Avebury Adventures

Slow mornings are amazing. Really, I just don't like to be rushed. Ever. (And, I have some work to do with this because (most times) when I'm ready, I need everyone to be on board) Anyway, we had a slow morning of English breakfast, writing, and talking. It was darn near perfect. We decided to just do Avebury because we also had to go to Bristol for Sherry's second leg of her journey. So, we ended up leaving the B&B around noon.

It's extremely difficult to just spend two hours at these types of sites. Spoiler alert: we stayed for four. Thankfully, Sherry's friend was amazing and wanted Sherry to fill her cup because she knew she'd get the overflow! (That's tribe material if you ask me!)

Okay, do you know anything about the Avebury Henge? Excuse my ignorance, but I didn't know until I started my research for my trip! I, of course, had Stonehenge on my must-dos, but turns out it's like half a mile from the parking lot, and they're gated off, so you can't even touch them. (Having to run trip planning through a "secondary" checklist of accessibility is a whole other post) So, a long walk with little pay off made me go looking around, and I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad I did!

Here's a super quick overview of Avebury Henge:

Avebury Henge dates from around 4,600 years ago. The bank and ditch are almost a mile in circumference, and the ditch was originally around nine metres deep. The banks were built up from chalk, dug from the ditch using stone and bone tools, and both would have been bright white when new.

The outer stone circle is the largest prehistoric circle of standing stones in the world and there are the remains of two other smaller stone circles within it.

The stones are huge with the largest weighing at least 100 tonnes, making it the heaviest in Britain. The stones are a locally sourced hard grey sandstone known as sarsen. You can walk amongst all the stones and along the henge bank.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wiltshire/avebury/exploring-the-stone-circles-at-avebury

AND THEY HAVE SHEEP!

That took this to a whole new level for me. I had to pee so badly and was booking it to the loo, but I HAD to stop and take in the sheep and their sounds. Ahhhhhhhhhhh... I loved it so much.

Okay, after we handled business, we walked to the gate to enter the first pasture. Yeah, you read that correctly! The stones are in pastures with sheep in them. Well, at least the first one we visited had sheep friends, but for all I know, they could rotate. Makes sense to me! Either way, each pasture contained massive stones (which are like icebergs because they go deep into the ground! Look it up! It's nuts!)

Y'all, I went to the first stone and laid back on it. Immediately, I felt lightheaded and would have fallen, but it was gently cradling me. I can't describe it any differently. There was an energy that was too much for my body to handle all at once. It was exhilarating while being calming and soothing.

Then we watched some sheep have a confrontation because one just wanted to rub it's hind quarters on a stone, and the other was upset about it. We hung back because the path was right next to them, and I've never been this close to sheep, so I had no clue what to do. Turns out that if you just softly walk their direction, they'll gently walk away. If you couldn't tell, I loved every second.

A few stones down, there was one that was shaped and the height of a bench. We discussed if it would be disrespectful to sit, and we agreed our hearts felt okay with it. I put my hand about an inch from it and felt the energy IMMEDIATELY. I even had to stop Sherry from sitting, so she could feel it beforehand.

It was like warm static between our hands and the stone.

We sat for a while, and the grounding and solace was undeniable. So, we spent quite a bit of time here. The urge to go explore was admittedly hard, but a pause allowed it to pass, and we were fully present and able to check in with our bodies. Pure magic.

The next pasture was sans sheep and stunning. It was lovely to see a group of folks sitting by the first stone just writing together. What a dream! So, we made our way to an unoccupied stone and enjoyed some time alone with the her. Gorgeous. She had a plant growing around her base that looked like mint. So, naturally, I went to check the stem to see if it was square (I learned this from Neeve and Amy, and I wanted to show I carried their knowledge with me about the mint family). Even though the stem WAS square, turns out I was wrong. It was some lovely stinging nettle that made sure I remembered touching it long after the initial act. Zero regrets!

I'm loving how often I think of my tribe throughout this experience. It feels like they are here with me, and I guess energetically they are.

