Chalk Ridges Above Sarum

I think I mentioned before that I'm reading a book called "Sarum," which is a sweeping fictional account of England, set against the backdrop of actual historical events. It's set in the area where Salisbury is now, and the fictional town is called "Sarum."

The story starts in about 7,500 BC with a nomadic hunter in the north tunda setting out on a journey to the south. This would have been after the last ice age was coming to an end. This hunter, named "Hwll," was basing his journey south on the oral tradition of a land, far to the south, where it was warm and food was plentiful. He sets out with his mate and two children on what others in his small group of hunters think is a foolish mission. What Hwll did not know was that the ancient oral tradition was based on a time before the English Channel was formed. So he encounters the sea and his journey further south is thwarted. But the land "where the five rivers meet" (present day Salisbury) is, by comparison to the tundra from where he came, rich with food and game. So he settles there.

I am now up to about 800 AD. The Angles and the Saxons have established themselves on the island. The plague of Vikings has not yet occurred, nor has the land been conquered by the Normans. The days of Roman occupation are long over, but traces of that time remain.

It's a wonderful saga being created. Edward Rutherfurd is a good writer of this kind of fiction. (Though his later book "Forest" seemed forced and at times trite.)

But what animates my mind is not so much the people -- as good a portrait as is being painted -- but the geography of the region. This notion of the "chalk ridges" and the plateau that exists north of there and extends for miles just fascinates me. I've been to Winchester, of course, and I've seen the rolling hills of that region. But I never did venture west to see the area where Stonehenge exists.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Charles Darwin lived somewhere in this region -- to the south of England. There is another book I read called "The Origin" by Irving Stone, which was a historical novel of Darwin, from his adolescence through his travels on the HMS Beagle, to the development of his theory of natural selection and through to his death. The description of the area around his home made mention of a "chalk landscape."

For some reason -- and I can't explain it -- I'm utterly fascinated with the idea of vast open expanses of land. I've seen pictures of the sweeping tundra of northern Canada and I'm awestruck by it. Descriptions of the steppes of eastern Asia, where the land goes on forever and ever, stir my imagination. The idea of being out in the middle of such an expanse draws me and frightens me, all at the same time.

What's that area like -- the area around Stonehenge and to the north? Is it barren and windswept? Or has it been developed? Are there trees, or only scrub and brush?

My imagination is on fire.