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Sunday 11 September, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Glastonbury

Great Britain 2005 - part XXIII

Elisabeth & Teije
2006-08-28 17:56:04

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The sky is grey but it isn't very cold and we don't need to wear a coat. Excellent weather to do things. This weekend there are several archeological workshops at different prehistoric sites and when we drive to the Salisbury Plains we soon come upon one.

Just past Avon we arrive at Woodhenge, a place like Stonehenge, only trees were used to form a circle instead of stones. Its size must have been as large as Stonehenge, but all trees have gone and poles mark the places where the tree trunks have once stood. At an old settlement not far from Woodhenge an archeological team is busy with excations and show how people in prehistory must have lived of agriculture and hunting.

We come across more workshops like this when we drive on and we are surprised how many people have come to visit one of these places. Archeology must be really alive here, and maybe it is not as surprising as we think, since there has been much more preserved in this area than for example in the Netherlands. We have some small cairns but probably our ancestors didn't have more time to build bigger monuments.

After visiting a few archeological teams we finally drive on to Stonehenge. From a distance it looks overwhelming, even more impressive than from nearby, but that might be caused by the perspective from the road. And from afar we can also see the crowds walking around the monument. We thought the holiday was over!?

Ik have been here once before, in 1984, and then it was still possible to walk between the stones and touch them. But then there were only about 30 people walking around, now there must be hundreds of them or even more, since the parking lot (used to be quite small then) is full of large tourist busses. I can't remember that we had to pay an entrance fee in 1984 (probably I was too excited to notice) but I did work the twig here (and you bet that it became wild on this place!) indeed. The fee is now £ 5,50, but it costs ...