We headed down to Salisbury on the Thursday, stopping off at Figsbury Ring. A hill fort being grazed by cattle. From here you could see the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, and the planes landing at Sarum airfield. Lovely sunny day and a nice spot, though fenced in on one side by military fencing and a rather poor access road. We then drove on to the Salisbury Camping and Caravaning campsite and parked Van the Van for the night. Big, open site, next to a huge playing field. Good walks down by the river and into town.
On the Friday we started late and walked to the Old Sarum Iron Age Hill Fort for our guided tour. Lovely views of the surrounding countryside including the airfield, Figsbury Ring, Salisbury Cathedral and of course our campsite as one member of the society commented.
Walked into town for dinner at Sarum College where most of the other Cambridge Society members were staying. Good meal in the student canteen. We taxied back to the campsite to bed.
Saturday we again walked into town to the cathedral for a guided tour. We were divided into a couple of groups. Our guide gave a rather dumbed down talk. Fine for me, but not for those who wanted more information. Next we had a guided tour of the roof and tower of the cathedral. This was really very interesting and was excellent. Tower tours seemed to be run very regularly. I think there were three in progress at a time. We walked from one end of the cathedral to the other under the roof, then up steps through the tower to the base of the spire. Outside we could look over Salisbury from a narrow ledge. The tour went on longer than planned, so no lunch and straight out for a walk to see Clarendon Palace Ruins.
Evening was another lovely dinner in Sarum College. and then a taxi ride back to the campsite.
Sunday another pleasant walk into town to pay for our meals and then a guided walk around Salisbury. This included the old court house where Kate, a Society member, had once sat as a judge. We cadged a lift to Old Sarum Airfield where we ate lunch. Apparently there was a rather large unanticipated crowd there today with a sponsored parachuting event. No matter. The main event for us was the museum where we could look at and sit in old military aircraft which had to have some connection with Boscombe Down.
Walked back to the campsite for dinner.
On the Monday we drove home, stopping off National Trust Mottisfont Abbey. The Abbey itself was not open, but the gardens were. Lovely river with large fish swimming, and some working displays of lock gates for children to play with. No children around so Rosemary and I had great fun pumping water and operating sluice gates. R wanted a set in our garden.
