Part Four: Solsbury Hill
We left the studios and caught a bus to Batheaston. It occured to both Angel and I that we still didn't have a clear picture of how to get to Solsbury Hill. Fortunately, Angel thought to ask the bus driver. "Yeah! I know where Solsbury Hill is at. It's right over there!" he said pointing in the distance at about seven or eight hills. Well, that narrowed it down. At some point we mentioned we were Peter Gabriel fans, and he proved himself to be a Shaolin Kung Fu Master of the Obvious.
Bus Driver: Did you know that Peter Gabriel wrote a song called "Solsbury Hill"?
Angel and Mac: No. Really?
Bus Driver: Yeah! Really!
Then he started babbling about how the song "Solsbury Hill" was recorded on Solsbury Hill, making us wary that this guy didn't entirely know what he was talking about. Then he kept saying over and over, "There's not much to see up there. It's just an ordinary hill. There's nothing to get excited about." What did he think we thought was up there? A theme park?
We were dropped off at the bus stop, and saw that the whole village was surrounded by these steep hills, and neither of us fully grasped which hill the bus driver pointed to. So we decided to start walking through Batheaston until either we saw a sign of some sort, or could find someone who could give us directions.
Unlike Bath, which was bustling with people, Batheaston seemed deader than Elvis. No one anywhere. We walked between from one to two miles at a steep incline from the main road (A4) until we realized we weren't getting anywhere. We decided to turn around and see if we could happen to run into anyone going in the other directon, or find a business that was open (although it appeared everything was closed.) After trudging along for a few more minutes, we finally ran into a father and son duo who was getting out of a car, just about to disappear into a building. Angel, being the braver of the two of us, asked them where to find Solsbury Hill. They both seemed to know about Solsbury Hill, but the dad had no idea of how to go about telling us how to get there. Fortunately, the son seemed more familiar with the area. He started spouting out directions. I caught the part where we needed to go back down A4 towards where we started from, and find a certain pub which was across from a petrol station. After that, I was completely lost on what the kid was trying to say. I kept thinking, "I hope Angel is following this, 'coz I'm not."
After the boy gave us the directions, he said that it was a nice walk with great views, but it was a long walk too, about four to five miles from where we were at to the top. Angel and I looked at each other...it would be about an eight mile walk both ways, and we had been walking all morning, and we still needed to get back in time to meet Tony at the B&B.
We thanked the two for the directions, and started walking back down to wence we entered Batheaston. Angel said, "Are you sure you want to do this? He said it was a five mile walk." After a pause, I said, "Saddle up and lock 'n load! We're going for it!"
Well, actually, I said, "We've gone this far, we might as well keep goin'." If I couldn't have a Golden Real World Moment, then I wanted a Golden Solsbury Hill moment instead.
Angel found the road that she thought the boy was talking about, called Penthouse Hill Drive or something similar, and we turned to go up it. Then we saw why the kid's instructions seemed so strange...the sidewalk split from the road and wended it's way between two rows of houses. Good thing we asked for directions because it would've never occured to us to go this way. That is, *if* this was the right way. After all, there were no signs stating that we were headed for Solsbury Hill, and I started to get worried...what if this wasn't the right way?
Then, after walking a bit, the sidewalk hit a road and we saw
a sign that were on the right track: Solsbury Lane! There was
a bench near the sign, so
we took a break before starting again. There was a sign at the
start of Solsbury Lane that said that there was no footpaths for
several meters, which made me still doubt that we were going the
right way...I had always heard there were footpaths that led up
to the summit, so where were they?
We walked along this narrow road with steep sides. Once a car came by and we had to scramble up the side to let the car go through. After walking a bit, another car came by, and we tried to get out of the way, and Angel climbed up on a stone. After the car passed, I notice that wasn't just a stone...it was a stone step, and it led to a few more stone steps which led to a field with a sign that said "public footpath". Yay! "Angel, you found a path! You're a genius!" I said, running past her.
We started to follow the path which was being to go steeper and steeper uphill through a georgeous meadow. Like the evening before, I had to stop every few paces to catch my breath, while Angel was just truckin' along without stoping. Soon, she was halfway up the field, while I was lingering behind. As steep as it was, I could tell we weren't near the summit...as a matter of fact, I wasn't sure where we were.
