Sunday 4 September: Stonehenge, ships and spires

The day started badly, wih Paul waking up with a very sore neck and bad headache. Sufficient painkillers to kill a horse got him moving, and we set off from Bath, heading south.

First stop was Salisbury, where we spent some time in the beautiful cathedral with its amazing tower and spire. This church was built much more quickly than most of the medieval cathedrals, and consequently shows a much stronger architecturial unity than most. The spire is the tallest in Britain. Another treasure of this place is an original copy of the Magna Carta - one of only four in existence.

After a coffee and some more pills at Salisbury we headed out to Stonehenge. Well we saw it from the road, but the crowds were enormous, and Paul's headache wasn't getting any better so we found a quiet roadside park and had some lunch. After a rest and some more pills we headed down to Portsmouth.

At the historic dockyard in Portsmouth, there are a number of famous old warships and museums. We visited the most famous of all - HMS Victory. When you realise that this was one of the largest and most luxurious ships of its time, it really makes you realise how tough the life of 18th century sailors must have been. The displays on board were very good, showing the ship almost exactly as it would have been at the battle of Trafalgar.

Our final stop for the day was Arundel. We had chosen this spot for no real reason except that it looked so nice on a cricket match we saw on TV. Arundel is a lovely town with spectacular castle, a nice cathedral, and some very affluent-looking locals. After checking in to the St Mary's Gate Inn (very nice), we wandered down town to find a swing band playing in the town square (excellent), followed by a fireworks show (pretty good).

All-in-all it was a very satisfactory conclusion to a day which started out looking pretty bad.