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Sue Carr
Sue Carr
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4 out of 5
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Editor Pick

The Second (and Slightly Cheaper) Trip

  • June 14, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
The Second (and Slightly Cheaper) Trip

Of course, just to be perverse, the weather the morning after we visited Stonehenge was perfect. The sky was brilliantly blue, striped in wispy white clouds, yet there was none of the wind they boded on the ground. Fortunately, the weather hadn't completely beaten us, as we were planning on driving very close to Stonehenge on our way to Avebury anyway. In fact, it was only a couple miles off the track, so we figured we might as well stop by.

The difference between the two days was much more than just the weather, since the crowds seemed to have evaporated along with the rain on the sidewalks! Granted, it was only about 9:30 in the morning, but still--I am not a morning person at all and after seeing that, I would willingly get there when they open at 9 to see it that quiet. It still wasn't quite the serene monument that the druids/pagans had intended it to be many years ago, given that two major roads meet at the base of the hill (which I have addressed in my "Future of Stonehenge" entry), but it was a far cry from the screaming children and loud American tourists of the day before.

Even though it was a spectacular day that promised stunning pictures, I still lacked the motivation to pay another entrance fee to get slightly closer. I will freely admit that I am a picture-aholic, but I couldn't justify spending nearly £5 on getting maybe five unique angles of the site. Instead, I did just as many of the cheap younger crowd the day before had done.

As Poppa pulled up on the A344, I quickly jumped out of the car and up to the dirt track created by the feet of penny-pinching backpackers before me. A fence kept us far away from the inner walkway, where those special people that paid got to go and I had been only the day before, and even further away from Stonehenge. Fortunately, English Heritage was not cruel enough to put up an exceptionally tall fence, and standing at 6'0, I could easily stick my hands above it and snap away to my heart's desire. And that I did, getting quite a few good shots (using zoom, of course). The clouds were still wispy and made an even better background than the plain blue sky, and the stones stood in stark contrast to it. The lawn leading up to it was lush and covered in tiny yellow flowers basking in the sun.

Had I not gone in the day before, I would have paid, gone in, and enjoyed a nice stroll on a lovely day. Standing outside looking in was certainly a great alternative though, and I would recommend it. You'll still get some great vacation snaps and you don't have to wait in any lines, except perhaps for your turn to stick your camera over the fence on busy days...just watch out for cars while you are doing it!

From journal Stonehenge: Wiltshire's Most Famous Pile of Rocks

Editor Pick

The First Glimpse of the Henge

  • June 14, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
The First Glimpse of the Henge

The morning dawned grey and chilly, a stark contrast to the wide blue skies of the day before, which I think were mainly just to mock all of us Three Peaks Challengers. We had a bit of a drive facing us as we traveled from Bristol to the heart of Wiltshire, and we hoped that the skies would possibly lighten on the way.

Unfortunately, this was not to be. The gloom held through our visit to Lacock, a National Trust village, and all the way across the Salisbury Plains to the henge. I did not realize how much of Wiltshire is actually used by the army until we went driving around the countryside. It seemed that around every corner there was a sign screaming "TANK CROSSING." We didn't see any--which I think is fortunate--although a lot of red flags were flying in the army ranges.

As we approached Stonehenge, Nanna pointed out the monoliths, somewhat visible against the pewter sky ahead. Neither Poppa nor I believed her at first, but she was right. I found it hard to disagree with her once I located the stones, since there aren't exactly many other monuments like it in the area. The rocks were literally half the size that I had imagined them to be. I admit, they were still massive rocks, but I was stunned by how much larger all of the pictures made them seem.

The other main thing that struck me immediately about Stonehenge was the sheer number of people there. It certainly rivalled many of the major attractions in London in volume of tourists per day, and English Heritage must make a total killing in the process. One side of the main parking lot was jammed full of coaches--both single- and double-decker. Most were from England, but at least a couple hailed from Germany. Poppa said, and I quite agreed with him, that "I certainly wouldn't come all the way from Germany just to see Stonehenge!" Mobs of schoolchildren filled up all of the available sidewalk space, and they conveniently decided to have some sort of pow-wow in front of the one parking spot we managed to find. Connected to the main, paved, parking lot was an overflow parking lot on the grass, which had quite a number of cars on it as well, but we just got lucky and happened to drive in just as someone departed in the warmth of their car.

Nanna and I decided to chance a trip into the Stonehenge site in the light drizzle, as the forecast had predicted worse for the afternoon. We strolled downhill to the ticket booth, where there was a surprisingly short line, and after parting with our aforementioned £4.70 each, we passed a small cafe and a bustling giftshop before stopping at a booth where they were handing out free audio tour remotes. I took one and then we continued into the pedestrian subway leading us to the henge.

From journal Stonehenge: Wiltshire's Most Famous Pile of Rocks

Editor Pick

Stonehenge

  • February 27, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by climbergirl from cypress, California
Stonehenge

Everybody knows of Stonehenge and everybody likes to call it just a pile of rocks. Well, it is a pile of rocks, but the great thing about visiting Stonehenge is to give yourself a chance to think of how this awesome pile of rocks got here. As my hosts kept on saying, the only reason to visit Stonehenge is "it's for the atmosphere."

