top of the burial chamber,

but we held our tongues (hopefully not Ugly Americans??!!).

 Can you imagine being buried in there?

Many offerings were left in nooks and crannies.

And when we walked back down, we felt Mother Nature's gentle breeze.

The ancient whispers of the ages nearly rattled my bones.

How is it possible to see things this old?

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Once back home we ate and drank to the day at the nearby Fox & Hounds Pub.

Good God.  Good Friends.  Good food.  Let's eat!

It doesn't get much better than this, folks.

Bradford on Avon, England

If I told you I'm nearing the end of our England trip from May, would you believe me?  HA!

Well, Lisl and Chris know us better than just about anyone and took us to all the right places...this day, to Bradford on Avon.  Strap on your seatbelts!

But first, on the way, we stopped off to see the White Horse at Bratton Camp.

You can see a peek of it in the bottom-left image above.

And there she is, bigger than life on the side of the hill.

It's believed to have been cut into the hillside in the 16th century!

Astrid climbed down to take a picture of the horse's eye.

What a way to start the day!

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Straightaway from there, we drove 2 miles to the priory church in Edington....

 To be specific, the Priory Church of St. Mary, St Katharine and All Saints, Edington!

It's from 1352.

The sense of history is palpable, don't you think?

I always want first to see the nave...and then the details.

You know how the organ and pulpit are important to me because of Mom and Dad.

That's an old Book of Common Prayer, from 1718!

The green man (top-right) is hidden...but we found it.

And remember, I'm collecting church cushions.

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By then, it was time for lunch in Bradford on Avon, 10 miles away.

A picnic lunch, right on the Kennet and Avon canal...

 ...right next to the narrowboats, many of which you can rent.

See what I mean about how our English friends know us.  It still amazes me.

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Then we started walking (and playing) all over Bradford on Avon. 

This Barton Farm Country Park reminds me of an open-air museum.

It's where the Saxon Tithe Barn is from the 14th century, also known as Priory Barn.

The barn is empty of tithes now but is worth seeing for the wooden vaults alone.

From there we could view the medieval stone Barton packhorse bridge, crossing the River Avon.

As we walked around, we came across several Asian painters at the landmarks,
like the Holy Trinity Church from 1150. Later I wished I had asked who they were!

I had no idea we were climbing up to the top of the city till we got there.

The overview was spectacular.

And yes, that's the more famous Town Bridge (bottom-right).

Impressions.  Always impressions.

Near the Town Bridge we saw two more churches, one right after the other.

 First was the St. Thomas More catholic church in the old town hall.

You can see how modern it looks, converted on the second floor of the building in the 1950s.

But my Hart & Soul are with these older churches, as you'd guess.

This is the Saxon Church of St Laurence, perhaps as early as 700, if not the 10th century.

You can sit there with Lisl and just be amazed.

 All that AND weathervanes.

And flowers everywhere, in May....

...and I do mean everywhere.

Remember that Chris calls Astrid his Little Sis.  I call Lisl my Big Sis.

(All from meeting on the internet, as Astrid would say!)

It doesn't get much better than this, except that it does, when we go next to Bristol....