Stonehenge

Enforced radio silence in the highlands has left me a few days behind, so without further delay....Stonehenge.





Our first view was from a distance, with the familiar silhouette on the hillside, shockingly close to a major road.






The second was through a fence, the only way the formation can be seen without special permission.

This is a national and world heritage site, and to gain private access, one has to apply well in advance, and complete all the appropriate paperwork. Access is granted only before the site opens in the morning, or after public closing time. We were lucky enough to gain an evening entrance.


Our guide to the stones was Carol Druce. Carol has lived nearby -- in the shadow of the stones -- for a quarter of a century, and was an incredible font of knowledge. The bag you can see her carrying here was chock full of interesting material (including diagrams and dowsing sticks) to add life to her commentary.




Just have to pause here to say that if you are going to travel to Stonehenge, it is entirely worth the additional effort and expense to have a private viewing with an expert local guide. Carol [apologies in advance....] totally rocked.





Of course, it didn't hurt her credibility that as we stood near the entrance going through introductions, she managed to conjure up this rainbow above the giant stones ....

[Ed. note: A bit hard to see the rainbow when the pic is this small -- check out better version at my Flickr page HERE.]







From a distance, the stones are mesmerizing.












Up close, they are magical.











The magestic bluestones were brought 2400 BC (and some say as early as 3000 BC) from Wales, a distance of around 400 km. (Recent theorists postulate that the stones may have travelled part of the way as part of a glacial deposit.) However they got to this spot on the Salisbury plain, there is no doubting their neolithic origins, nor the incredible amount of calculation needed to erect a formation of this size and complexity.










Anyone who is interested can find reams of material on this incredible site. There is certainly no shortage of reading material. Personally, I find it very hard to do justice to this experience on any kind of a practical level.

It was almost beyond words.














I guess it's lucky I believe in magic....









~kc