14.09.2011 – 14.09.2011  17 °C

Stonehenge day today! I went trekking today to Stonehenge from Amesbury (the little town next door to the stones) with another lady from the hostel, Amanda. We had gotten chatting at breakfast and were both keen to actually go to Stonehenge along the path that the original Britons were thought to have used during their festivals, that is, passed the King’s Barrows and walking down the ‘Avenue’.

This walk was a good 6 mile trip which both of us were happy to do, so first stop was to the local supermarket to grab something for lunch before we drove the 15min out to Stonehenge. We parked in the small town of Amesbury and started along the Heritage trail towards Stonehenge. The trail took us through people’s sheep paddocks and grain fields! I love the fact that the National Trust are allowed to build pathways through people’s land for people to walk along to see the ‘real’ Stonehenge!

About 40min into our walk brought us up the first hill to the King’s Barrows. The Barrows are small hills that must have been perfectly round (in their day) and are all neatly lined up to ring Stonehenge! It’s amazing but when you stand at Stonehenge you can see the Barrows for miles around! The Barrows are actually burial mounds. Supposedly they were capped in a white stone thousands of years ago. Therefore the archaeologists think that they would have gleamed quite brightly and would have been clearly visible from the Henge. Today they are small hillocks that ring Stonehenge (I would estimate they are a good mile away from Stonehenge though!) and I would think that the average visitor to Stonehenge would not even know that they are there!

We continued on our trek down from the Barrows and followed the ‘Avenue’ up towards Stonehenge. It is truly incredible to know that you are walking a course that people thousands of years ago walked along during their festivals! The other part that is so amazing is that we were the only ones walking along the route! Of the hundreds of tourists that visited Stonehenge today I think we were the only ones to choose to come the way the old Britons would have come! (I will make a disclaimer here to say that we wouldn’t have known about the route if someone at the hostel hadn’t told us.. it is so poorly advertised by the tourist office that it is hardly surprising that we were the one and only people walking the route) The best part about the Avenue is that as you get closer and closer, Stonehenge rises up from the hill. (This is because the Avenue is more like an old dry river bed with river banks on either side— it isn’t an old river bed it is just the easiest way to describe what the Avenue looks like—apparently the Avenue was actually dug by hand!) So as you walk along the path on either side you have these hills and then as you slowly climb up the hill you see Stonehenge! It is a very awesome sight! And then you see the tourist buses and the hundreds of people and the Henge loses some of its glamour…

We paid our entry fee, picked up our audio guide and went inside the gates to Stonehenge. I have to say even with heaps of tourists when you get up close it is a pretty awesome sight! Stonehenge is thought to have been built over 5000 years ago and most of the large stones are thought to weigh approx 45 T each!!! That’s pretty awesome, especially when you understand how far some of the stones travelled! It is thought that some of the stones were brought from Wales! Who knows what the stones were used for- certainly there is still much debate- but nothing can take away from the symmetry of the stones, the alignment and the sheer size of the stones! I think the question that I kept asking myself is why? Why build Stonehenge on the Salisbury plain?? What was so important about that particular part of England that meant it needed to be built? What was it used for? I’m sure these are the questions that everyone walks away with, and I guess until we invent a time machine we are never going to really know the answers!

We finished our trek but continuing the journey back from Stonehenge to Woodhenge which was thought to be a henge made of oak trees (this is based on radar testing of the area). Today the oak trees have been replaced by small concrete stumps that have been built in the location of where the oak trees were buried. Woodhenge for me was more eerie than Stonehenge purely because we were the only ones at this henge and almost nothing is known as to the purpose of this henge. I guess like Stonehenge we will never know!

I probably had one of the most memorable days today and happily finished it off by eating a very tasty Indian curry back at the hostel.