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Salisbury and Stonehenge

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Salisbury_1Stonehenge

Welcome to the third visit of our Bucket List Challenge to Visit 12 UK Cities in 12 Months and this time we’re in Salisbury and Stonehenge.

On the 5th of January we set off on a day-trip to Salisbury, a city of about 40,000 inhabitants situated in Wiltshire. Salisbury has an extremely rich history, not least, Stonehenge which stands just a few miles North. Obviously we could not visit Salisbury without including a visit to this renowned World Heritage site.

As it’s January, we expected the weather to be cold and overcast…and we weren’t disappointed! Dressed up warm and prepared for the weather, and a Bad-Hair-Day, we set off for the 100-mile outward journey, which was easy and uneventful.

As we approached Stonehenge I felt an increasing feeling of excitement, and even though I was hoping to see ‘The Stones’ from the road as we approached, the landscape was giving nothing away.

Stonehenge has a brand new Visitor Centre (opened in December 2013) which is sleek and modern. The car park was already busy when we arrived at about 10.15am on this cold January morning, which gives you some idea of how popular this monument is. We were told (via the Salisbury_2free audio) that Stonehenge receives around 1 million visitors a year and if our experience was representative, then it’s clear that people come from all over the world to visit.

From the Visitor Centre we were taken by small, regular buses to The Stones. It is possible to walk up to The Stones, but since it was so cold, damp and muddy, we decided the bus was the best option.

The Stones are immediately visible from the drop off point, and you are encouraged via path markers to switch on your audio tour as you enter the ‘park’.

The Stones are striking in appearance and this is further enhanced by use of the audio which helps to bring the story of their existence to life. However, despite many years of research, there is still no agreement on the reason for their existence. Some believe that they were magic or had powers of healing, others believe that the Stones are sacred and still others believe the Stones are a primitive calculator for plotting the movements of the sun and planets. In a lot of ways, this disagreement only adds to the mystery and appeal of the place. [Read more…] about Salisbury and Stonehenge

Gloucester: Bucket List Challenge City 2

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Gloucester_1After a little research, Gloucester has been selected as the second of our Bucket List: Visit 12 UK Cities in 12 Months Challenge. Last month we spent a couple of days in Bristol as we are currently facing the challenge of shorter days and cold weather.  The cities we’re choosing are therefore closer to home than those we will visit during the Spring and Summer months.

Gloucester is a city of approximately 122,000 inhabitants, originally founded by the Romans. Its main attraction is the Cathedral which is a beautiful, grand building dating from 681. Gloucester also has an inland dock and numerous historical landmarks.

This trip was a ‘one-dayer’, and so we picked out a few things to do and see to get a feel for the city. We also wanted to build in a little fun. Here’s our itinerary for the day:

  • Leave at around 8am
  • Taster skiing lesson
  • Into Gloucester for lunch
  • A wander around the Docks
  • Visit to Gloucester Cathedral

A cold but sunny Saturday morning was a great start to our trip. The journey was clear and easy and we made good time. Once you cross the Severn and head into England, the landscape in the area is fairly flat with the Malvern hills framing the distance. Given the time of year, there were lots of trees with pretty displays of mistletoe, which seems to be quite prevalent in the area. [Read more…] about Gloucester: Bucket List Challenge City 2

Bristol: Bucket List Visit 12 UK Cities In 12 Months!

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You might have heard me mention in an earlier post that I’ve recently put a Bucket List together? I was inspired by other Bucket Lists I’d read and suddenly it had dawned on me that I needed more adventure in my life. My Bucket List grew out of this idea and now runs to a list of about 40 things I want to experience, have and do! I guess I’ll need to post my full list up at some point, but for today, I’m going to write about my first Bucket List Inspired Adventure!

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living.

Dale Carnegie

It started with the happy coincidence of the arrival of my birthday and the inevitable question of ‘what do you want for your birthday?’. It’s not often I yearn for a ‘thing’ for my birthday, if I need anything, like a lot of people I go out and buy it. Instead it’s more likely that I will want to do something and that usually means going out for a nice meal. But instead, this time I already had the beginnings of my Bucket List! I had an incomplete entry for ‘Visit xxx city’ that, with a little more thought had morphed into ‘visit 12 UK cities in 12 months’.

Wikipedia gave me lots of ideas for places to visit, in fact, far more than I expected as my ill-informed understanding had assumed that in order to be called a City, said city must have a cathedral. I now know that this condition relates only to cities recognised before 1888. However, I have since decided that the 12 cities I choose to visit must meet this condition.

So, with a little bit of research, a check on the budget and the amount of time we could be away the decision was made for my husband and I to spend two days in Bristol. [Read more…] about Bristol: Bucket List Visit 12 UK Cities In 12 Months!

You Have Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty of these every year!

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dolphinEight thousand, seven hundred and sixty.

Written like this, it sounds like a big number, maybe like there’s a lot of it. But if that’s the case, why do I never feel like I have enough time? 8,760 – that’s one year’s worth of hours! Where do they all go?

Is this your experience too? Whether I’m working or relaxing, there never seems to be enough time to fit everything that I want to do into my day. I always seem to end up rushing around and then come the end of the day I’m wondering what, if anything, productive or goal-oriented I’ve achieved.

Of course, it’s not that I can’t remember what I’ve been doing during the day, but sometimes I’m disappointed to conclude that the things which have been crossed off the list weren’t that important in the scheme of things anyway, and, to make things worse, they’ve not really contributed to my long-term plans.

I’ve recently gone through a process of reviewing and renewing my goals in an effort to gain more clarity and focus. This has been a very worthwhile use of time (thankfully!) and I now feel clear on my business goals for the next 3 -6 months. [Read more…] about You Have Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty of these every year!