Engineering marvels

Brunel was a marvellous engineer and we have been able to see one of his early masterpieces, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, at Bristol. It spans a very deep river valley and is quite spectacular and so is the view from the bridge (third photo). We didn't have time to go to a spot where we could see the bridge from down below unfortunately. Truly I trust his ability to engineer a safe structure but it's disconcerting to see the bridge flex as it adjusts to the weight of the traffic. Another of Brunel's designs is in Bristol as well - his ship called Great Britain is open to the public. We'll have to see that next time.

On the day after the equinox we visited the village of Avebury surrounded by circles of stones and henge and ditch that are 5000 years old. Some of the stones weigh more than 40 tons, one weighs about 100 tons. How did they ever get the stones in to place? And the ditch was dug with red deer antlers apparently. An awe-inspiring place.