2-29-24 Family weekend near Salisbury

You probably know that I have family in the UK, and I traveled to Salisbury in mid-February to see them. My Aunt and Uncle, various cousins and spouses and kids and dogs and cats all live fairly close (within 2 hours) and they all travelled to Fordingbridge for a family dinner and ramble on Saturday. It was really great to see my family again, and we worked out that it had been nearly 32 years since I had seen some of them. It was as if no time had passed. My cousin Vonny was one of my bridesmaids so many years ago, and here she was, with a successful career, a family, a lovely (and well behaved) dog, and kids about to take their A-levels (really important exams at the end of high school).

The trip from Grantham to Salisbury was pretty easy. Train to London King’s Cross, a tube ride across London to Waterloo station, then another train to Salisbury. Most of the time, when I buy train tickets, I get an e-ticket. But this time I was given a code and had to visit a machine at the station to collect my paper tickets. All was OK, until it spat out 8 different tickets. I shoved them in my pocket and boarded the train. When the conductor came around, I fanned out all the tickets and asked for help. Thank goodness I did, as one of the tickets was my ticket for the tube ride across London. I would have paid twice without their help!

My Aunty Linda, Uncle John and cousin Vonny met me at the station. We immediately had a lovely pub lunch and a short walk in the New Forest (this was at one time Royal Hunting Grounds – not sure if the emphasis is required, but the tone was pretty reverent, so I’ll keep the capitalization). Now there are not many trees, but it was still lovely.  Dinner that night was at my cousin Alan’s house (head of Garmin IT for Europe or something similar – I’m sure Alan will frown because I have it wrong). I was asked very seriously (twice, independently by both my aunt and uncle) if I liked Indian or if I preferred Chinese or even pizza. Vonny subtly indicated that Indian curry was the right choice, but never fear, I was already committed. I had not had a proper curry since arriving. I finally met Emma (second cousin?) that night, and the next day I met Russell (spouse of Vonny, with whom I have been friends on Garmin for many years – we had a fantastic chat about running as he’s a very committed tri-athlete), and Wendy (spouse of my cousin Ben, a glass blower). Wendy spent some years in Ottawa, Canada (my home town) growing up. It’s a small world!

A full weekend was planned for me, and so Saturday morning we were up early for a tour of Salisbury Cathedral. WOW. The cathedral dates from the 1200s when it was “moved” from Old Sarum because the priests were not being treated well by the local lords of the castle (well, it’s more complicated than that, I’m sure, but you get the sense of it I hope). In the photo below, in the middle of the image on the horizon you can see Old Sarum, a view from Salisbury Cathedral tower.

The cathedral contains the oldest clock in England that works on a sort of flywheel system with many gears. Another unexpected gem at Salisbury Cathedral was the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta is similar to the bill of rights, and multiple copies were signed on June 15, 1215 by King John to avert civil war. These copies were distributed to different cathedrals throughout the UK for safekeeping. Salisbury Cathedral has one of the remaining original copies, having kept it safe for 800-ish years!

I have been inside many cathedrals and this one is very, very grand. But I had never even considered what was above that beautiful ceiling. Well, look at the right-hand picture above. Here you see the other side of the ceiling. You can just make out the shape of the arches, and above it is what looks like an attic of sorts, complete with rafters and 800-year-old beams.

Aunty Linda had bought us tickets to climb the tower and so my 79-year-old aunt and I climbed 362 steps to the top of Salisbury Tower. One can only actually climb to the top of the square portion of the tower, the tower continues on up to the spire at the very top, with a light and an anemometer. The anemometer monitors wind speed, and when wind speeds exceed a threshold, the tower tours are discontinued. Periodically, someone has to don climbing gear and climb a ladder (inside), then venture out a tiny door to replace the light bulb or maintain the anemometer.

You have to look really carefully, but the anemometer is there at the very top, you can just see one of the cups. The picture below shows the inside of the tower. The scaffolding does not hold the tower together, it actually doesn’t even touch the walls of the tower. It is there to inspect the insides, and to provide access to the tiny door through which the brave soul climbs to service the anemometer.

We grabbed a quick lunch in the cathedral café, and then headed to Vonny’s house to pick up the family and head out for a walk. We went back to the New Forest on a different trail. Here we came upon a wonderful little creek with water the color of tea. Two of my favorite things!  Tannins from organic matter (peaty soil perhaps?) caused the tea-like look of the creek.  It was a rainy afternoon, and did anyone consider postponing the walk?  Never.  I have to tell you, the English are very hardy. No-one batted an eyelid that it was raining and muddy. Even the kids were unfazed. My kind of people! 

We had a family dinner at Vonny’s place and played some games. My family will remember Aunty Betty’s game “this is a spoon/this is a fork” or “this is a dog/this is a cat”. I will have to introduce it to friends back home. We also played “ring on a string” – a simple game with a long circle of string on which a ring is strung. Everyone holds on to the string, while someone in the middle tries to figure out who has the ring. If you are caught with it, it is your turn to go into the middle.

My UK family, minus my cousin Chris and spouse Jackie who live in Scotland.

I told you about the nice, straightforward train ride TO Salisbury on Friday, right? Well, the return on Sunday was not quite so simple. Kings Cross station in London was closed, so I ended up with six different trains that took me from Salisbury to Birmingham to Darby to Nottingham to Grantham and two other railway stations that are a blur. One of the trains was late, which messed the rest of the itinerary, but eventually I was back at the manor, having missed the dinner service. I settled for a british version of instant noodles, adding some prosciutto and green peas that were hanging out in the fridge, and had a lovely meal. I’m gorging myself on peas here as he-who-shall-remain-nameless doesn’t like them (and therefore  somehow, they are never served in our house).