For years, I fantasized about going to Stonehenge, standing among the stones, and receiving a message from the universe. I did go, but it wasn’t what I expected. It started with the tourist bus I took to get there. Is this really how people get to Stonehenge? I wondered.
It turns out it was, me and a few thousand other people every day. Before I even got near to the famous place disappointment overtook me. It’s the standing rock version of Disneyland.
Getting to Stonehenge from London
The drive from London to Stonehenge takes about two hours. I didn’t have a car and driving in London seemed like a death wish. Also, I didn’t trust myself alone on old English country roads, which is why I opted for the tour bus.
Wiltshire, where Stonehenge is located, is made of the classic English countryside as old as man itself. The weather was mostly grey and misty as is par for the course in that part of the country.
A Roadside Attraction
My first surprise is that the stones sit on the side of a highway. The site is alongside two roads – the A303 and the A344. There has been talk about creating a tunnel to ease the cars’ offense on the landscape and help aid congestion, but it’s a fight that has been unsettled for years.
It turns out that changing the landscape around world wonders gets some people in a fuss. In America, we’d have had the stones removed for a more extensive highway 300 years ago.
Well Hello, old friends
We got our first glimpse of the stones from the bus as we passed on our way to the parking lot. It doesn’t seem right that there’s a parking lot, but there is, and it’s a big one too, for huge crowds.
Just there on the side of the road, they sit as they have for thousands of years; long before there was a road or tourist busses. They’re much bigger than you probably expect and they take up a lot more space. This is no small circle.
The enormous sarsen stones are about 30 feet tall. Think about that. The average human is about 6 feet tall. This is when you first get that feeling. I love it when your breath catches as you see something in real life for the first time. “Oh.” Because your expectations never quite do it justice.
Who made Stonehenge and why?
More than a mile from the stones, the huge parking lot holds hundreds of cars, shuttles, and buses. On the day I went the lot looked full. A woman at the cafe said it was a slow day. God help us (and save the Queen).
Upon entering the site, you’re immediately surrounded by a museum, cafeteria, and massive gift shop. You can buy guidebooks and audio guides or even have docents explain things to you.
Various outdoor exhibits explain the site, the stones, and the people who would have erected them in 2,500 B.C. Five Neolithic houses are furnished with replica axes, pottery and other artifacts.
It’s interesting, but honestly, nobody seems to care about any of that. They just want to get up next to those stones.
How to enjoy Stonehenge despite the crowds
Stonehenge sits 1.5 miles down the road from the museum and amenities. You have two options: a shuttle bus down a long dirt road to the stones, or you walk. Depending on your speed, there is plenty of time to walk.
I surveyed the long line to get on the shuttle and looked down the road. Not a soul was walking. Like Thoreau, I took the path less traveled and it made all the difference. Maybe there was still a way to have an authentic experience at this World Heritage Site.
Far off in the distance, I could just make out the shape of the stone circle, so I set out that way. It was still early morning with dew on the grass and the smell of English countryside all around me. Huge black Jackdaws, Rooks and Crows circled overhead.
No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye.
Elizabeth Bowen
Except for the occasional passing of the shuttle bus, the road was quiet and serene, and I tried to imagine how it would have looked 4,000 years before. Hint: Exactly the same.
Graves along the road to Stonehenge
About halfway down the road, I found a few old gravestones; the lettering was worn away and unreadable. This is something the people on the shuttle wouldn’t see, and, being a taphophile, I was thrilled to find them.
As I walked on, I approached the site and intermingled with a group getting off the shuttle. We made our way toward the stones.
Upon my approach, the stones grew larger, and, despite the din of the people milling all around, it was almost as if they hummed. These ancient things are just keeping watch all these years. Even if they weren’t filled with magic when they were erected, now, after thousands of years of worship, they have been imbued with it.
Why did they build Stonehenge?
These stones are huge, and there is no known way on Earth that they should be standing as they are. This type of stone isn’t even found within 20 miles of the site. How did they get here? How were they raised? What does this formation mean?
The reason Stonehenge draws millions of people every year is that those questions cannot be answered despite the smartest people in the world trying. Stonehenge should not exist. Yet, there a few hundred other tourists and I stood gawking.
Ring around the Stonehenge
There are ropes around the stones and human guards in case you have any dumb ideas. You can’t get within 20 feet of them. But you can walk all the way around observing them from every angle. Most people do a circuit, take a few selfies and hop back on the shuttle for lunch in the cafe.
I walked around several times, taking in all the shadows, watching the birds watching me, absorbing the hum.
Walking through the Stonehenge Barrows
For the walk back, I decided to go a long way through a nearby wooded area. Nobody was around there, and the trees blocked the site of the road and shuttles.
As I walked through the mucky grass, I wondered about the curiously shaped hills I traversed. Large, evenly spaced mounds were all around me.
I learned later that the small hills are the Normanton Down Barrows. They’re a series of over 18 burial mounds, clustered into “cemeteries” along the ridgelines within sight of the stone circle.
Walking there, I found the stillness I’d been looking for. I wasn’t surprised that I found it so peaceful after learning it was a cemetery; I do love a good cemetery; even when I don’t know I’m in one.
“Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take.”
Angela N. Blount
When you can’t change the situation, change your attitude toward it
I pictured Stonehenge as a vast, open place. Alone except for the magic. And it is those things, just with people standing around taking selfies. Sometimes things aren’t the way we think they will be, but they’re still worthwhile. Honestly, our ideas and plans occasionally can use a little help from the universe.
Maybe it has become commercialized, but those rocks still sing to the universe.
No matter how you get there or with how many people, it’s still worth it. To walk the road, spend time with the birds, stroll among the barrows and feel the mystery of the people who once were. It’s worth it.
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