London-Salisbury

The flight to London wasn't too bad although the airline didn't have any food service on the 7-hour flight to Reykjavik or the 3-hour flight to London, so you can imagine I was pretty famished by the time I had arrived. Luckily my bag had arrived, and I didn't have any trouble finding my hostel which is in the Southwark district on the south side of the Thames.

When planning my pilgrimage, I had bought my plane tickets so that I had a few weeks to get settled in and poke around the UK a bit. I planned on spending five days in London, take a train up to Edinburgh for a day then head over to Trossachs National Park in Scotland. There I will backpack the Great Trossachs Path, a 30-mile hike around five different lochs. Once I finish that I'll zip back down to London and then on to Canterbury where I will be starting my pilgrimage.

Whew! But I haven't gotten to all that yet. I have spent several fantastic days in London with an amazing day trip to Salisbury, Stonehenge and Old Sarum.

On my arrival day, I wasn't up to much, so I walked from my hostel to Borough Market just down the road. This was a lively and bustling farmers market with a food market attached next to it.

Wall art under the bridge

They even had a eating area in a greenhouse

I purchased dinner and walked around as I ate. Finally, my hunger sated, the time difference caught up to me, and I promptly went to bed at 7:30 at night.
The next morning, waking at the generous time of 4:30 in the morning I planned out my day then set out. I walked over to Tower Bridge which until now I had always thought was London Bridge... Though I found out London Bridge is a much more architecturally underwhelming bridge further west.

I then walked over to the Tower of London. This massive castle was built first by William the Conqueror in the decade following 1066.

He built it to show the English people his strength and power and the Tower has remained a terrifying presence on the banks of the Thames. The last two times I'd come to London (both times for one day) I had never bothered to purchase a ticket to go inside as the price for the attraction was very steep at 25£, which previously had been even more expensive due to the exchange rate. This time the exchange rate is much more favorable for me! I bought my ticket and headed in. One of the first things I saw that really interested me was the protected graffiti marking along the walls.

Some of these in the towers were incredibly interesting, and I'll get to them later. The Tower was built as a fortress but served many functions throughout its life as a royal residence and more commonly as a prison. Hundreds of people were imprisoned within its walls; some more recognizable names include Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous two princes in the Tower, Edward and Richard, and Roger Mortimer. While most executions took place outside on Tower Hill, a few happened inside the castle including two of Henry VIII's wives'- Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard.

White Tower

The White Tower in the center was built by William the Conqueror while the buildings and concentric walls around it were built at various later dates by other kings.











The Traitors Gate right below the medieval royal apartments was very cool.

Traitor's Gate

In medieval times it had opened out straight onto the Thames, and when criminals came in, they'd go through this gate. The medieval quarters were exciting as well. They had been built for Edward I and his family, but since then they have been used as a residence and for other purposes until the 20th century. In the main entrance hall you could see the fireplace from the 13th century and next to that the wallpaper and stairway from the 20th century, it made for an interesting dichotomy.

In the Salt Tower, there was a lot of graffiti on the wall from its many prisoners throughout the years. One such prisoner was Hew Draper, a respectable innkeeper, who was a prisoner from 1560-62. Hew had been accused of practicing sorcery. He admitted that he had practiced sorcery in the past but that he had burned all his magic books. Despite this, he left two astrological pictures on the walls of the tower, and his fate is unknown.

In the Beauchamp Tower, there are thousands of markings in the walls from prisoners that had been kept there. One marking merely says "Jane" and is thought to have been made by a supporter of Lady Jane Grey.

The Bloody Tower was the tower in which the two princes Edward and Richard were kept during the short reign of Edward III. They disappeared soon after, and no one knew what had happened to them. It was assumed they were killed by their uncle King Richard III (though this is hotly contested). In the 17th century, two children's skeletons were dug up underneath a stairwell in the White Tower.

After visiting the Tower, I walked along the old Roman walls to the British Museum.

The British Museum had a treasure trove of artifacts from all over the world which were mostly taken by zealous early explorers. The Rosetta Stone garnered a huge crowd. For me, the highlight of the museum was the early medieval and Sutton Hoo ship artifacts.

The next day, I took a train to Salisbury, a smaller town an hour and a half west of London. Salisbury is the most vibrant and quaint town and is very easy to walk around.

I stopped by Salisbury Cathedral which was huge and imposing.

The inside was gorgeous, and it also contained the best preserved of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta. Unfortunately, I could not take pictures of it, but I did take some choice pictures of some of the architecture in the cloisters. These remind us that while religious buildings were meant to be imposing and striking, medieval people also had a sense of humor.

From Salisbury, I took a bus to Stonehenge. Stonehenge itself was very beautiful although the experience was a bit hassled and crowded...

Figured I should at least include one picture of myself

The Keystone

On the way back into Salisbury, I stopped next to the hill fort of Old Sarum. This motte and bailey castle was built in an area that has had human habitation since Stonehenge was built in 3000 BC. Old Sarum was first built as an Iron Age fort in 400 BC. Later the Romans added to the fort followed by the Saxons. After 1066 the Normans built a motte and bailey, castle walls and a cathedral on the site. This site continued to be used by kings and in 1173 Henry II imprisoned his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine in Old Sarum for 16 years. After the Plantagenets lost power, Old Sarum gradually fell into disuse, and in the 13th century when the bishop moved the cathedral from Old Sarum to Salisbury, the hill fort was abandoned and later dismantled for building materials in the new town.

Ariel view of the hill fort, you can see the two mottes, the cathedral foundation and the castle remains

Outer motte

Inner motte

Castle

Cathedral foundations

One other highlight of my time in London was my visit to Westminster Abbey. This was another site I had never visited purely because of the entrance fee, but I buckled down this time and went. This church was absolutely gorgeous inside. There were marbles and stones of all colors and so many tombs and sculptures that it made the space chaotic and crowded but in a pleasant way. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, but some of the more well-known residents were Elizabeth I, Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Geoffrey Chaucer. After visiting the Abbey, I walked around the North side of the Thames to Hyde Park where I had a lovely picnic lunch people watching.

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Hyde Park

Today is my last day here in London and tomorrow I will be traveling to Edinburgh.

Thanks for reading and I'll update you all soon!