After a while, I could see that the path led to a gate, which Angel climbed over. A moment later, Angel came back and said that the path just reconnected with Solsbury Lane. Bother.
So we started walking on Solsbury Lane again. I was starting to get concerned...were we really on the right track? Even though we were on Solsbury Lane, it didn't neccesarily mean that it was going to take us where we needed to go. I was wanting to find a road or path that would take us right to the sign and survey marker that I keep seeing in pictures. If we couldn't find a path, the alternative would be to either wander off into the wilderness and/or through other people's property (there were scattered houses on the hill). And walking through dense brush and tresspassing wasn't our style, either.
After walking down Solsbury Lane we came to where the road split off. One way was marked off with a sign that indicated that it was a dead end. The other way went on for a few meters, then started to go back downhill. Figuring that wasn't the way to go, we started to trudge up the dead-end road. The road started to get steeper. I had to stop every few paces...after living my life in Flatland, I just wasn't used to this uphill stuff. At one point, we both stopped and stared ahead...the road went through some woods, and the branches arched over the road so that I could barely see the sky. The road suddenly went so steep that it created the illusion that it dissappeared into the branches of the trees. We couldn't see where the road led, other than way up.
I was already running out of steam. I said to Angel, "Go on ahead. I'll catch up. If you get to the top before I do..." (as if there was any question that she would...) "...come back and tell me if you see the Solsbury sign or survey marker." Angel started walking ahead, with no signs of slowing down. I trudged behind, way behind, and stopped frequently. Fortunately, my legs nor feet weren't sore in a any way...just tired and short of breath. (6) Still, at one point, I sat down, or should I say, collapsed on the side of the road and thought I don't care if this hill turns out to be Bunker Hill or Benny Hill...I'm annexing this hill and going home!
I hadn't seen Angel for a few mintues and wondered if she had made it to the top yet. After slowly climbing, I could see a break in the trees and another gate. I made my way to the gate and saw the treeless "cap" of the hill. There was a house to one side, and to my surprise, I could see several people sitting at a folding table, and they looked like they were having a picnic. I walked through the gate, and then Angel appeared from o'er the edge of the hill. She shouted to me, "There's a sign up here!"
Aha! I thought. "Great! What does the sign say?"
A short pause.
"I don't know!"
Another pause. Angel turned back and dissappeared from the edge again.
I sat down and buried my head in my hands. Good help is so hard to find these days.
I figured I might as well go see for myself. I started to climb up that last steep bit, when Angel appeared again. She gave me a thumbs-up sign. "Allright!" I said, and with a burst of energy, made my way up the last part. When I got to the top, I could see The Sign. I walked over to it, and saw that it read "Little Solsbury Hill." "Little", my ass, I thought. (7)
It occured to both of us that since we made it, we needed to take pictures, and lots of them. I got out my camera and Angel got out her digital and 35mm cameras and we started talking pictures of each other next to the sign.
Then I remembered Kari's and Joe's hats. If you recall, Solsburians Kari and Joe gave me their groovy Lovetown-y fedoras with the intention that I "bless" them by taking them with me to Solsbury Hill, as well as the fedora they gave to me as a gift, for a total of three hats. Angel, as well as the rest of the free world, thought I was insane for doing so, but I had to keep a promise. I took the other two hats out of my bag with the intention of taking a quick picture for evidence, and I handed one of the hats to Angel. At that point, a gentleman who appeared to be among the picnicers we saw earlier, strolled over to where we were. "If you'd like, I can take a picture of both of you," he kindly offered.
"That would be great!" I said. Then I added, "You're probably wondering why we have all of these hats...erm...it's a long story..."
"Well, I was wondering but..." and he gestured that he wasn't going to ask questions. Relieved, I grabbed my camera, and Angel grabbed both of hers, and we fumbled for a moment while we decided which camera we wanted to use(8).
Angel and I posed, he took the picture (see below) and afterwards, we chatted with the man for a few minutes. I remember him telling us that he and his family lived not to far from there, and he had studied the history of the area.
"Oh yeah! I had read that this hill was believed to be a fort or battleground during Arthurian times," I said, thinking of Monty Python's the Holy Grail. He nodded his head and encouraged us to take a good look around the place. He also mentioned that there was a footpath that led directly into Bath. We thanked the gentleman and we decided to rest a bit, look around, and find that survey marker.
