SO THAT`S WHERE THEY`RE HIDING..

Got home yesterday after a fabulous week in the Roseland - superb location, wonderful weather, our favourite coast path walk possible at last now that the bridge at Molunan on the stretch from St. Anthony to Place has been repaired - but the journey home from deepest Cornwall was, how shall I say....interesting.

A3058 - A390 - A38 - M5 - A358 - A303, so far so good.....but that`s when we saw the warning signs flashed in bright letters about severe delays at Stonehenge because of the Solstice thingy with 37,000 pagans and druids doing their thing. So, being ever resourceful, I decided to go through Yeovil on to the A30 which, whilst a bit slower, is a bit more picturesque and it eventually rejoins the A303 around Andover, thus missing out the Solstice throngs.

Made good progress until we saw signs that the A30 was closed at Wilton for road repairs. Now, it`s reasonable to expect diversion signs when you get near the road closure but not this time.  We did eventually reach Wilton, not having seen a diversion sign, but were turned back by a diligent official and told to go back along the A30 the way we came and follow the diversion signs.   To be fair, there were some signs going back that way but the diversion took us all the way back to Shaftesbury, thence down to Blandford Forum, on to Salisbury in the rush hour and eventually to Andover and the relative haven of the A303.

It got worse.  We stopped at Fleet Services only to discover that Waitrose had sold out of yum-yums and arrived home after a journey of over ten hours and 357 miles.   Next time, I`ll know better than to trust diversion signs which seemed to be hiding away in cold storage; but was it worth it?   You bet, just for the delight of the Roseland in mid summer. 

TODAY`S THE DAY...

There are some dates in the calendar that are ingrained into my being and today is one of them. It`s the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year or we`re about to enter the longest night. I guess it all depends how you look at it.

Now at places like Stonehenge there is always a dedicated gathering to see the sun rise on these almost sacred mornings, although today`s `crowd` was no doubt dwarfed by the one that turns up for the summer solstice and who can blame them, for winter`s icy grip is with us. So I rejoice in the day from the snug comfort of my own home and as I do so, I am keeping a close eye on the clock, for in just over an hour - at 17.47 - the solstice moment occurs exactly when the earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26' and from then on the days will grow longer, the nights shorter and I will look forward to 20 March at 11.43, when the vernal equinox will arrive and summer will once more be in prospect.

I remember 22 September last when, at 21.18, the autumn equinox arrived and it seemed that from that point until now I have been waiting for today, when the world will turn once more. My problem is that I don`t `do` winters, I don`t `do` dark or cold, I guess I`m a summer kind of guy. But in an hour`s time I will know that things will be on the up and maybe my winter gloom will lift, steadily but certainly as the evenings begin to draw out once more.

I sometimes think I should have been a dormouse - they`ve got it worked out. Maybe next time.

PIT STOP BLUES...

Just back from a spiffing week in Cornwall. I won`t bore you with all the places we went to or with a detailed weather report (even though while it was 18C and drizzling last Tuesday it was 29C and fine here in Kent.) The journey there and back was ok - over 300 miles each way - and Barney is turning out to be a good traveller, which helps a lot. As long as we stop every now and then for him (and us) to stretch his legs and do what he needs to do, he`s fine.

And one of the stops we made there and back was once again at Stonehenge. It`s a couple of hours travelling time into the journey and so very `convenient.` As usual, the car park was very busy but we always drive down the adjoining byway and park for free. I have to report that the facilities at this unique, irreplaceable, official World Heritage Site are nothing short of a disgrace to Stonehenge, to the Government Department responsible for its upkeep and to the nation generally. Since we were last there, nothing has changed. No improvements. In fact things have got a bit worse. When I last used the gentlemen`s `facility,` there were two hand drying machines. Now there`s only one and that one struggles manfully to keep up with the constant demand but it is clearly a losing battle for it.

They`re supposed to be going to build a new `Visitor Centre` at Airman`s Cross - a mile or so to the west of the monument - and there was talk of it being ready for Olympic Year in 2012. I can`t see it happening myself and if it`s true that countless visitors coming to these shores for the Olympics are likely to want to see Stonehenge, then unless something drastic is done to improve the facilities for them, then we are going to be severely embarrassed by what they find. I think I`m going to have to find another pit stop next time we head west.

GETTING BORING...

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly turned up today at the site of the A3 Improvement Scheme at Hindhead in Surrey. She wanted to mark the start of boring work on the main tunnels under the village and the nearby Devil`s Punchbowl. The whole scheme is costing £374million and will take three years to complete but it will bring an end to the one and only bottleneck along the whole of the A3 between London and Portsmouth. (You`ll forgive me, I`m sure, for not speculating as to why on earth anyone would wish to go to Portsmouth - at least voluntarily.) At 1.8km, the tunnel will be the longest land tunnel in the UK.

Now, the Devil`s Punchbowl is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and very pretty it is too. But it`s hardly a World Heritage Site. So how come this multi-million pound scheme can get the go ahead, but a tunnel which would help preserve the integrity of Stonehenge doesn`t even get off the drawing board?

(Hindhead tunnel might look like this)

I`m sure the good folk of Hindhead will be pleased with the final outcome of their scheme, which I would not deny them, but it does raise an unfortunate sense of priority on the part of Ruth Kelly and her ministerial colleagues. Never mind, Ruthie - have another glass of champers and hope UNESCO won`t notice.

NEW DEFINITION

Stonehenge Update

.....or rather Downdate. For this was the master plan for safeguarding Stonehenge`s future as a World Heritage Site. Figures revealed yesterday showed that a staggering £30million has been spent/squandered/wasted (delete as appropriate) in the past decade on preparatory work for the scheme which was abandoned last month by HM Gov.

