Heads up that this post has spawned a bit of my eclectic way of thinking, it may be too rambling for some…..
Hello all who have guided me in the past couple of months with my upcoming SW England travels.
I’m mostly sorted with a couple of lingering thoughts. Here is one of them for those familiar with the area, I am interested in hearing your ideas as I weigh pros/cons.
I am renting an automatic car covering two bases of Dawlish and Salisbury to maximize tight, after hours, or day travel that would be difficult on public transport. I’m also adding in stops between bases that would not be possible without a car.
I’ll be solo driving and this will be first time doing it on the other side of road so the least amount of driving is great. The car is sorted - I will PU in Exeter - use in Dawlish, travel to Salisbury - and return it in Trowbridge on my way to Bradford-on-Avon.
However, my plans in Salisbury shifted a wee bit because the tour for the Cathedral Tower cancelled and is now rebooked to the morning hours before going to next base of BOA. That is fine but this transition between bases was going to be my opportunity to visit Avebury which is of very high importance to me. So with that change, I’m wrestling with reworking the calendar to see both Avebury and some Salisbury manor homes. The main days in play are Sunday in Salisbury and Friday in BOA.
My current Salisbury plans….
Friday- 1000 Dawlish Warren Red Rocks beach walk or other seaside activity, Stourhead. Arrive Salisbury
Saturday-630 Inner Circle (can’t change), walk around plains, 9am/930 cafe and visitor center open, 1200 Old Sarum and hike about, (have tix for that day), 1830 Folk Dancing - have tix
Sunday - Visit Avebury OR as alt: 10am Arundal, Mompassan, Maybe Wilton, (really interested in first two ). No tix needed. Either scenario followed by 2000 Stonehenge Sunset - gotta find a good place for wide photos
Monday- 10am Cathedral, maybe Bratton Camp Chalk Horse if time allows but think it will be tight, by 1600 Trowbridge Car return. Train to BOA
Later that week on Friday…..Use 1 hr train to backtrack to Salisbury and visit top 2 manor homes OR as the alt: take a roughly 2hr public transport from BOA to Avebury for the day including hike about.
In weighing the choices, I’ve determined that:
The Avebury stones are more important than the manor homes.
The transport time seems to equal out in the long run and when everything is put together, roughly 4 hours total for both scenarios. However, spending 4 hours of travel in one day is more than what I would want.
I dislike the concept of backtracking to Salisbury but also hate wasting the opportunity of having a car rental.
Returning the car on Sunday, won’t be an option as it seems all rental companies in area are closed from Sat afternoon and through weekend.
Because tix are not needed for any of them, I can be somewhat loose and change things based on weather etc. but would like to have a general plan.
As I’ve worked through this and typed it all out, I’m going to drive to and visit Avebury on the Salisbury leg and then use the train to backtrack to the manor homes during the BOA leg.
Instead of deleting the thread now that it is all typed out……do you agree? Do you see any other alternatives? Are the manor homes worth backtracking to or should I do something else towards Wales (not interested in Bristol, already have Bath, BOA, and Cotswolds well sorted).