We both were awake at 5:30am, so gave up trying to sleep and made ourselves a luxurious cooked breakfast, pottered around with Scott finding the cricket score, although he would probably have been happier not finding the cricket score. We did a bit of packing and organising and put our bags in the car and headed South West. Again the traffic was really light on, so we made good progress, stopping for a coffee – unfortunately it was one of the ever present Starbucks. We did a further stop to clear the windscreen as the nozzles stopped working, probably frozen as now the countryside was covered in snow.
As we continued through the absolutely stunning countryside with even the trees covered in snow, we saw a sign for Stonehenge, but not knowing where it was we continued down the A303 until we rounded a corner and there it was. We quickly stopped the car and got out.
The monument had no people at it when we first arrived, but alas about 4 busloads of Japanese/Chinese tourists descended at about the same time. It was also one of the coldest places I have been in my life (yes Tibet seemed positively balmy). We had a good wander around, although most of the paths were closed due to the severe weather and got some really nice photos.
We talked to the World Heritage Information Man who told us that last week was Winter Solstice and 2000 people came before dawn – talk about hard core. Anyway we bundled back into the car and continued to “Cuckoo Downs”, the home of the Strahans.
We arrived at 12:30 to a wonderful reception and promptly cracked a bottle of bubbles before Scott and Mark headed to the local drinking home – The Legion. Of course to get there involved all the layers Scott had and a walking stick. Toby and I choose to stay next to the Aga and continue with the bubbles. It was great to see everyone and Scott looked instantly relaxed.
After the boys got back, we chilled out in the house playing trains and games before having an early night. Sadly Tracy went to bed before Henry (he is 4 ½).