Our morning began with French press coffee in the flat and a couple of hours of chatting about stuff before Jessica and I looked at the clock and said, “Whoa!”. At this, I woke Jim who thought I was mistaken when I told him it was 9 a.m. and we’d better get going.
Going we did, to one of the “chain” restaurants in Reading (“they’re all chains”, says Jasper) called “Bills” for breakfast at 10 a.m. People: if Bill’s is a chain, we should all invest. Occupying an old mansion house with creaky wooden floors and a cottage-ye feel, Bill’s served us cappuccinos and a tasty meal. Then, we walked out the door to the Reading Minster, as the church bells chimed away.
The service used scripture from Acts about Peter being told not to preach in Jesus’ name, and also the end of John about Thomas who doubted Jesus’ resurrection. The Vicar brought a very straightforward, sound message about faith, and we enjoyed our time there with Jessica and Jasper.
Then, this:
Stonehenge from the motorway, folks. Jim and I winced all the way there and back each time a car passed us on the right, especially on those narrow, English country roads. Ahem.
The visitor’s center is behind them. Next, sheep and cows. We chose to walk the mile-and-a-half to the stones, through fields and along the “cursus” — a 1.7 mile, ancient racetrack (?) which predates Stonehenge. We wanted to see sheep, and we did.
Oops, those are cows. The sheep look like sheep, with numbers spray-painted on their buns. You’ll have to check Jessica’s Instagram post for them, I guess.
Well, my horizon is crooked and the pic is overexposed. Lightroom will fix that, eventually. Doesn’t it look like we’re all alone at Stonehenge? We’re not, but I loved the way visitors were kept way, way back from the stones so we could get good pics.
Jim is touching a rock at the visitor’s center.
After Stonehenge, we drove back to Reading, intermittently wincing and napping, to Jasper’s flat. He cooked us Cottage Pie for dinner, which was so delicious after a day in the cold. (New thing we learned: Cottage Pie is made with beef; Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb — duh.)
Okay, now we sleep. Tomorrow Jessica goes to work, and we catch a train to Bath. We’ll stay the night, walk around those Roman ruins, have tea in the Pump Room, and maybe take a sip of the mineral water. Or, maybe not.