Does everyone who goes to England visit Stonehenge? I’m not sure what the percentage might be, but it is probably pretty high. You will be glad to know that Tom and I were not the exception. Visiting Stonehenge was the last thing on the itinerary for our Insight Vacations Tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The last day of our tour was the warmest and sunniest day we had. No chance of rain and the temperature was 80. It was beautiful and such a delight after all the cold, rainy weather. When our bus pulled in at Stonehenge, we were one of about 50 buses in the parking lot. The average bus carries 50 passengers, so that is 2500 people just on the buses. Then there were all the cars in the car lots.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic structure. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet high, seven feet wide, and weighing around 25 tons. Originally all of these stones were topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are set within earthworks.
Stonehenge has become a British cultural icon. It is probably the most easily recognizable landmark in Great Britain. Stonehenge was the first legally protected monument in Great Britain, receiving protection in 1886. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visiting Stonehenge today is something of a production. The parking lots are more than 1.5 miles from Stonehenge. You can buy a ticket online or at the ticket booth at the large, modern visitors center. The bus parking lot has its own set of restrooms. As soon as you get your ticket you stand in line to get on a shuttle bus that takes you to the ring of stones.
We visited on Sunday, June 23, just after the summer solstice. Visitation was still really high, both because of the weekend and because of the proximity to the solstice. The wait for the shuttle was close to 30 minutes. A group of us decided to walk. It was a beautiful day and we had been sitting on the bus for a couple of hours.
Steve Sinclair, one of the more outgoing people on the tour, decided to be Nigel and lead us on a tour. He kept holding up his hand so we could see him. He also pointed out birds and other sights along the way, making up information as he went. It kept the walk through the fields interesting. Once we got to the circle, he reminded us what time to be back on the bus and let us explore on our own. Nigel would have been so proud.
The stones are very impressive when you think about the primitive people who built Stonehenge. They were willing to do all that work for their beliefs. And they built something enduring that people still flock to see. We could not go into the stone circle – we had to stay outside the rope barrier. Someone had jumped the barrier and sprayed orange powdered paint all over three of the stones just three days before. The stones were dry and they were easy to clean. I couldn’t see any remains of the paint.
As we walked around Stonehenge, there were interpretive signs. But there were also lots of signs encouraging people to take pictures with different poses. Pretend you are stepping on the stones. Pretend you are leaning on the stones. You know the kind of picture I mean – where it looks different because of the camera’s perspective. Tom and I only took one – where Tom is pretending to hold a tiny Stonehenge in his hand. It would have been a better picture if the phone had kept the henge in focus.
As we were completing our circumnavigation of Stonehenge, we heard music. Then we saw a parade advancing toward us. When it got close enough, we realized it was a Druid parade, accompanied by some of the staff. There are different Druid sects in England that are given permission, during the solstices, to worship within the ring of stones. They get assigned different days during the week. The Blackthorn Ritualistic Folk Group had drawn worshipping on Sunday. It was interesting to see them gather. There were a lot of bedsheets being worn. Tom said he would be a Druid for the day if it meant he got to be inside the ring.
There are, actually, two days a year when anyone can go inside the rings. Stonehenge is open to the public on the solstices. People can stay after the usual closing time to watch the sunrise on those two days. There are certain rules, but this year there were 15,000 people who took advantage of the solstice to be inside Stonehenge. The New York Times had a good article about it.
We walked back to the Visitors Center and checked out the neolithic village. Tom tried to move the Sarsen stone and did better at it than anyone else we saw. We looked at the museum and gift shop. I thought about getting some ice cream but decided to enjoy part of a flapjack instead.
Then we boarded the bus, one last time, and headed for London. We reached the hotel nearly an hour later than expected because of road construction detours and traffic in London. By that time, everyone was eager to get off the bus. Fortunately we had said our goodbyes earlier because it was a mad rush for suitcases, taxis, and the bathroom. Tom and I got checked into our hotel room and enjoyed a relaxed evening to ourselves.
Tom and I really enjoyed our Insight Tour. We would certainly do another trip with them if we were going to a place where we didn’t speak the language or want to drive. Nigel was a great guide and we learned a lot. The pace of the tour was exhausting at times, but we enjoyed getting to know the other people on the bus. After the anonymity of the cruise ship, our Insight Tour was just what we needed.