Day 30: Saturday 26 April 2014

Clair, you are right, it rains a lot in Bath!  Even when it is not raining it looks like it is going to.

Today was a day out and about on the Somerset downs and Salisbury Plain.  The first place I drove to was the tiny village of Fovant.  Fovant is famous for the Fovant Badges.  What are the Fovant Badges I hear you say and lucky for you I am full bottle on the Fovant Badges.

The Fovant Badges are large military badges carved into the chalk of one of the hills just outside of the town.  Most of the badges were carved by soldiers who were camped in the area during TGW but some of those have disappeared and some extra ones added.  There are currently 8 badges visible and the largest is the Australian rising sun badge at 51 metres x 32 metres.  (As I still can't post pics if you want to have a look at these badges type Fovant Badges into the google thingymabob and have a look at the website).



Fovant Badges 1917

Fovant Badges 2014

Now here's the thing, in 1917 my grandfather was camped in this area prior to going to France and he sent his mother a post card with a photo of the Fovant Badges on it.  On the reverse he has written, "That Rising Sun and other things are cut in the side of the hill just behind our camp.  The rising sun is over 22 feet wide, from Allan".  The scene from where the post card photo was taken is almost the same now as it was then, very little has changed.



Rising Sun badge on hillside

From Fovant I drove to Larkhill on Salisbury Plain.  During TGW,  Salisbury plain was major concentration point and training area for military units prior to going to the Western Front in France and Belgium.  The 3rd Division AIF including the 40th battalion spent a lot of time in the Larkhill area. Salisbury Plain is still a major military training area Larkhill is still a major depot, camp and ammunition store for British Army artillery units.  I certainly didn't stop and take any photos in this area.  If I had I would still probably be trying to explain to some beefy British military policeman that I am really only an Aussie tourist with an interest in military history.


 The Australians must have found Salisbury plain very bleak, particularly in the winter, it was bleak enough yesterday in spring.

Larkhill is also near Stonehenge so I had lunch at the Stonehenge Inn & Carvery.  Roast beef roll with horseradish sauce, gravy, chips and salad.  I am pleased that I only wanted something light!

Bath - late afternoon sun

I drove back into Bath in time for evening drinks.  All the pubs in the centre of town were very busy so I went to my local just around the corner from where I am staying and had a couple of pints of Amstel.  I also made a new friend, Oscar the black lab who was there with a patron but seemed to have the run of the place.  I not sure if Oscar liked me or the very unlikely chance that I was going to drop my bag of pork scratchings on the floor in front of him. 

The street my hotel is in - Bath

Dinner was at a restaurant called Garfunkels and the less said about that the better!

(PS I thought that I had found a way to post pics, but even if I get a pic into the draft it still won't let me post it to the blog, accursed technology!)