£16million went on buying a chunk of land on the outskirts of Amesbury which would have been the site of a new visitor centre. As well as buying the land, lots of work was carried out by the usual suspects involved in any `development` - surveyors, engineers, quantity surveyors, architects - all of whose work has proved abortive.

Another £23million has gone on preparatory work, consultation after consultation and inquiry after inquiry for the proposed tunnel under the busy A303 to leave the ancient monument in peace away from all the intrusion of traffic. It ain`t gonna happen! You can almost feel the stones groaning in despair.

Now it seems, there is to be a thorough review of proposals which will doubtless involve yet more expense but I`m not holding my breath that anything will actually happen in my lifetime. As well as the outrage I feel as a taxpayer and someone who is embarrassed every time I make a pit stop at Stonehenge, I`m sure UNESCO - the guardians of World Heritage Sites - will have something to say about this shambles, as will the good folk of Winterbourne Stoke, whose hopes for a by-pass have been dashed yet again. They could easily have had their by-pass with the money that has been wasted so far.

The whole episode kind of brings a new definition of the word `disgrace.`

BAD NEWS.....WORSE NEWS.....AND EVEN WORSE NEWS......

So, after years and years of indecision, HM Gov. has at last made a decision about the appalling state of affairs concerning Stonehenge, the Visitor Centre and the traffic problems on the nearby A303. And the decision is......to do precisely nothing. The costs of the much vaunted scheme to provide a tunnel under the World Heritage Site monument have risen to £544million - too much for the Government to bear it seems and so they have simply pulled the plug on any improvements whatsoever and compounded the felony by not coming up with any alternatives.

UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation - which is responsible for maintaining the list of World Heritage Sites, don`t think much of this non-decision. They have held their tongues a bit in their published statement at http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/400 but it`s clear they are not impressed...and rightly so.

That`s the bad news. The worse news is that, for the foreseeable future, visitors will have to put up with the quite appalling `facilities, about which I have complained before. See my `A STOP ALONG THE WAY` rant on 11th September in `older posts` section - link at bottom of this page. Those `facilities` are a national and international disgrace and I`m not surprised that UNESCO is suggesting that they may "fully examine the implications of this (non) decision for the value and integrity of Stonehenge as a World Heritage Site." A veiled threat if ever I saw one.

You don`t play around with World Heritage Sites, you don`t play around with Stonehenge and you sure as hell don`t play around with the heritage of a nation which relies more and more on the contribution its cultural heritage makes to the country`s tourism industry.

Now for the even worse news, which brings the Government`s shameful abdication down to the human level, because of the effect this shambles will have on the good folk of a small Wiltshire country village. Winterbourne Stoke lies not far from Stonehenge and is the last remaining village along the whole length of the A303 still plagued by an average 30,000 vehicles a day trundling through its one street.

For years, a campaign has rightly been waged to include the by-passing of Winterbourne Stoke in any proposal for sorting out the Stonehenge traffic problem. The villagers have been made promises, they have seen scheme after scheme put on the Government`s back burner and now it appears they have no hope of ever seeing an improvement to their environment.

(Winterbourne Stoke)

Maybe - very probably - because they are a small, isolated, rural community they don`t figure largely on the Government`s radar. But it is precisely because of the nature of their community that they deserve an urgent solution to the problems which they have endured for so many years. If HM Gov. cannot live up to their responsibilites concerning the World Heritage Site, surely they can do so by bringing forward a seperate scheme to improve the lives of the good folk of Winterbourne Stoke, if for no other reason than to assuage my guilt each time I drive through their village as I head west .

A STOP ALONG THE WAY....

About 120 miles from home is the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge and on any journey westwards it makes for a sensible place to have a pit stop.

There is a charge of £3.00 to park the car (refundable if you pay the £6.50 adult charge for a fenced off, close-ish up view of the monument) but seasoned travellers like myself avoid this charge by parking in the adjacent trackway, which just happens to be a public byeway and thus "open to all traffic."

There`s a gateway from the trackway into Stonehenge`s own car park and`facilities` area and I confess to having used those facilities for more years than I care to remember. They include a catering outlet and I recall on one occasion making an exhorbitantly priced impulse purchase of a plastic cup of warm mud and a rock cake (they seem to have adopted a neolithic catering theme in keeping with the surroundings.)

Years and years ago when our three sons, who are now all in their forties, were very young, it was then possible to park for free, wander up to the monument and have a `tactile experience` with the stones - I still have a photo of our boys sitting on one of them.

However, back to the facilities. I can imagine a neolithic planning meeting going something like this:-

Ogg : "Err, why don`t we include some loos just down the hill a bit?"

Ugg : "Good idea. I can see this place becoming very popular in years to come."

Ogg : "Yeah, and we don`t want people making a mess of our nice new temple or whatever it is, do we?. So we`ll go for it, yeah?"

Ugg : "Nice one, Ogg - I`ll get the lads on it right away."

Each time I stop at Stonehenge, I see visitors getting off coaches from Germany, Italy, France and all over the UK. I hear American accents and see scores of Japanese photographing everything in sight. What must they think of the `conveniences` available in this world-wide World Heritage Site? They are a disgrace - worse than that, they are an embarrassment - but if you live in Boise, Idaho or Council Bluffs, Iowa and you`re thinking of making the pilgrimage to see Stonehenge before you go to the great prairie in the sky, you might find a little consolation in the knowledge that you will be getting two ancient monuments for the price of one. Even so, `Buy One Get One Free` is hardly the way to sell such an international treasure.