As someone commented about Frank-o-Fyle, my blogs are arriving like buses - none at all then 3 in a row. Oh well, I'm suddenly feeling loquacious. It may be something to do with displacement activity because I'm supposed to be starting writing my reports... well, I've "done" Lucy for starters, and now my brain hurts.
We made good use of the glorious sunshine yesterday and went out in search of prehistoric Kent. First we went to Addington Circular Stones.
It isn't really a stone circle, but the remnants of kerbstones of a longbarrow. It has definitely seen better days - apparently some of the stones were used to make the lane that cuts through it. There is a more impressive monument (The Chestnuts) right nearby, but it's on private land, and the owner was too busy to let us in to see it. So we moved on to Trotiscliffe (pronounced Trosley - don't you love English?) to see Coldrum.
We loved Coldrum. Here it is from the far end of the barrow, looking towards the denuded entrance door, which faces the Medway valley stretching out below it.
Here's the megalith forming one side of the doorway, showing the vantage point over the valley.
The lintel stone has been lost.
I don't know if this is big enough to see the ribbons tied to the trees on the site. I'm presuming they are prayer ribbons of some sort - perhaps any Pagan amongst my readers could help.
Anyway, we thought the whole site was wonderful and the views from it stunning.
The last site had the best name - Little Kit's Coty.
This is just off the Pilgrims' Way, an ancient footpath that Chaucer's pilgrims used on their way to Canterbury, so you can imagine them possibly seeing this impressive dolmen. In real life, Samuel Pepys certainly saw it, and was "mightily glad" to have done so, even though it was not so big as Stonehenge!
And we finished off with Lower Kit's Coty House, another rather sad site. The "Countless Stones" - its alternative name - have all fallen over and are easily countable; so I didn't, just to retain the mystique. I would have given you a picture anyway, but I've run out of space for today!
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Usksider
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- 05 May. 2006 @ 18:04:44
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lizdavies
- 05 May. 2006 @ 21:54:25
As Pepys may have said, Wiltshire is even more rewarding than Kent. It couldn't possibly be yellower however.
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Usksider
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- 06 May. 2006 @ 08:07:36
Is it rape seed or mustard? We have lots of fields sown with rape around here; the colours are glorious, but the smell can be a little over-powering!
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lizdavies
- 06 May. 2006 @ 10:51:37
It was rape, and the air was a bit thick.
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Show me these ancient sites when the rape is over - it's right up there with horses and collies as far as I'm concerned, and you don't want snot all over your spare bed.
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Usksider
Pro
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- 08 May. 2006 @ 06:45:50
Rape blossoming in the fields tells me when spring changes to summer - it's a better indicater than a calendar.
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I remember driving the whole family slightly mad by insisting on visiting every prehistoric site in Wiltshire on what was, I think, our last family holiday when I was 18 or 19. But at least we got to climb Silbury Hill (the dog - Peppi - several times and at great speed) and wander among the stones of Stonehenge. By the time we did Avebury Helen (who was desperately in love, missing Glen, and bored) sulked in the car and would neither visit the museum nor have tea. I think she may also have been dieting in order to hang on to her 19 inch waist: a pointless exercise - you diet for thirty years and end up fat, you enjoy your food for thirty years and end up fat, or you happen to be born Liz and don't get fat!
You can't beat a nice day out when the weather's fine can you? Especially if you can enhance that day out with a little historical interest. Reading about you trolling around those ancient sites in Kent remindes me it's time I visited Wiltshire again.