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Stonehenge simply dazzles on a magical mystery tour

Outer ring of stones still stand where they were set thousands of years ago
Stonehenge
It’s believed Stonehenge was built around 2,500 BC but over time stones have fallen and the rings lost their symmetry.

Wiltshire, England: 6:45 a.m.  “To the Stones,” reads the LED sign on the side of the bus. 

Not that there are any other destinations from this place. We are surrounded by pasture.  Behind us is the early morning traffic of the A303. To our right is a parking lot and the Stonehenge Visitor Centre. Closed, given the hour, which is fine, it’s the bus we want. Walking across pastures isn’t really an option (beware any website that says you may) and even if you did you’d be stopped by fencing at least 50 metres away from the henge (a circular bank and ditch ringing a flat area of ground) itself.

It’s a bright morning; the sun has been up nearly an hour. This is the earliest we are allowed through the gates to walk inside the rings formed by the standing stones. A stone circle access ticket is £38.50 per adult. Without it you’ll still pay £19.50 and get no farther than behind a rope ring some 10 metres from the stones. In other words: pay the £38.50. 

The two-kilometre bus ride takes only 5 minutes. “Look! The stones are moving!” says a man to the little boy sitting beside him. “Daddy, those are sheep,” his son grumbles. It sounds like he’s heard that one a few times.

The day before, while walking alongside the canal in Devizes (a 1,000-year-old market town in Wiltshire county, about a ½ hour drive from Stonehenge) we meet a man tossing a ball for his spaniel. Being dog-deprived while traveling, we stop for a chat. After hearing our plan to visit Stonehenge he thinks for a moment, tosses the ball again and says: “When I was a boy we’d go there for picnics, sit on the rocks, run around the stones. Can’t do that now …  and I haven’t been back since.”

His last picnic would have been some 40 years ago – access to Stonehenge was restricted in 1978. Something had to give – the number of people coming to Stonehenge has been on the incline for decades. Today the World Heritage Site attracts more than a million visitors a year. 

It’s a hard place to resist. Until now I’ve only seen Stonehenge in pictures and films. Popular photographs tend to show Stonehenge at its best angles (implying a perfect circle, in fact, these are Stonehenge’s “best side” where the outer ring of stones stand as they did when first raised).  It’s believed the complete ring was built around 2,500 BC but over time stones have fallen and the rings lost their symmetry. Restoration efforts in the 20th century re-erected many of the stones still present at the site, while others lean or lie where they have fallen. Concrete now holds the stones in place, a good thing to know when standing so near, since they average a crushing 2,500 tonnes per stone.

On the bus, we are told that, close as we will be, we may not – must not -- touch the stones. Apart from the risk of graffiti or damage, there is another reason: lichen, a little out of their element on the Salisbury plains, cling to life on the stone surfaces just out of reach of human hands. I keep my hands in my pockets anyway, it’s so cold and windy. For the next 45 minutes, before we are called back to the bus, I weave my way in and out of the rings and around, stopping now and again to stand as close to the sun-warmed stones as I dare. The word “awesome” is so overused these days, but looking up and around, no other word will do. 

Traveller’s tip:  even a thick quilted jacket is not enough of a barrier to the March wind.  A Pashmina scarf will likely never take up any precious room in your carry on: expect to have it out and “working” (as a blanket, a hood, a shawl, a hand warmer) your entire trip.

As we are leaving, I overhear a guide speak to some of the theories and ideas surrounding Stonehenge. A prehistoric burial place (true), built by Druids (not true, they were way too late in history) a site for ancient sunworshippers (and modern – 9,500 people overnighted at Stonehenge for the 2018 summer solstice). Whatever their reasons, “It was a gathering place,” says the guide with confidence. “People travelled here from all over, they didn’t live here, they just came together from far and wide.”

And they still do.

If you go:

Stay: Never be far when you are chasing the light, Rollestone Manor in the village of Shrewton is about five minutes by car from Stonehenge rollestonemanor.com/about.

Eat: Just take a granola bar in your pocket. This is not Niagara Falls.

See: The up close experience (otherwise why bother?) with Stone Circle Access.