Transportation

Today mixed Neolithic sites with Victorian transportation infrastructure—a thread connecting how people move things across difficult terrain. Caen Hill Locks descending a hill, each with its own pond and bird species. West Kennet Long Barrow and Avebury showing sophisticated construction long before industrialization. The STEAM museum highlighting how Brunel's Great Western Railway revolutionized land transport like canals did for water. Romans built aqueducts using similar engineering principles. Each solution building on previous innovations while creating new possibilities.

Moving Across Terrain

September 8, 2025

Got up early and departed to beat some forecasted rain later in the day.

Started at Caen Hill Locks. Beautiful place with many locks descending a hill. We walked beside them and saw a few boats using the locks. Each lock had a pond beside it, and each pond seemed to have its own bird species—swans, herons, geese, ducks, and gulls at least.

Had morning tea at the café at the top of the locks.

From there we went looking for white horses. Found one. On nearly the same hill was a large group of paragliders. The weather was beautiful.

Next was the West Kennet Long Barrow, situated next to Silbury Hill—a Neolithic artificial hill. This long barrow is the only one where you can enter its chambers. It was much longer than the accessible chambers, suggesting there are more areas that remain inaccessible.

Ate lunch in Avebury at the Red Lion. Avebury is the other major henge, much more accessible than Stonehenge. We spent time walking among its stones after lunch.

The STEAM Museum

Our next stop was Swindon and the Great Western Rail Museum, called STEAM. An excellent museum, very descriptive though maybe less photogenic than some places.

Headed back home for pizza dinner, then watched some particularly funny videos. Finished the evening watching Total Recall 2—kind of Blade Runner meets Total Recall. Entertaining.

I'm pondering organizational models for the photos and information I've been collecting. Today provided an interesting mix—Neolithic sites alongside Victorian transportation infrastructure. There's a thread connecting them about how people move things across difficult terrain. The Romans built aqueducts using similar engineering principles to what you see at Caen Hill. The long barrow and henge show sophisticated understanding of construction and organization long before industrialization.

The STEAM museum highlighted how Brunel's Great Western Railway revolutionized land transport the way canals had done for water transport. Each solution building on previous innovations while creating new possibilities.

Images can be found here: https://beloretrato0.picflow.com/d43bka91mw/lg28h5a13b