Stonehenge and Solstice festivities

We woke Sunday morning and aimed the Garmin at Avebury and Stonehenge. Avebury is a wide circle of diminshed stones. They appear to be attuned to the rise and fall of the sun and the solstices, but archaeologists still debate the true purposes of each. The entire town of Avebury lies within the extensive stone circle.
thatch covered homes and small stone and brick inns nestle next to massive rocks standing upright in the field. The village has adapted to its surround in over 4000 years.Both Avebury and Stonehenge were constructed more than 4000 years ago. After walking the ramparts encircling Avebury, we trekked on down to Stonehenge. Though crowded with people and machinery, the site was still impressive. Stonehenge was actually much smaller than I thought it would be. I envisioned a much larger area being covered by the encircled stones. But as we walked around it, where it is on a slight rise in the rolling hills, we could see how it was actually dominating the whole area. The Avon river in the distance, the path from the river on which the stones were moved, the bird songs and the wind feathering over the grass could easily have been millenia in the past. Of course, the electric lights,masses of police and porta loos for 40,000 did detract a bit from all the serenity. Stonehenge at the solstice is not where I want to be and it was aout to arrive! So we next took off for the town of Salisbury, We had a great lunch at a little shop near the Cathedral and then proceeded to walk around the medieval streets and peer inside the cathedral....then off to the Isle of Wight. Caught the ferry just in time and drove the backroads of the island to find our B&B high on a hill over looking the sea in Ventnor. It feels very mediterranean and we, in fact, have palm trees outside our window! More tomorrow.