Rolling of the Stones. Or maybe, Rolling *to* the Stones....

[kniteracy]

Rolling of the Stones. Or maybe, Rolling to the Stones....

I mentioned we went to lots of places to look at stone circles on Monday. Here's how it all happened!

Stonehenge, at what would have been sunrise On a rainymisty early morning, here's the view toward the heelstone from inside the stones at Stonehange. The lens flare is from rain on the lens.

Late morning Sheep Reading Today, the chief sheepomancer could not be reached for comment. My best guess as a journeyman is, "Stay away from that bit in the middle; Mabel got a bit of bad grass last night."

Lamb by small stone I couldn't resist taking a photo of this lamb.

We swung through the Talis Fairy's village to have a too-short visit with her and see her garden and meet her apple trees, and then we were on the road again, to finally see the Uffington Horse and Wayland's Smithy, a trip I'd been wanting to make for some time. Now, just like they tell you, it's really impossible to get a good photograph of the Horse, except from the air, but it is marvelous to see it for real. It's stark and primative and powerful. J, G and my sister chose to walk up to the top of the hill fort and catch up with me at Wayland's Smithy, but we had no idea how long the walk to the Smithy was going to be! They caught up with me just before I reached it.

Pathway to Wayland's Smithy The photo doesn't do this bit of the path justice. You can see the tiny white flowers on the path, but you can't see that this whole time, they were gently falling down from the flowering trees, tiny white petals everywhere. It was like being sidetracked into fairyland.

Snail on a flower There were lots of really big snails out, since it had recently rained, and some of them were just beautiful. I particularly liked this one, because it had found a great place to spend the day.

The walk to Wayland's Smithy seemed to take forever-- and I'm a fairly slow walker, so it probably really did take that long. It wasn't until the end of the trek that we realised we'd walked 3.2 miles! Was it worth it? You bet.

Opening of Wayland's Smithy Here is the door of the barrow.

It was beautiful and dark and deserted. It was tranquil and old and fascinating. It wasn't all fun and games, though....

The creature from the barrow We heard a strange noise, and then a brightly coloured creature appeared. It bared its strange, foreign teeth at us. Before we fled, we snapped this photograph....

We stayed there for several minutes before continuing to the end of the path (J went in the other direction to get the car). Then it was back on the road and on to to Oxfordshire to get a look at the Rollright Stones. At the last minute before reaching Oxford, I remembered I'd forgotten to phone dyddgu and ask if she wanted to have dinner-- she was busy, and at home and not in Oxford, which was a bummer. Next time. 

View across the circle, Rollright Stones From what looks like an entrance to the side, this is the view directly across to the other side of the circle.

Dragon Stone We thought this stone looked like a dragon resting its wings.

The Rollrights are much smaller than the stones at Stonehenge and Avebury, but they seem to have individual personalities. They have fascinating shapes and sizes and cutouts, and the rock itself is different.

Kissing Stones These two stones look like they are kissing, don't they?

Kissing Stones We couldn't resist. Cheesy as it is, I think this is one of the nicest photos we took on Monday.

The Whispering Knights A short walk away from the Rollright Stones, these are the Whispering Knights, actually a marker for a tomb of some kind. The fallen stone in the foreground once rested atop the others.

We did end up going back through Oxford for dinner, because we still had light and I wanted my sister to see the different architecture of Oxford. I remembered how to find the Saxon tower and the noodle shop! I was so proud of myself. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant that would have been three times as expensive in London.

Half-timber building in Oxford No matter how long I stay here, it still makes me giggle (sometimes) to see a mobile phone shop in the ground floor of a building like this.