Stonehenge Trip - January 2005

Some may feel it is a rather stupid idea to traipse around the deepest, darkest wilderness known as Wiltshire in freezing January weather.  But nevertheless, 12 intrepid travellers did just that.  Sadly, only three returned.

Okay, joking aside…  We all returned, unscathed, from our second trip to Stonehenge, and we had a thoroughly good time. 

Driving up on the Friday night, we checked in at the Salisbury YHA hostel at about 8:30pm, before heading straight down the pub (well, where else do you think we’d go?)  The evening was spent chatting over alcohol, eating take-away food, and savouring the experience of youth hostel accommodation.

We were in for an early start on Saturday morning, as our private access to Stonehenge began at 8am.  It was well worth getting up though, as we got to go right up to the stones and experience them as they were meant to be.  Undoubtedly, the first thing that hits you upon walking up to them is “They’re bloody huge!”  It makes you wonder in awe at how the builders of the henge managed to accomplish such an enormous task, and of course, why.  When you consider that Time Team’s attempt at building a Woodhenge were fraught with failure and danger, you really get an idea of how much work was put into Stonehenge. 

Luckily, our visit was not as cold as last year, so the hour passed quickly and we left Stonehenge feeling a little excited, very humbled, and peaceful. 

Next stop was West Kennet Long Barrow, an ancient passageway tomb in which hundreds of peoples’ remains were found by archaeologists.  The barrow is still in remarkable condition, to the extent that you can enter it and go inside it.  The five different chambers are still clearly visible, and many people who entered reported that they felt ‘weird’ and dizzy inside it.  Some had to leave.  Though it was cold, wet, and muddy, and we’d walked for about 10 minutes uphill in the mud to get there, we spent a good 25 minutes in the barrow, playing with the wonderful acoustics inside the main chamber.  Afterwards, somebody said that outside the chamber, you cannot hear anybody’s voices or tune- only an eerie droning. 

Whilst in the chamber, we also bumped into an American tourist who was there at Stonehenge the same time we were.  He listened to us chanting for a while, before leaving. 

After glancing briefly at Silbury Hill (now fondly renamed ‘MoleRa’ – long story) we drove to Avebury, where our first stop was the Henge Shop and another chance meeting with the American tourist (who’s name, we found out, is Jeff.)  We couldn’t resist a group photo with Jeff, who by that time had become a feature of our trip, and then we did some serious Pagan shopping.

Lunch was had at the Red Lion Pub (where else?) before we attended a short Imbolc ritual held in the stone circle by King Arthur – one of the local Druids.  Afterwards, we got chatting to some of the local Pagans, and at 3pm we piled back into the minibus for the journey home. 

All in all, it was a most successful trip.  We got to see some really big rocks, sang to a load of dead peoples’ spirits, adopted an American tourist, spent a lot of money, got really muddy, got our palms read by a machine at a service station, and more.  Honourable mention goes to Alex, our minibus driver, who was ill all the way through the trip, but who still kept going.  Alex, you’re an absolute star!