I'd gone as far west as I desired and now it as time to head north from Southampton for Salisbury with the infamous Stonehenge not far north from there. I'd finally found a national park that was a national park as we know them in Australia and had a wonderfully quiet night camped in the New Forest National Park complete with full moon, owls and wild horses (we call them brumbies in Australia) feeding nearby. Most of the 'parks' along the south coast are urban centres and villages with large areas of pastoral land but not much forest and you cannot camp in these. They're more like collective rural heritage zones where you can walk or cycle through.
Now that I am a fully paid up member of the Camping and Caravan Club UK I can enjoy the benefits of backpacker rates at their own camping sites for around 5-6 pounds per night will all facilities.
Salisbury has a camping ground conveniently close to the centre so I was able to park the bike and walk to wander around the village and admire the old architecture while sipping on my coffee for the morning cruise and a Cornish pastie for lunch.
Like the ten European countries I have travelled through over the last three months, I have started to recognise brands when looking for shops and services - allowing me to get my domestics and daily tasks done much quicker so I have more time to do what I came here for.
A lot of the cycling shops in UK and Europe appear to cater for people that spend a lot less on equipment and bicycles than we do in Austalia. It's not uncommon for a cash happy professional in Australia to spend several thousand on the latest cycling technology and 'give away' the old 'ride' to a family member or friend. It's a totally different market.
Having clocked up 6200km it was time to change the brake pads for the disc brakes. The NZ trip contributed 1500km to this total and I can tell you the confidence disc brakes give you while sailing down a mountainous road slope at 50-60km per hour is self-explanatory. I need good brakes to slow down the 50 kilo load but also enjoy the 'weeeee' factor as I sail down the slope I worked so hard to earn as I rode up the other side.
YouTube is such an asset - I even found a clip that showed me how to change the disc pads on both wheels - and 30 mins later all done. Very satisfying but decided to have the system bled for air the next day at a local bike store just to be sure the brakes were fully operational.
Well, now it was time to head north for the Salisbury Plain and of course one of the worlds best known monuments, Stonehenge. There is also a Woodhenge and as I joked in an email recently. that one hoped no one burns it down otherwise it will be called Nohenge.
The mystery around Stonehenge's purpose of this ring of standing stones still remains but it's age and relationship to the Summer and Winter Solstice placement of the sun is well know. Stonehenge apparently means 'hanging stones', Around 4000-5000 years ago this stone structure was built. - in fact around the same time as the ancient Pyramids of Gezer. What were the pagan rituals conducted here for? - is there a practical element for it to track seasons of the year for agriculture?
As you walk around the site of prehistoric Britain you have to wonder about the sheer workforce and time required to transport the stones or raw structures from Wales and other areas to fabricate and erect on the site. Not all of the original stones remain due to previous century vandalism or tokens for personal collections. Not something you could just put in your pocket and sneak away.
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