Usually visiting Stonehenge requires the visitor to stand behind a rope about 30 feet away from the actual pile of rocks. However, we obtained a pass for the "Inner Circle Tour." By paying about double the entrance fee you get to step over the rope and walk amongst the rock. To obtain the pass you need to contact the Stonehenge visitor office by phone or email to set up an appointment for the date of your visit. However, the inner circle tours are only allowed before and after normal visiting hours.

The only available time for our visit was before regular visitor hours, which means we had to be there by 8am. We started our day off at 6am to make it to the site for our time slot. Talk about getting up early for a vacation! However, it was well worth it. We were the only visitors at the site that morning. It was spectacular to get a chance to walk through these amazing slabs of rock.

To get out to Stonehenge at this time of day we decided to hire a tour guide. Since we had a party of 6 to hire a personal tour guide with a mini van wasn't much more than if we each paid the price for one of the huge 50 person coach tours. Furthermore, the coach tours didn't have the inner circle access for our dates. Our guide was from www.londoncountrytours.com and he was great! Not only was he easy to work with and very accommodating, we didn't have to work with a strict time table. To top it off we found out that he even took Orlando Bloom on a tour before.

Back to Stonehenge, one thing to take notice is that there are 2 different colors of stone, the regular "gray" stone, and some "blue" stones. My eye couldn't tell the difference, then again I was not fortunate enough to know about this tidbit of information until I was back in the car, so I really wasn't paying attention.

Surrounding Stonehenge you will also see sporadic mounds or little hills. These are actually burial mounds. Apparently the more important you are the closer you get to be buried to the stones.

Some may say that Stonehenge is not worth seeing on your first trip to the UK, however, for me, it was one of the highlights of the trip.

From journal London and All That It Has to Offer

Editor Pick

Stonehenge

  • June 12, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Nosferatu from Newark, California
Stonehenge

I absolutely detest guided tours. I always feel like I'm in a communist lunch line...I get served only what my superiors want me to eat.

So, why did I go belly up and succomb to a guided trip to get to Stonehenge? Only one reason. Because this gave me the opportunity to actually go into the formation and walk around and touch the monolithic stones. Any other option and I would have had to stand behind a barrier and gawk at it with my camera.

Upon first sight, Stonehenge is truly impressive. All the more so in the cold early morning hours of an English winter. The stones rise out of the plains with an abruptness that demands your attention. These stones are HUGE. They were brought here and assembled from areas up to several hundred miles away. The commitment to create something like this is nothing short of Herculean.

I was both the first person to walk into Stonehenge from our group, as well as the last person to return to our waiting bus. The weather was quite cold and wet the morning of our trip. As a result, it made my pictures less than stellar.

Overall, I would certainly recommend a trip out to Stonehenge. And if you want to actually get a chance to walk among these ancient monoliths, then I'd even say to spring for a guided tour, but don't make a habit of travelling that way.

From journal London--The Heart of the Empire

Editor Pick

Trip to Historic Stonehenge

  • June 10, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by MailaDai from Bedford, Texas
Trip to Historic Stonehenge

By 7 am the next morning we were all pumped up and excited to make our most memorable trip to Stonehenge. That was also one of the main reasons for us to plan our vacation to London. A couple of weeks before our vacation, I was watching a documentary on National Geographic channel on the historic Stonehenge. Different scientific and mythological assumptions made by scientists and journalists about this one of a kind landmark in Salisbury fascinated me.

We got our rental car from the London Heathrow airport. I was so excited that I didn’t even bother to think about how left hand driving experience would be. For a while I was nervous but a while later it didn’t really matter much. I was driving at 70 mph on M4 (Motorway 4). Yes that is what they call there in England for Interstates. FYI, there are no speed limit signs on those Motorways. Cameras are installed everywhere. So you need to careful on how you drive. I hope I didn’t get any speeding tickets. We reached Stonehenge in an hour and half, which was pretty good. You will find a lot of parking at Stonehenge and it is free. If you don’t find a spot then you can park in the open fields.

Entrance fee to the Stonehenge is 5 pound 60 pence regular or 4 pound 40 pence with a student discount. Audio tour is free. You will receive an audio device that operates in 4 or 5 different languages. Obviously there are instructions on how to operate them. Significant spots at the site are marked with numbers. You can punch those numbers in the audio device to listen to information about that spot or item.

Stonehenge at Salisbury is said to be 5,000 years old, and is the third one on earth. The one in Salisbury is very unique from the other two because of the stones stacked up on top of the other stones. There are questions on how, why and from where those stones, weighing tons, were brought to such a deserted place. It is still shrouded in mystery. Two kinds of stones are found in Stonehenge; sarsen stone and blue stone. Sarsen stones are the largest of all. The amazing thing about the smaller blue stones is they are warm even in the winter.

There are restrooms, a café, information center, and a souvenir shop in the vicinity.

From journal London, My First Europe Vacation

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