This stone demanded your attention - inviting while ensuring you respected her. We spent a lot of time in this spot leaning against her, and my favorite was tucking my body under one of the edges while touching her with my hands. The nettle made sure I didn't touch where she was buried into the ground. I wish I could say I learned my lesson the first time, but it took two passes for me to get the message ;)

Far off in the meadow were two stones that were calling to us, so we gladly obliged. These were the first ones we saw that had the back drop of the town (or at least some houses). The henge surrounds most of the village. We hugged her with our menges (respectfully), just trying to get as close as possible. Truly enchanting.

Then it was time to visit the little nearby stone/herb shop and lunch at the restaurant across the road. I have yet to meet a meal here that didn't fill me with gratitude. Two of my high points at this stop was realizing that dog water bowls are everywhere :) Then, some visitors walked past, and one guy's jacket said "Good choices make good stories." Just lovely.

It was now time to make the trek back to the parking lot. We chose a pasture across from The Red Lion. There was a gate far from our present gate, and we decided to take the "short cut" along the top of the bordering hills. We followed the path up to the top. It was a slow process of Sherry leading and holding my hand for stability (thank goodness I had my hiking pole; otherwise, we would have QUICKLY descended not long after we started our ascent).

Turns out, it was a path the SHEEP take! Once we got to the top of the first point, I had reservations about the rest of the journey, so Sherry ran to go scout out the rest of the ridge. When she returned, she said, "We have options: we could go back we came, or you could trust your body and remember your strength and power and follow through." To which I replied, "F you, Sherry," because I KNEW what the right choice was.

It took Sherry MAYBE two minutes to run to the halfway point on her scouting trip, and it took us together probably twenty minutes to get to the descent. I will say, the views were stunning!!!

The first pic is Sherry far away (YOU can't see her, but she's there). The second is zoomed in. And, the third is my view from sitting on the very first point :)

The rest can only be clearly captured through video. Once we got to the end of the ridge (twenty precarious minutes later), Sherry's idea was to get me to the wire fence and get me over it. Absolutely not. It was sweet that she felt confident enough to lift me over; however, I know my body. When I laugh, my body stops working. There was NO WAY we could attempt scaling me over a WIRE fence and not lose it. So, I chose to scoot down the embankment. Since my body is so stiff and spastic, I knew scooting was the way to go. (Said with love towards my body. Going down hill is difficult when your body doesn't allow your natural shock absorbers to do their job) Smart choice.

Now it was time to scale the steep hill ahead. Mind you, there is no sheep path. Sherry went first while steadying me with her hand behind her back just like we did the first time. The difference was I had use little, uncertain, grassy knobs as steps. Sigh. Well, three quarters the way, I decided it was safer for me to crawl.

Y'all.

Sherry got behind me to help with the momentum. We decided she'd wait for me to say, "push," and we'd advance. Well, this heifer is so strong that after the second push, my face was in the ground. I was trying to yell "wait," but Sherry couldn't hear clearly (probably because I had a whole piece of the mound in my mouth).

So, she continued to push while I TRIED to yell, "I'm down, Sherry!!!!

Remember how I said when I laugh that my body stops working? Just imagine the laughter that ensued. Bum up, on the side of a sacred hill, while lovingly being shoved into the earth.

Clearly, pushing was not the way. I had to do this on my own. So, I grappled my way up, grabbing clumps of grass to pull myself up. Grunting the whole way. It wasn't pretty to see or hear, but my body did a great job!

Turns out, Sherry's invitation/encouragement at the beginning of this journey atop the ridge was correct.

Compared to that, the rest of the day way smooth sailing.

We drove to Bristol, and I got to meet Sherry's lovely friend! Then, it was time to take to the roads of England alone. Thankfully, I had three days of emotional and navigational support from Sherry.

The only challenge was that it was around 10PM when I returned to the countryside where my B&B is nestled. I spent about twenty minutes lost in the wooded hedges, but I saw one muntjac deer (my first one ever) - looks like a baby deer, but it's full grown - and one full size deer (like in the states) that ran right in front of me.

But, I made it! Just like I felt I would! I was never scared, just frustrated because I KNEW how to get there. But, that's where I had to extend myself grace and remember this was my first time driving here at night.

Yep, that's my third day! It was full of first-time adventures, laughter, revelations, and strength.

Not too shabby!

Cheers :)