Touring southern England & Wales

My parents came for a 2 week visit and we toured around southern England and Wales. I'll leave out the bits about London except to mention that the fruits of imperialism are vast! Upon leaving London, we stopped in Chawton to see Jane Austen's House Museum and stopped at Winchester Cathedral for a tour before heading on to Amesbury. Winchester Cathedral is a veritable exhibit of architecture. The structure is a time capsule, a home there several famous dead as well as a hand illustrated 12th century bible. From Amesbury we visited Stonehenge. In order to visit the inner circle of stones at Stonehenge, it is necessary to book a viewing time outside of the regular visitor hours. The process is straightforward and seeing the stones up close at sunrise is well worth getting up early and the few extra quid. Avesbury is another stone circle site that pre-dates Stonehenge by about 500 years. It is 30 minutes drive north of Stonehenge and has a small museum and displays dedicated to the archaeology of the site which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill in addition to the stone circle around the village.
On the way back to Aberystwyth, we stopped in Bath. The town is lovely with the Royal Cresent and the Circus. The shopping and food choices are high quality and varied. Because it is a spa town and has great shopping, I'd love to go back when I can spend a little more time and money!

It was nice to relax in Aberystwyth after 7 days of driving around England. The second week we took day trips in Wales. We spent one day fly fishing in the Cambrian Mountains. It was my first time and I gained an awe of the sport, though I won't be buying all the kit anytime soon! There are several guides and places to fish in Wales and the reputation for fly fishing is great. Our guide turned up on a motorbike with all of his gear (and ours) packed on it. He led us out on some logging roads outside of Ponterwyd. The best part was finding new places to explore outside of Aberystwyth.
Our other day journeys included trips to Devil's Bridge, Strata Florida Abbey, Aberaeron, and a quick jaunt to Machynllyth on market day. Konah and I put a few extra miles on the rental car on the way back from Manchester Airport after sending Mom and Dad back over the Atlantic and went to Conwy Castle. It is a fantastic site and the drive back to Aberystwyth through Snowdonia made me want to extend the trip even longer. We stopped off at Tal-y-llyn Lake and enjoyed the sun setting behind Cadair Idris from Castell y Bere to end our journey.