Angel sat on the ground next to the sign, and I remembered my primary goal: I needed to annex the Hill. I had the flag, but I needed a stick to tie it to. I didn't have the room to carry a sizeable stick with me, hoping to find one somewhere, but I had forgotten to do that while we were trapsing through the woods before. And here I was, on the only treeless area on the Hill. I got my flag out of my bag, and started to look around, when my eye happened to see a perfect sized stick laying perpendicular to a perfect oval stone on the ground. It must be an omen.
I picked up the stick when two dogs, belonging to the picnicing family, came running over to me. I pretended to throw the stick, and the dogs took off to find the stick I did not throw. Moxie would never fall for a trick like that, I thought. I tied the flag around the stick and walked back over to Angel. "You took the dog's stick! That was probably their stick!" Angel jokingly protested. "It's not their stick anymore!" I said. "Here, take my picture!" I said to Angel. And she did, which resulted in the picture below. Except for the damn shadow, it's not a bad picture. I almost look tall.
Now that I had my flag, I needed to find a place to plant the flag. And I needed to find that survey marker and take a few pictures of that, too. We walked around, and came across what looked like a tombstone, only it was really a memorial monument of some sort. We took a few pictures, and Angel tried to plant the flag next to the memorial, but the ground was too hard. Moving on, we walked over some small bumps in the land that resembled sand dunes, only they were not made of sand. Crossing over one of these not-dunes, I saw the concrete pillar that was the survey marker, and I saw something special about the survey marker. It had a small hole on top.
I walked over the the marker and said, "I hereby claim this Hill in the name of the Solsbury Committee." I plunked the flag in the hole of the marker. It was a perfect fit.
Angel and I took a few pictures and admired the view. You could see Bath and Batheaston, and we thought we could see Box as well. The view was breathtaking, and to top it all off, it was wonderfully sunny, a complete turn around since that morning. We could see where the Hill could prove inspriational to a young Gabriel.
Aftter a while, we decided to try to find the path that led to Bath...it could save us a bus trip. However, we looked around the area, we couldn't find the path anywhere. I decided to find the man we had talked to earlier to see if he could give us more specific instructions to finding the path. Angel continued to find a way down to Bath.
I found the gentleman, just as he was about to leave with his group. After I asked about the path, he said he hadn't walked it in a while, but if we walked around enough on the Hill, we'd be sure to find it. I thanked him, and I noticed one of his family was carrying an unopened bottle of water. I then realized I was very thirsty, and I awkwardly offered the man some of my English coins (that I had been wanting to get rid of.) for that bottle of water. He gave it to me and insisted on not taking any money for it (Darn. I wanted to get rid of those damn coins. I swear they multiply!) I thanked him for his generosity and went to find Angel, guzzling the water from the bottle as I went.
Angel had given up on finding the path as she already was heading back down the way we had came. I caught up to her and we headed back down to Batheaston, which was a hell of a lot easier than going up.
The view on Solsbury Hill facing Bath.
The view on Solsbury Hill facing Batheaston.
Next stop: Meeting Tony Farthing
(6) Before my trip to Europe, Kari and Tony talked me into buying a pair of Doc Martens. I was hesitant to get a pair, as I figured I couldn't justify buying these shoes just for my trip to Europe. I knew I wouldn't wear them in Florida, as Florida is Birkenstock country, and it's too hot to wear boots. However, they turned out to be a lifesaver on this trip. I got a lot of use out of them, they were comfortable and they were worth every damn penny. And to my surprise, Angel already had a pair, and she got a pair of DM cloggs while we visited Amsterdam. Consider us to be members of the cult of Doc Marten. (back)
(7) I admit, it wasn't that steep...I looked it up on this article on Solsbury Hill and it revealed that it's about 500ft. Depending on where you're from, that's probably nothing. But it was still a lot higher than what I had imagined, and it was a lot higher than I've ever walked before, coming from Flatland. (back)
(8) I later told this story to Tony Farthing, and he said that the guy probably thought we had an invisible friend. He said, "That guy was probably thinking, 'Two people, three hats, three cameras. If they pull out a third pair of Doc Martens out of that bag, I'm getting the hell out of here.'" (back)